Follow these recruiting tips to guarantee a steady stream of recruits for your team:

Appoint a recruiting officer. While your entire club should be involved in recruiting, designate one team member to head up your recruiting efforts. The recruiting officer should be charged with answering prospective player queries, creating flyers, and holding informational meetings.

Develop a web site. Face it: We're in the Internet age. People generally go online for information, and prospective players will likely try to find your club on the web. Designate an HTLM-savvy member of your club as web master. At the very least, your web site should contain contact information, practice times, and your schedule. If possible, your web site should include a link to a rookie primer, so that prospective players can learn a little bit more about the sport. A web site is also a great way to share news and team accomplishments.

Generate your own press. Many college and local weekly newspapers welcome press release submissions. Do a web search for local papers, and try to find the sports editor's information. You recruiting officer should write a brief press release, featuring information about your club and the type of players you are looking for, and submit it to as many papers as possible. Also, ask the sports editor if he/she would be interested in doing a story on your team. Rugby is an interesting sport and usually makes for a good sports story.

Network. If you are a club team, have all team members talk to former college teammates about your club. Also, many college clubs have alumni associations. Try contacting a college rugby team and ask them to spread the word about your team to local alums. For college teams, have all players e-mail their friends-and their friends' friends-about your club. Provide general information in these e-mails about rugby and what your team is looking for.

Post flyers/web listing on community bulletin boards. At the beginning of each season, your recruiting officer should develop a flyer with information about your club. Distribute these flyers to each member of your club and tell them to post around the community. College teams should post flyers in dorms, at the school gym, and in the cafeteria. Club teams should post at gyms, community centers, laundromats, supermarkets, and other local hangouts. Further, do some research to find out if your area has any community web postings. For instance, Craig's List (www.craigslist.org) features community listings for a number of cities. Post as often as you can, to bring attention to your club.

Become a rugby ambassador. Every member of your club should become an ambassador for your team and the sport at large. Encourage your teammates to talk to as many people as they can about why they play rugby and the positive benefits of being on your team. When people start hearing how much fun you're having, they may consider coming out to a practice.