GOALS FOR THE YEAR

When the Rally Committee met in fall 2014, the members all decided that they wanted to focus on increasing attendance at school sporting events. They also wanted to see how their fellow Gauchos could creatively express their school spirit. Based on a UCSB survey from 2013-2014, many students feel that not having a football team is a negative about our overall campus, and that our school lacks school spirit. From this understanding it became the goal of Rally Comm to not only change this perspective, but improve the number of students who attended sporting games.

HARDER STADIUM PHOTO BOOTH

On October 25, Rally Comm put together their 2nd annual photo booth behind the entrance to Harder Stadium to encourage Gauchos to get excited for the game. Using their Instagram page, they had people hashtag multiple spirit terms (i.e. #gauchos #ole #ucsbsoccer) for a contest to win a $30 gift card. By halftime, they had over 35 people engaged in this contest, and were excited to get Rally Comm’s name out there. This contest increased excitement and spirit. The contest also was a way of getting future Gaucho’s excited about UCSB’s spirit when they search hashtags.

REC SPORTS COLLABORATION

In February, Rally Comm paired with Rec Sports to encourage people to attend the Hawaii game that would be televised live. With the help of Marketing Interns with Rec Sports, Rally Comm members decided to target the Greek community. Members of Rally Comm went to Monday meetings to pass out flyers, talk about the event, and hang a poster in each chapter room with the time and place to meet before the game. The game had record attendance and the sorority and fraternity with most members in attendance were awarded Rally Comm shirts, and other spirit items including foam fingers and sun glasses.

Although basketball and soccer are very popular sports, Rally Comm also organized an event to support the tennis team. During the 3rd week of Spring quarter, they tabled in The Arbor with a lollypop tree to encourage students to go to the tennis game where they intended to give out free lemonade. Unfortunately, they were not allowed to give out lemonade, but they encouraged people to go to the game by having flyers and inviting a member of the tennis team to  table with them.

THANKS

The committee would like to thank Tomo Kelly for increasing their followers on Instagram and Facebook. Kevin Koo was also an outstanding representative from the AS Senate. Kevin encouraged the committee to use some of its left over budget for Greek Week activities that the Senate needed funding for.

IN CLOSING

Although the committee may not have been able to track if attendance increased at sporting events or if Gaucho school spirit is the highest it has ever been because of Rally Comm, the members’ efforts no doubt made a noticeable difference and got many different Gauchos involved in supporting UCSB athletics.