Most of the political issues on which I have worked are national or international in scope – genocide in Darfur, the death penalty and so forth. But most political problems involve the mundane politics of car pools, family vacations and office intrigue.
I have recently been reminded of this while trying to increase turnout for a Saturday morning soccer game. I’ve been part of the same game for nearly a decade. In the beginning there was a regular core of folks who could be counted on to show up roughly on time as long as the weather was half way decent. We all chipped in and bought miniature portable goals that someone took home every weekend, and after games folks went out for lunch. Every now and then a player would move away or a new one would be added, but by and large the regular regulars didn’t change.
In the past few years the regulars have dwindled and new folks have not been added fast enough to replace them. Some have gotten married and had kids, others were foreign nationals whose work in the US ended, and some decided that they were too old for this nonsense.
As fewer players regularly come to games, fewer players regularly come to games. Instead of betting enough others will show to make a good game, they bet enough others won’t show, making it less likely they show themselves.
Which leads to a specific, little-p political problem: how to increase turnout. As with all political problems the solution is to identify what the goal is (a reliable turnout of at least 8 – 10 people). The next step is to determine what these people find persuasive, which is the tricky bit – why would someone drive 20 – 40 minutes in each direction for what can only be described as a kick-about? Soccer isn’t enough of a motivation (there is a lot of soccer in DC), so what is? Is it the social aspect? If so, how do we increase that? Is it a comfortable level of competition? If so, how do we find and keep that? Is there another “value added” we can provide? Is it just a matter of priming the pump, providing a stimulus for a few weeks that jump-starts a virtuous cycle of participation? If so, what is that?
Once the motivation is determined, how is it best delivered? On a Friday someone (typically me) sends out a “soccer is on” email, and folks respond if they can make it. Does a clever line in the email help? Would calls to some help encourage them to come?
Another player who is an economist has agreed to help me tackle this problem by bringing the tools we use in our day jobs to this Saturday morning pursuit (he doesn’t know this yet). As Aristotle would remind us, the issue of turnout at a casual soccer game is no less political than persuading Congress to pass a bill or voters to support a candidate.
Your ideas are welcome – as is your participation, we play at 10:30a on Saturday mornings on the fields behind Whittier Woods School, 7400 Whittier Blvd in Bethesda.
