Public relations strategy in a Japanese college tennis team during COVID-19: Factors for joining the team

Shion Hotta; Kazuki Hioki

doi:10.52383/itfcoaching.v32i91.332

Authors

Shion Hotta Keio University; The University of Tokyo
Kazuki Hioki Keio University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52383/itfcoaching.v32i91.332

Keywords:

public relations strategy, college sports, tennis

Abstract

The spread of the novel coronavirus infection that began in 2020 has forced the cancellation of many competitive sports events. This has made it difficult for college sports teams to recruit top athletes at athletic venues and has also forced the cancellation of face-to-face recruiting activities for general freshmen. Under these unprecedented circumstances, online publicity strategies have become particularly important. In this study, we attempted to analyze the effectiveness of the public relations strategy of the Y tennis team of K University by focusing on the factors that were decisive in new students’ decisions to join the team. The results showed that the decisive factors were “enriched practice environment” and “compatibility with academic work.” It was also found that approximately 40% of the new members decided to join the team after receiving information on Twitter and participating in online information sessions. In this paper, we propose effective public relations strategies while drawing actual examples from public relations strategies in practice.

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