Looking for advice on building a program

Hi all. I am a former AMTA alum who has recently started coaching my old program. We have been a relatively middle of the pack program at regionals for most of our time consistently winding up with around 2.5-4 wins at regionals each year. Our program has only bid to ORCS once in it's roughly 10 year history and I was wondering if anyone had advice on how to take the program to that next level (Consistently bidding to ORCS).

I feel like the program has a strong group of dedicated members right now with a decent foundation and I don't want to waste that next year. We weren't able to bid out of regionals this year but I know the team has high hopes for next year. Any advice on program structure, teaching. things to do in the offseason, etc.... would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I'd say the most difficult part about building a program's competitive ability is maintaining institutional knowledge. For smaller programs, or student run programs in particular, this can be hard because turnover can be high (though there are obvious exceptions to this on the mock circuit).

In general, the longer you coach, the better you'll be at coaching, and the more likely your team will be to break through.

Also, the more events and things your students do outside of practice, the more a community begins to grow. This keeps more students on the team and makes people want to be a part of the team more. Eventually that leads to more people coming back to help coach, to judge, to donate, and to tell their friends to join.

As a coach also make friends with other coaches in other programs. Having people to compare notes with face to face, especially at a tournament you're competing in, is invaluable.

The last thing I'd say is pretty obvious. The more rounds you/your team compete in, the better you get. Depending on where you're located this can be relatively easy or pretty difficult. Some areas of the country are really dense with teams and competition, some aren't. If you're in an area with less invitationals around you, then you need a solid and consistent funding source to give your team the chance to see good competition. The more you lose to really good teams, the faster your students become a really good team.

I hope this helps, best of luck!