Planning your work and working your plan has become axiomatic for a reason-it works. As you sit down to plan out your club year it is essential that you construct an accurate pro forma income statement or budget. Preparing this document will cause you to think through your club year in meticulous detail. In the process you will preempt many potential problems and, even, better understand your cash flows.
The first step in this process is to project your overhead expenses for the year. Overhead expenses are those costs that are not directly attributable to your revenue activities like club, lessons, camps and tournaments.
Here would be a sample list of overhead expenses that might be representative of a hypothetical club with fifteen teams that is renting a space at a local high school.
15 Team Club Annual Overhead Expenses
| CATEGORY | ANNUAL EXPENSE |
| Salaries and wages | $54,000.00 |
| Office supplies | $ 2,400.00 |
| Volleyball supplies | $ 3,000.00 |
| Facility rental | $24,000.00 |
| Professional fees | $ 4,000.00 |
| Website | $ 3,000.00 |
| Credit card fees | $ 4,500.00 |
| Taxes | $ 2,000.00 |
| Travel, meals and entertainment | $ 3,000.00 |
| Postage and shipping | $ 3,000.00 |
| Advertising | $ 2,000.00 |
| Computer maintenance | $ 2,000.00 |
| Miscellaneous | $ 2,400.00 |
| Total Overhead Expenses | $111,300.00 |
So, in our hypothetical fifteen team club, our annual overhead expenses for the club are $111,300.00. Oftentimes, the director of the club might be able to negotiate a favorable rental arrangement at a school where (s)he might coach and where some of the club players attend. Furthermore, in our club we have adopted the parent representative system. Each team has chosen a mom or dad to be the liaison between the parents and the club and team. It is the representative’s responsibility to inform all of the team families on all matters concerning the team and club like travel arrangements, costs, game schedule, and sites and so forth. Oftentimes this is done free gratis but sometimes the other team parents take up a collection at the end of the year to express their gratitude.
So, before our club can make a profit, it must generate enough gross profit from its’ revenue activities to pay its’ overhead expenses.
Let’s construct a club spreadsheet detailing the revenue that our teams will generate along with direct expenses incurred to yield that revenue.
15 Team Club Participation Fee Spreadsheet
| Team | Participation Fee | Uniforms | JVA Registration | Coaches Pay | Coaches Gear |
| 18-1 | $18,000.00 | $2,000.00 | $110.00 | $5,000.00 | $150.00 |
| 17-1 | $18,000.00 | $2,000.00 | $110.00 | $5,000.00 | $150.00 |
| 16-1 | $18,000.00 | $2,000.00 | $110.00 | $5,000.00 | $150.00 |
| 16-2 | $16,000.00 | $2,000.00 | $110.00 | $4,000.00 | $150.00 |
| 15-1 | $18,000.00 | $2,000.00 | $110.00 | $5,000.00 | $150.00 |
| 15-2 | $16,000.00 | $2,000.00 | $110.00 | $4,000.00 | $150.00 |
| 14-1 | $18,000.00 | $2,000.00 | $110.00 | $5,000.00 | $150.00 |
| 14-2 | $16,000.00 | $2,000.00 | $110.00 | $4,000.00 | $150.00 |
| 13-1 | $18,000.00 | $2,000.00 | $110.00 | $5,000.00 | $150.00 |
| 12-1 | $18,000.00 | $2,000.00 | $110.00 | $5,000.00 | $150.00 |
| Reg. 18 | $10,000.00 | $ 500.00 | $110.00 | $1,800.00 | $ 70.00 |
| Reg. 16 | $10,000.00 | $ 500.00 | $110.00 | $1,800.00 | $ 70.00 |
| Reg. 15 | $10,000.00 | $ 500.00 | $110.00 | $1,800.00 | $ 70.00 |
| Reg. 14 | $10,000.00 | $ 500.00 | $110.00 | $1,800.00 | $ 70.00 |
| Reg. 13 | $10,000.00 | $ 500.00 | $110.00 | $1,800.00 | $ 70.00 |
| Total | $224,000.00 | $22,500.00 | $1,650.00 | $56,000.00 | $1,850.00 |
Gross Total Profit $142,000
Note: Tournament expenses should be paid by the team parents. If, for example, there are ten players on the team then each parent would pay 1/10th of the tournament expense. Typically, the weekend coaches expense would cost between $60 and $85 depending on whether the team has one or two coaches. On top of that, the tournament fee would be divided ten ways, also. If the tournament fee was $425 then each parent would be on the hook for $42.50 for their share of that fee along with the $60-$85 required to cover the coach (es) expense.
This should be factored into your expenses based on which tournaments you are forecasting for your season. Leave some wiggle room here so you are not asking your parents for more money during the season.
Our club takes advantage of two more revenue opportunities, lessons and camps. Following are some sample income statements for lessons and camps.
Lesson Income Statement
Narrative: we have found that, if you promote lessons, you can generate lesson revenue equal to 10% of your club participation fees. Since our club fees are $224,000.00 we estimate that we can generate $22,400.00 of lesson revenue.
Lesson revenue $22,400.00
Coaching expenses $11,200.00
Court rental $ 2,000.00
Total Expenses $13,200.00
Profit $ 9,200.00
Camp Income Statement
Narrative: we estimate that you can make a 50% profit on well-run skill camps.
Skills Camp Series Revenue $20,000.00
Coaches expenses $8,000.00
Tee Shirts $1,000.00
Court rentals $1,000.00
Total Expenses $10,000.00
Profit $10,000.00
Summary
Now lets’ pull all the various parts of our club together and see how our club did.
Profit
Club $141,925.00
Lessons $ 9,200.00
Camp $ 10,000.00
Total Gross Profit $161,125.00
Overhead expenses $111,300.00
Club Net Profit $ 49,825.00
A club directorship can be a very demanding and stressful position but it can also be very rewarding. How many businesses can you name where every constituency benefits from being associated with it: the players, parents, community, coaches and even the beleaguered owners who can make a reasonable profit.
For related reading for Club Directors on the business of junior volleyball click here. For more education for Club Directors click here.
About the Author
The author, Tim Kuzma, is an entrepreneur and registered Certified Financial Planner. He is a graduate of The University of Michigan, where he played basketball, and is, also, a part owner of The Munciana Volleyball Club.
