Modernising Our Clubs Without Losing Their Identity

There has been a noticeable increase recently in clay target clubs and associations using AI and other digital tools to create event posters, social media graphics, promotional material and written content. Personally, I think that's a positive step. Getting our events, sponsors, clubs and sport in front of more people is always going to be better than doing nothing at all.

However, as these tools become easier and more powerful, I think there are a few things we need to be mindful of as a sport.

One of the most important is club identity.

Every club has its own history, personality and community. Its logo or emblem is usually one of the most recognisable representations of that identity and, in many cases, it's the first thing that distinguishes one club from another.

When AI is used without much direction, it's very easy to inadvertently dilute that identity. If five different events produce five different versions of a club logo, completely different colours, fonts and visual styles, the individual graphics might look impressive, but collectively they aren't necessarily building recognition for the club behind them.

There is a reason established businesses, sporting organisations and brands put so much effort into maintaining consistent branding. Over time, people begin to recognise an organisation before they've even finished reading what has been posted.

Sporting clubs should be thinking about this too.

Your website should be your digital clubhouse

Another area where I believe community sport, and particularly shooting sports, has considerable room to improve is our websites and broader digital presence.

It's 2026 and there are still clubs that either don't have an official website or rely almost entirely on a Facebook page as their presence online. Facebook is an incredibly useful communication tool, but it was never designed to be the permanent home of a sporting organisation.

A club's website should be the authoritative source for its information. It should tell people who you are, where you are, what you do and how they can become involved. It can preserve your history, recognise sponsors, promote events, explain membership, provide results and documents, showcase facilities and give prospective members somewhere trustworthy to learn about the club.

Social media then becomes an extension of that presence. It helps people discover the club and keeps the community engaged, while the website remains the permanent home.

This matters even more when we think about attracting new people to shooting.

Internet use among Australian adults is now virtually universal. ACMA reported in 2026 that 99.7% of Australian adults access the internet, with 97% using a mobile phone to do so. Younger Australians also tend to use a wider variety of communication and social platforms than older age groups.

For someone who is 16, 20 or 25 and considering trying clay target shooting, their first interaction with your club probably won't happen when they drive through the front gate. More often than not, it will happen on a screen.

They'll search for the club, look through photos, find an upcoming event, check Facebook or Instagram and try to work out what actually happens there. They're subconsciously asking whether the club looks active and welcoming, whether beginners are encouraged, what it costs, who to contact and whether this looks like somewhere they'd feel comfortable turning up for the first time.

If that information is difficult to find, several years out of date or simply doesn't exist, there's a reasonable chance they'll never take the next step.

Modernisation doesn't mean forgetting what came before

I also think we need to be careful about how this conversation is framed.

Many of the people running our clubs today have volunteered enormous amounts of their lives to keep them operating. They've built grounds, maintained facilities, run competitions, raised money, trained shooters and kept clubs alive through periods when technology and digital communication weren't particularly important.

Modernisation shouldn't dismiss any of that. In many ways, modernising our clubs is part of protecting what those people built.

The Australian Sports Commission places significant emphasis on organisational capability and the long-term sustainability of community sporting clubs. Technology is increasingly part of that equation, particularly when clubs are dealing with limited volunteer numbers and increasingly complex administration.

The question shouldn't be whether older volunteers grew up with websites, social media, cloud software or AI. Most didn't, and there's nothing wrong with that. The more useful question is whether our organisations are willing to recognise how the world around them has changed and bring people into the club who do understand those areas.

A committee doesn't need every member to understand artificial intelligence or website development any more than every committee member needs to know how to repair a trap machine or prepare financial statements.

We need different people with different skills.

AI is an opportunity, but it needs direction

Artificial intelligence is going to make professional-looking content increasingly accessible to small volunteer organisations. That's exciting because clubs that could never justify employing a graphic designer, marketing person or communications team can suddenly do things that previously required considerable time or money.

But AI shouldn't become the identity of the organisation.

Use it to help create content, generate ideas, improve communication, reduce administration and make volunteers' lives easier. At the same time, give it your real club logo, your proper colours, photographs of your actual grounds, information about your real members and the history that makes your club different from every other club.

The goal shouldn't be to make every club look like a polished corporate organisation. Some of the character, history and grassroots nature of our clubs is exactly what makes them special.

Technology should amplify that identity rather than manufacture a replacement for it.

The next few years matter

I believe the next three to five years are going to bring enormous changes in this area. AI will improve rapidly, digital administration will become increasingly normal and people's expectations around how they discover, communicate with and interact with sporting organisations will continue to change.

For our sport, that's an opportunity.

We have fantastic clubs, remarkable facilities, generations of history, dedicated volunteers and a sport that can be enjoyed by people across an enormous range of ages and backgrounds. We should be making it as easy as possible for people outside our existing community to discover that.

That means treating our digital presence as part of the club rather than something somebody occasionally remembers to update.

Establish a proper logo and protect it. Keep your branding reasonably consistent. Maintain an official website. Take good photographs of your actual club and members. Make membership information easy to find. Promote your sponsors properly. Preserve your club's history digitally. Keep event information current and, above all, think about the experience of someone discovering your club for the very first time.

You don't need to do everything overnight, and you don't need to understand every new piece of technology that appears.

You just need to start taking this part of running a modern sporting club seriously.

I'm happy to help

This is an area I've become extremely passionate about and have spent a considerable amount of time working in, across club administration, websites, branding, digital systems, social media and now AI.

I'm also involved at club level myself, so I understand the reality behind all of this. Community sporting clubs don't have enormous marketing departments or IT teams sitting in an office. Most have a handful of volunteers already doing far more than they realistically have time for.

That's one of the reasons I've become so interested in finding better ways of doing things.

If you're involved with a clay target club or association and you're unsure where to start, I'm more than happy to have a conversation. Whether that's looking over your current digital presence, helping establish consistent branding, discussing your website, exploring where AI can genuinely save volunteers time, or simply pointing you towards some practical improvements, feel free to reach out.

Our sport has an incredible history and some fantastic clubs.

We don't need to change what makes them special. We just need to get better at showing the rest of the world what we've already got.