Advice on Starting a Card Club with Students

[adamslogik]

I know that 2005-06 Parkhurst has a lot of RC's of players who are still around but.... Approach this like a young kid.....

Most of these kids will be 12 and under, so many would have been too young to remember some of the players from that year, heck some may not have even been alive when this set came out.

Try to use a current set.

My suggestion would be this years Score (13-14)

The cards are reasonably priced. Nice clean look, with a bit of foil and gloss. There are inserts or rookies in every pack, along with the gold parallels and lots of chase sets. Heck, some of them might even be lucky enough to snag an autograph.

As a bonus, the kids will know pretty much ALL of the players form their favourite teams, and not too many will have been traded and no longer be on the teams they collect. Some kids may also be fans of players like Toews, Kane, Price, Subban, RNH, Doughty, Stamkos, Tavares, etc... some of the biggest names in hockey, who will not even be present in that set.

Just my 2 cents, but if I were opening it as a kid, I would be much more energized to be opening something current. 2005-06 May have great value, and you and I know that, but these kids don't care as much about value yet, they need something to relate to.

[Scobes]

Very good point about the kids breaking new stuff as opposed to stuff nearly a decade old.

Scobes

I know that 2005-06 Parkhurst has a lot of RC's of players who are still around but.... Approach this like a young kid.....

Most of these kids will be 12 and under, so many would have been too young to remember some of the players from that year, heck some may not have even been alive when this set came out.

Try to use a current set.

My suggestion would be this years Score (13-14)

The cards are reasonably priced. Nice clean look, with a bit of foil and gloss. There are inserts or rookies in every pack, along with the gold parallels and lots of chase sets. Heck, some of them might even be lucky enough to snag an autograph.

As a bonus, the kids will know pretty much ALL of the players form their favourite teams, and not too many will have been traded and no longer be on the teams they collect. Some kids may also be fans of players like Toews, Kane, Price, Subban, RNH, Doughty, Stamkos, Tavares, etc... some of the biggest names in hockey, who will not even be present in that set.

Just my 2 cents, but if I were opening it as a kid, I would be much more energized to be opening something current. 2005-06 May have great value, and you and I know that, but these kids don't care as much about value yet, they need something to relate to.

[pwskelly]

For a younger crowd, I 'd consider panini stickers and albums.

I never considered that. Thanks for the idea.

[pwskelly]

I know that 2005-06 Parkhurst has a lot of RC's of players who are still around but.... Approach this like a young kid.....

Most of these kids will be 12 and under, so many would have been too young to remember some of the players from that year, heck some may not have even been alive when this set came out.

Try to use a current set.

My suggestion would be this years Score (13-14)

The cards are reasonably priced. Nice clean look, with a bit of foil and gloss. There are inserts or rookies in every pack, along with the gold parallels and lots of chase sets. Heck, some of them might even be lucky enough to snag an autograph.

As a bonus, the kids will know pretty much ALL of the players form their favourite teams, and not too many will have been traded and no longer be on the teams they collect. Some kids may also be fans of players like Toews, Kane, Price, Subban, RNH, Doughty, Stamkos, Tavares, etc... some of the biggest names in hockey, who will not even be present in that set.

Just my 2 cents, but if I were opening it as a kid, I would be much more energized to be opening something current. 2005-06 May have great value, and you and I know that, but these kids don't care as much about value yet, they need something to relate to.

Thanks for the advice, and I agree that many of the kids might be better informed of the players in a 13-14 set as opposed to a 05-06 set. I've looked at some of the Score 13-14 cards and I agree with your assessment. I might grab a box and see if the kids share our enthusiasm.

I liked the idea of buying some 2005-06 Parkhurst as well because it was a huge RC year for most of the top players in the NHL right now. The Parkhurst RCs aren't that expensive, but for a kid starting collecting, what better thing to pull than a Crosby, Lundqvist, Getzlaf, Perry, or Ovechkin RC?

Thanks for all the advice guys, I hope to get this club up and running before hockey starts!

[pwskelly]

I purchased a couple of boxes of 2013-14 Score. I also ordered some supplies for storage, (i.e. card sheets, top loaders, etc.). Hopefully the stuff arrives soon because I'm looking forward to starting the club with the younger kids. Hopefully it grows and maybe some older kids will drop in to check it out as well.

I'm will also try to find sticker albums. Something recent obviously like 2013-14 Panini online. I'll be at a Walmart in the next couple of weeks so maybe I'll try to pick up about a dozen albums. Normally I try to support LCS or online retailers in card collecting business but it is hard to find these albums online for a decent price and shipping can be brutal and the nearest LCS doesn't exist in the Arctic so ....

Thanks again for all the interest, advice and offers to help. I'll let everyone know how things go when I get things started.

[scottkoz20]

For a younger crowd, I 'd consider panini stickers and albums.

I completely agree!

Olivia is in 1st grade now and I find that stickers help her with 2 things

1) Number recognition (and you can somewhat say reading as well, but this will come as her reading progresses).
2) Putting the sticker in the book helps with her "tactile" skills (taking the sticker out and ensuring that the sticker is in the lines).


It does not matter if its sports, non-sports (Frozen for her *shocking* ).


As for cards, something that I think would help a kids math skills would be set building. You could add lessons on fractions/percentages in a full set or a team set; geography (get a map of Canada/USA and pin where the players are from).... I'll stop now as I'm just rambling

[sasports]

I have a bunch of hockey base and rookies if you want them. Just pay the shipping and they are yours :)


As far as the club goes: Make the pay but not with money! Let them earn Card Cash or something along those lines through good grades or behavior in class and such. It gives them a "prize" of sorts to look forward to for getting good grades! You can give them away in packs. Do team grab bags or something along those lines. An a earns them .25, B .10, etc.....

I am opening a shop in Hinesville GA (just got all my paperwork and certs yesterday :) ) and plan on doing this for the local kids as well! Of course I will be doing a lot larger scale with all sports and non-sports! This is a great tool to help get our younger generations back into collecting!

[pwskelly]

I have a bunch of hockey base and rookies if you want them. Just pay the shipping and they are yours :)


As far as the club goes: Make the pay but not with money! Let them earn Card Cash or something along those lines through good grades or behavior in class and such. It gives them a "prize" of sorts to look forward to for getting good grades! You can give them away in packs. Do team grab bags or something along those lines. An a earns them .25, B .10, etc.....

I am opening a shop in Hinesville GA (just got all my paperwork and certs yesterday :) ) and plan on doing this for the local kids as well! Of course I will be doing a lot larger scale with all sports and non-sports! This is a great tool to help get our younger generations back into collecting!

Actually they will earn packs based on their attendance and behaviour. I don't reward grades because some kids can work really hard and still not perform well academically for a variety of reasons. Some students struggle with grades due to a learning disability, emotional/behavioural disorder, less than ideal home environment just to name a few. All I ask is that the kids show up, work hard and be respectful.

[FrankToronto]

Will this be a weekly club meeting? Maybe a weekly club thread to keep us posted on how it goes?

[30ranfordfan]

Back when I was in middle school... I forget what the called it..... but basically there was 2 period a week where students signed up for some kind of non-academic activity. It would be an hour at the end of the day, on Tuesdays and Thursdays (something like that, anyway). There was a wide variety of stuff, and you picked 4 per year. Couldn't do the same one twice in a row (many were not offered each time).

One of the teachers ran a card collecting one. It was basically an hour of joining other students (and the teacher) in a classroom, and it was a combination of show & tell... and trading. I don't recall any money (packs or otherwise) changing hand. Was a lot of fun.

Clearly you're looking to do this after hours, but so long as you've got a group of kids interested - shouldn't be hard to do.