Tips for starting a new team.
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Hello Everybody
My name is Andrew and I work for the Palatka Fire Department in FL. I just did my first individual and want to start a team for next year. We will need funding to get anything off the ground though. I was just wondering if anybody had any tips on getting sponsorships. Any advice would be apprecieated on gear, boots, training, or anything that has to do with getting a new team going.
thanks a lot -
Welcome to the Challenge, Andrew! We were in the same boat as you last year - started a new team from scratch and had to round up sponsors. It's not easy but it can be done.
First, as far as sponsorships, getting media coverage of your events will help quite a bit. Call your news folks and send out press releases. You and your team will get some exposure due to the novelty of what you are doing. The exposure will make it easier to walk into meetings with local businesses because they will have heard of you and have an idea about what you are doing. The media here in Lubbock has been very good to us and it's paid off. One year into it and a lot of folks have heard of us. Besides that we have business contacts through our IAFF local that get us into the door many places. Finally, you just have to start walking into places and seeing what happens. You'll get shot down quite a bit, but if you ask enough times some always say yes. It also helps to have a website and/or some promotional material so people have something to look at and help explain the challenge.
Gear and boots are going to be a matter of preference - we use the Lion race gear and like it but there's other good stuff out there too. Ask 10 different guys about gear and boots and you'll get 10 different answers. In general you want your gear to be light, fit right, and comfortable to the person who wears it. The flip side is gear is expensive and many just have to run in their duty gear or whatever they have. Watch the forums and every now and then race gear comes up for sale. As far as boots I really like the Globe boots, but some of the other guys on our team don't. Again, try em' out to see what you like.
Training is a mixed bag too and probably the hardest thing for most to figure out what works. A great deal of the competitors are doing Crossfit. It's good stuff and I recommend it. I don't do Crossfit exclusively - I just add elements of it to my workout. Training methods vary widely among even the top competitors, but regardless you need strong legs and stronger lungs. We do a lot of treadmill sprints on air, body weight exercises, and have a tower (though rather different that the real one) to work technique and simulate different events.
The best advise on training I can give is to ask guys who are fast what they do to get fast. Just about everyone we've met over the last year has been awesome in giving us advice, tips, or whatever we've needed. There are many teams who have been doing this for a long time and have a wealth of knowledge about this sport and I would encourage you to make friends with as many as you can - you'll be amazed how much there is to learn. Just about every event we came away with a ton of new information.
That was pretty general but I hope it helps you out, let me know of there's some more specific info we can help you out with..
Good Luck!
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