York Kabaddi Club

About the Client

York Kabaddi Club (YKC) is a student-led sports organisation at the University of York, dedicated to advancing the sport of Kabaddi. The club facilitates student engagement in a dynamic and culturally significant sport that fosters teamwork, strategic thinking, and physical endurance. Despite its unique value proposition, YKC encounters barriers in scaling student participation, increasing awareness, and sustaining membership growth. To mitigate these challenges, YKC requires a data-driven approach to optimise visibility and engagement within the university ecosystem.

Objectives

• Conduct comprehensive research and diagnostic assessment of YKC's existing outreach strategies and identify key constraints limiting student engagement and membership retention.

• Benchmark YKC's visibility framework against best practices from other university sports organisations and Kabaddi clubs across the UK.

• Develop a data-backed outreach and marketing strategy including structured content plans for YKC's social media and website.

• Identify high-impact opportunities with student societies, university bodies, and external stakeholders.

Project Outcomes

York Community Consulting delivered a comprehensive growth strategy for York Kabaddi Club through systematic competitor analysis and targeted research. The team evaluated Kabaddi clubs at other UK universities to identify key opportunities for improvement in social media consistency, member engagement beyond training, and special events like formals. Through the team's primary research with current YKC members they validated key recruitment paths and asked members for potential improvements which included providing more training content and offering more inclusive beginner-friendly information.

A key achievement was ensuring YKC began a transition from the general societies page to the sports page listing on the University of York Students Union website, which would significantly increase visibility of the club to sports-focused students. Our strategic recommendations helped position YKC to expand beyond its current membership while strengthening its cultural significance and competitive presence among other sport's societies at the University of York.