Development Strategy & Recruitment Plan
For
Sudbury Hockey Club for 2010-2014.
1. Vision:
1.1. To enable people of all ages and backgrounds to play and enjoy hockey to the best of their ability in a friendly and family orientated club, based firmly in the local community.
2. Ethos
2.1. The ethos of the club is principally the playing of hockey for enjoyment.
3. Background
3.1. Sudbury is a small market town in south west Suffolk consisting of the “old Sudbury” area and the London over-spill Great Cornard. The combined population is 20,000. The catchment area for the Hockey Club is roughly the catchment area for the two senior schools in the town, and the total population of that catchment area is about 60,000. Employment in the area is divided into three large sectors (manufacturing, distribution and public administration) each of which has about a 25% share, with the remainder being spread between banking, transport, construction, retail and other services.
3.2. Young people from the greater Sudbury area are educated at either Sudbury Upper School or Great Cornard, both large comprehensives. Those in the private sector tend to go to Ipswich School or Ipswich High School. Several sixth formers go to Colchester Sixth form college. There are no further/higher education establishments within the area which means that anyone going on to further/higher education has to leave the area. Because there are few entry-level graduate jobs in the area, they rarely come back. Indeed, even the non-graduates often have to leave in search of work. Although the percentage of people in the age ranges 0-9 and 10-19 is roughly the national average, the percentage in the 20-29 range (6%) is only about half the national average, and the percentage in the 30-44 age range (19%) is still significantly below the national average. This has a material effect on the ability of the Club to recruit senior players.
3.3. The sporting pedigree of the town despite the lack of numbers is impressive. The Rugby Club played in the RFU National leagues, the Cricket Club has this year being promoted to the East Anglian Premier league and the Football Club has appeared in two national vase finals. The Hockey Club has also enjoyed periods of success. The Ladies Ist X1 won the English Hockey Association National Vase competition in 2001 and were runners up the following year. The men played in Premier A of the Eastern Region.
3.4. The Hockey Club is over 100 years old and for historic reasons is based at the Friars Street pavilion, where hockey used to be played when games were on grass. The Hockey Club use it in the winter and the Cricket Club use it in the summer.
3.5. The Club plays on the artificial pitch at Great Cornard Upper School/Sports Centre.
4. Where are we now.
4.1. The Club is in a state of flux having stagnated over the last few years. Although most of the management disciplines are in place there has been no centralisation of effort resulting in a number of initiatives not being coordinated to reach their true potential.
4.2. The new committee was elected on 14th July 2010 and immediately voted to apply for the renewal of the Club’s First accreditation. The work already completed has highlighted a number of areas where improvements to the management structure must be made resulting in an efficient club promoting the ideal of hockey.
4.3. We have 80 playing members, 60 Juniors and 16 Honorary members. Numbers have fallen, particularly in the junior section, and the priority for the Club is to increase them again to ensure a good throughput of players. As noted in paragraph 3.2, we lose a lot of players when they leave the area for higher education or employment, and currently perhaps only 10% of our juniors return to the club as senior players. We need to address that if we can, by increasing the numbers of juniors, increasing the retention rate and also if possible attracting senior players moving in to the area.
4.4. The other hockey clubs in the region are Ipswich (which has several), Bury St Edmunds and Colchester, but there is not a lot of competition for players with Sudbury. There seems little crossover with Colchester, perhaps because it is in Essex and looks more towards London. Ipswich play at a higher level than we do, and we tend to lose a few of our best players to them, but not many. Bury is more of a locally based club like ours, fed by the Bury schools.
5. Men’s section
5.1. The Club fields 4 teams each weekend throughout the season and competes in a summer league. The teams are:
1st XI Division 3 North East
2nd XI Division 3 North East
3rd XI Division 5 North East
4th XI Division 5 North East
5.2. At the end of the 2009/10 season the men’s 1st XI was relegated and now plays in the same leagues as the 2nd XI. The mens 3rd and 4th X1’s also play in the same league.
5.3. The Club also fields a veterans side in the national veterans competition but there is not the depth of players to play in a league.
5.4. The best position for the men’s section of the Club would be to have one team in each of four adjacent leagues, so that players promoted to a higher team find it a step up, but not too great a step to manage. Ideally this would occur by the men’s 1st and 3rd X1 gaining promotion this year, and the 2nd XI and 4th X1’s holding their places in their current leagues. The men’s 1st XI is playing in the lowest league it has played in for many years, and should be capable of promotion this year. Whether the ambitions of the other three teams can be achieved this year is less clear, but does not affect the long term goal.
6. Ladies Section
6.1. Last year we fielded four Ladies teams but one has folded this year due to lack of players willing to commit regularly. Currently the Ladies teams are:
1st X1 East Premier
2nd X1 Suffolk Premier
3rd X1 Suffolk Premier
6.2. At the end of the 2009/10 season the Ladies 1st X1 were promoted but the Ladies 2nd X1 were relegated to playing in the same league as the 3rd X1.
6.3. As with the men’s teams, the best position for the Ladies section would be to have each team in adjacent leagues so the step up is clear but not too great. Ideally this would be achieved by the Ladies 1st X1 holding their position in the premier league, the Ladies 2nd X1 being promoted, and the Ladies 3rd X1 holding their position in the Suffolk premier league. This looks possible but not easy, which is the way it should be with ambitions.
7. Junior section
7.1. The Club has historically had a strong junior section taking girls and boys from a large catchment area. 61 young people are registered so far this season, although this compares with 100 last year.
7.2. Coaching groups have been revised this year to comply with HA regulations. The coaching groups are set out in paragraph 9.1.
7.3. All age groups are involved in competitive tournaments and matches against other clubs.
7.4. The Club has participated in the HA Junior Development plan by hosting an assessment weekend, two training sessions and a competition. The Club will when needed supply coaching staff.
7.5. The short term plan for the juniors is firstly to increase the numbers and at the same time improve the coaching performance by increasing the number of coaches and volunteers. Recently two young level 1 coaches have been encouraged to come out of retirement and a further 3 unqualified Club members have agreed to assist. The second ambition is to arrange more competitive fixtures to keep the young people interested and conscious of the Club’s identity.
7.6. The Club will also need to continue to develop junior leaders and young umpires. Currently we have 2 u16s on the young umpire program and 2 more who want to join it. We do not currently have any juniors on the young leaders programme although we do have 2 young Club members doing part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award at the Club helping coaches by leading groups. The intention for the future will be that the opportunities to take the umpiring and junior leader courses will be advertised on the clubhouse noticeboard, the website and the Club newsletter. The junior coaches will be made aware of the dates of the courses and the dates by which people need to be booked onto them, will ask each junior whether they want to take these courses, and will encourage them to do so. This will be done at whatever time of year will permit the juniors to be booked onto the next course.
8. Indoor Hockey
8.1. We do not run an indoor section for the seniors. However, under the leadership of Mark Dudley, a level 2 coach currently working for his level 3 badge, we are starting a juniors’ indoor section. Training for this will start soon. Clearly, it should improve the juniors’ skills. Hopefully it will also attract to the indoor section players who play their outdoor hockey at other clubs, or just for their schools, and if so we may be able to convert them into outdoor players for our Club.
8.2. The aim for this four year plan must therefore be to have a thriving juniors’ indoor section within that period, and ideally to draw on it for outdoor players, but it is very much an experiment driven by one man at the moment, and there will be no shame in trying and failing.
8.3. If the indoor juniors experiment works, we hope to start an indoor seniors section next year.
9. Coaching and Training
9.1. Training takes place throughout the week at the pitch at Great Cornard. It includes both fitness training as well as skills under the control of the respective professional club coaches. Currently the sessions are as follows:
|
Senior Men |
Tuesday 7pm to 9pm |
|
Senior Ladies |
Thursday 7pm to 9pm |
|
Boys U14 and U16 |
Tuesday 6pm to 7.30pm |
|
Girls U14 and U16 |
Thursday 6pm to 7.30pm |
|
Mixed U10 and U12 |
Sunday 10am to 11.30am |
9.2. The seniors’ training tends to be attended by the first teams and some of the second teams, but few others. The non-attenders tend to be the slightly older players who may have families or more demanding jobs which means that they cannot be there by 7pm or simply cannot spare the time. We do not have sufficient players to allow ourselves the luxury of making weekly team selection dependant on the participation at training, although in practice this is largely the case for the first teams. Attendance does however have a bearing on a player’s perceived commitment and thus that is factored in when selection is made for the higher teams. The main opportunity for the club coaches to view players is at these training sessions, and hence anyone keen to progress must attend.
9.3. There is a potential to offer further training sessions to encourage higher standard coaches to visit and run a number of two day academy style training days. The Club is involved in the County and Regional events. This is in conjunction with the Chairman of Suffolk Junior Hockey who is a Club member.
9.4. We are involved in the JDC programme and are scheduled to host a number of events at the pitch in the 2010/11 season thereby supporting the EH Development Programme.
9.5. In order to increase the number of players we need to enhance the coaching staff. Currently we have 5 level 2 coaches and 7 level 1 coaches, not all of whom coach on a regular basis. In addition we have 5 people intending to sit level 1 at the next opportunity (which sadly is not until 2011), and we hope to identify more in due course. We are aware of the EH requirement for coaching sessions to be led by a level 2 coach by 2012, and we need to move some of our level 1 coaches up this year or next in order to achieve that.
10. Developing the recruitment programme
10.1. Junior
10.1.1. The numbers of juniors is on the decline but the quality of coaching is high and in general a good service is given. The proof of this is the number of young people who are playing in the senior sections. Both the Men and the Ladies 1st X1’s have a number of 17/18 year olds all of whom are acquitting themselves well at the higher level. The selection for players to move up to the seniors is through a process of identification by the club coaches, Club captains and team captains. It is a system that serves the individuals and the Club well.
10.1.2. The recruitment of the “new coaches” gives a firm base to start a recruitment drive in particular areas where the Club needs strengthening. Coupled with that we need to increase our profile in the schools. Our home turf of Sudbury Upper School and Great Cornard Upper School needs reviewing, and a senior Club member, ideally one already known at the relevant school, should be put in charge of raising the profile and trying to get more numbers to attend junior training.
10.1.3. However, it is also possible that we can pick up players on the fringes of our region. Specifically:
· an approach has been made to the U14 age group at Hedingham Upper School where there is a hockey club without competitive fixtures. Individual letters will be handed to the players at that school with an invitation to join our training nights.
· A half size artificial playing surface has been installed at Hadleigh Upper School. This is already used by one of the Ipswich teams (Christchurch ladies) for training on Sunday morning, but there remains an opportunity to tap into the boys, and possibly also some of the girls who may feel more drawn to Sudbury. Contact will be made to further the idea.
· A trial programme of Quick hockey is being run by the Club at Cavendish Primary School which will be the forerunner to progressing the idea in other schools.
· Contact will be made with the relevant teachers to discuss the way forward at these and other schools.
10.2. Seniors
10.2.1. The men’s senior sides have had a couple of turbulent years partly as a result of changes to the league structure and partly due to the loss of key players to other clubs and players moving away. So far this season two newcomers have joined the 1st X1 and with the support of three junior graduates, the winning habit has returned.
10.2.2. The other mens sides are experiencing mixed fortunes and we only just manage to field four teams. Currently the 4th XI is predominantly a veterans side (often with guest appearances from some 13 year olds as part of the club policy to bring them on) and many of the players in the 3rd and 4th XIs are not available every week.
10.2.3. The Ladies 1st XI is enjoying playing at its new high level, despite taking a few games to acclimatize, but below that we struggle for players on a regular basis. The Ladies 4th XI has folded this year.
10.2.4. To recruit new senior players will not be easy, particularly in view of the demographics quoted in paragraph 3.2. The most likely way forward for the senior sides will therefore be to draw from the increased pool of juniors. Over the four year term of this Development Plan, that should succeed in giving us a larger pool of players from which to draw the senior sides, even if we do then lose them at 18.
11. Umpires
11.1. There are 16 umpires in the club, in addition to the 7 Pool umpires who take our games. Many of the umpires are also players.
11.2. The umpiring courses are advertised on the club website and in the clubhouse and have a reasonable take-up among club members, resulting in our not being short of umpires.
11.3. The target for the umpiring side is therefore to maintain the current situation where a few players a year attend the umpiring courses, and start to officiate.
12. Volunteers
12.1. The task of co-ordinating volunteers has hitherto been haphazard and relied largely on the chairman. As part of the Clubs First initiative, a volunteer coordinator has recently been appointed to take this forward. The intention will be:
· To produce job descriptions and required qualifications for all positions
· To advertise the positions on the website and in the clubhouse and encourage volunteering, making it clear how to go about it
· To introduce a reward scheme for volunteers, similar to the player of the year scheme for players.
12.2. In addition, we must take care to ensure that any initiatives we take are sustainable, and that there is succession planning. Ideally, no individual should take on too much, so that the Club is not over-reliant on anyone, and for each key post there should be one or more heirs apparent.
13. Policy development and insurance
13.1. The Club carries insurance for members and coaches which complies with EHB minimum criteria.
13.2. As part of the Clubs First initiative the Club has adopted the various EHB policies on equality, safeguarding and protecting, respect etc,.
13.3. The Club is registered with the EHB CRB checking service and has adopted a policy for the CRB checking of anyone working on a regular basis with young people.
13.4. The Club’s health and safety procedures comply with EHB recommendations.
14. Facility and Equipment Development
14.1. Pitch: The pitch was built in about 1996 and resurfaced in 2008. The Club helped to fund both projects by contributing £20,000 and £10,000, respectively. The Club was also the force behind raising the remaining capital for both the projects. As part of the “deal” we have a 21 year agreement with the Sports Centre to pay half the going rate for pitch hire for the seniors and free pitch use for all junior coaching and competitions. This arrangement will last until 2030. The arrangement gives us adequate pitch time for training and matches. We may expect to have to raise funds for the further repair of the pitch in due course, and a modest sinking fund is in place against that event, although the cash position of the club means that there will have to be significant fundraising when the time comes. The floodlighting of the pitch is satisfactory and any repair or upgrade would be done as part of the repair or replacement of the pitch in conjunction with the school and other interested bodies.
14.2. Indoor: the indoor section is only just starting but it will use the sports hall at Great Cornard Sports Centre. Considerable grant support has been obtained and it is envisaged that the indoor section will be largely self supporting.
14.3. Clubhouse: the clubhouse is held on a lease from season to season at a rent of (currently) £3,000 per season. Tenure is secure since the landlord is a body whose function is to allow that area to be used for sports. The clubhouse enjoys a good location in the centre of town, but is a few minutes drive from the pitch. The one has to be balanced against the other. If the clubhouse could be near the pitch then perhaps more people would stay after games, increasing bar takings and generally enhancing the social side of the Club. On the other hand the town centre location of the clubhouse is itself a draw to some. The clubhouse is not big enough, or (arguably) smart enough for large functions, nor (because of the terms of the lease) do we have the opportunity to make money by letting it out for non-club functions. The Committee occasionally considers alternatives to the clubhouse, including sharing arrangements with other sports clubs, but so far nothing sufficiently attractive has turned up to make it worth moving. The current position is satisfactory, and is the same or better than many clubs who do not have exclusive use of their own pitch.
14.4. Coaching and playing kit: club shirts are provided to the first teams (and to the juniors), but lower teams have to supply their own for reasons of cost, which can lead to some discrepancy in the age and design of shirts. The Club provides away shirts when necessary. The Club has enough goalkeeping and coaching equipment, but only just.
15. Finance
15.1. The Club’s sources of finance are sponsorship, subscriptions, match fees and bar takings plus (for the new indoor section) grant monies. Subscriptions, at £80 for seniors and £40 for juniors, are low compared to many other clubs, but as Sudbury is not a wealthy area there is still some resistance even at those levels. Match fees are £10 for seniors and £5 for juniors. Currently the Club enjoys sponsorship to the tune of £2,000 a year.
15.2. In general the collection of subscriptions and match fees is well organised. The Club’s Treasurer keeps proper records and money received is paid in to the bank promptly. There is always a rump of players who have not paid their subscriptions by the deadline, and there are also a very few players who manage to avoid paying match fees on one pretext or another. The threat of non-selection for defaulters can be difficult to enforce in the lower teams which are struggling for players. However, in general things work as they should and there is no perceived need for change.
15.3. Further sponsorship would always be welcome, but the sponsors often see little benefit to it, as many even of the 1st XIs cannot be bothered to sew on a sponsor’s logo.
15.4. The Club is perennially short of funds, as is the case with most other voluntary, non-profit making organisations, but under the current Committee the previous shortfall in income over expenditure has been arrested and the Club is now on a better financial footing than for the last couple of years.
16. Club PR and Communications
16.1. Internal communication is done primarily through notices in the clubhouse and announcements made through the team captains. This is not entirely satisfactory.
16.2. The Club has a website which could form the primary information source and communications method for the Club, but the organisation to keep it updated and to use it as such is not in place. A target for this four year period is to achieve this, but we have yet to indentify who is to take the lead.
16.3. Team selection is done between captains using email - there are no selection meetings as such - and usually communicated to players via text messages. Player availability is typically not communicated in advance. This is no great concern to the higher teams, but the lower ones suffer from not knowing who is available for them to pick until late in the week. The Club would benefit from updating its procedures using one of the team based websites available on the internet for that purpose, but there seems little appetite to do this while the current system just about works.
16.4. The Club has no formal way of communicating with parents and this is an aspect which should be reviewed as part of the increased focus on the junior section of the Club. The perceived benefits would be not only that the junior would be more likely to remain involved with the Club, but that the parent might also become a volunteer, or even a player
16.5. The Club has a communications officer who has reaffirmed links with the local paper (the Suffolk Free Press), and most teams submit match reports, which are published, usually with one or more photographs. This is seen as a useful part of the profile raising exercise.
16.6. PR and communications are of course central to the ability to expand the player base, and we will need to give more thought to posters/flyers/assemblies in the local schools.
17. Social aspect
17.1. Being locally based, the Club has a well established social side, including a social secretary. There are a few formal functions during the year, such as the Presidents dinner and the club dinner dance, but there are more frequent events such as curry nights arranged at short notice. The teams, ages and genders mix well. No change is proposed to this area.
17.2. We do not have family days, although there is an annual registration day for juniors and parents where they attend and try out. We do not have crèches to allow those with young children to play, and although such a thing might be an ideal, we do not believe that we have the resources to do it. No change is proposed to this area.
18. Links
18.1. Schools: our links with schools are currently tenuous and informal and we need to strengthen them as part of the project to enhance the junior section.
18.2. EH, regional and county: this year ours is one of the two pitches in Suffolk used for junior development coaching, and in 2011 we expect to host a coaching course. We have no ambitions beyond that in this area, and any we had might be limited by lack of pitch availability.
19. Summary
19.1. In general the Club occupies the position it likes, as a friendly family based club rooted in the community.
19.2. The priority for the Club is to increase the junior numbers. In order to do that the coaching staff will also need to be increased and to become more qualified, and we will need to establish/enhance links with schools both on our home turf and on the boundaries of our catchment area. We will also need to improve our communication with parents.
19.3. The administration of the Club is in the process of overhaul as part of the Clubs First initiative, and will then be fit for purpose. The two areas requiring most work in this regard are:
· Organisation of the junior section. There are a sufficiently large number of tasks to be done/co-ordinated that we propose to appoint a junior manager, subject to there being a suitable volunteer.
· Communication: the website should be made the prime notice board and method of communication. This will require one major effort, and then a continual but lesser effort keeping it up to date. The Committee will seek to task someone with this project.
3 November 2010
Action Plan 2010/2014
|
|
2010/11 |
2011/12 |
2012/13 |
2013/14 |
|
Coaching |
Mid season: Identify new coaches for next year and those who can step up a level – particular regard to be had to the need for enough level 2 coaches in 2012/13. Book them onto courses.
Mid season: Designate coaches for each coaching group for next season. Confirm at end of season. |
Host Level 1 coaching course for those identified last year.
Mid season: Identify new coaches for next year and those who can step up a level. Book them onto courses.
Mid season: Designate coaches for each coaching group for next season. Confirm at end of season. |
Mid season: Identify new coaches for next year and those who can step up a level. Book them onto courses.
Ensure coaches booked onto coaching courses attend them.
Mid season: Designate coaches for each coaching group for next season. Confirm at end of season. |
Mid season: Identify new coaches for next year and those who can step up a level. Book them onto courses.
Ensure identified coaches attend qualification sessions.
Mid season: Designate coaches for each coaching group for next season. Confirm at end of season. |
|
Outdoor seniors/vets |
Mid season, review succession for team captains. |
Mid season, review succession for team captains. |
Mid season, review succession for team captains. |
Mid season, review succession for team captains. |
|
Indoor |
Set up juniors section and enter indoor tournaments.
At season end, (i) review success and sustainability (ii) consider starting a seniors section (iii) review succession for manager/coach. |
At season end, review success and review sustainability and succession with regard to manager/coach. |
At season end, review success and review sustainability and succession with regard to manager/coach. |
At season end, review success and review sustainability and succession with regard to manager/coach. |
|
Juniors |
Appoint junior manager.
Appoint contacts for each relevant school.
Contacts to raise profile of the Club within the school and seek to recruit.
At season end, review success of profile raising and agree actions to be taken for the start of next season. |
At start of season, school contacts to report on profile raising actions and likely success: junior numbers to be kept under review and changes noted.
Mid season, review succession for junior manager and school contacts.
At season end, review success of profile raising and agree actions to be taken for the start of next season. |
At start of season, school contacts to report on profile raising actions and likely success: junior numbers to be kept under review and changes noted.
Mid season, review succession for junior manager and school contacts.
At season end, review success of profile raising and agree actions to be taken for the start of next season. |
At start of season, school contacts to report on profile raising actions and likely success: junior numbers to be kept under review and changes noted.
Mid season, review succession for junior manager and school contacts.
At season end, review success of profile raising and agree actions to be taken for the start of next season. |
|
Volunteering |
Appoint volunteer coordinator (VC).
VC to produce and publicize job descriptions and required qualifications for all posts.
VC to propose to Committee a reward scheme for volunteers. |
Mid season, review succession for VC.
VC to keep all volunteer roles under review, especially publicity, numbers and succession, and report periodically to Committee. |
Mid season, review succession for VC.
VC to keep all volunteer roles under review, especially publicity, numbers and succession, and report periodically to Committee. |
Mid season, review succession for VC.
VC to keep all volunteer roles under review, especially publicity, numbers and succession, and report periodically to Committee. |
|
Umpires |
Mid season, review succession for umpire liaison officer.
VC to seek new volunteers for umpiring courses. Courses to be publicised and booked.
|
Mid season, review succession for umpire liaison officer.
VC to seek new volunteers for umpiring courses. Courses to be publicised and booked. |
Mid season, review succession for umpire liaison officer.
VC to seek new volunteers for umpiring courses. Courses to be publicised and booked. |
Mid season, review succession for umpire liaison officer.
VC to seek new volunteers for umpiring courses. Courses to be publicised and booked. |
|
Comms |
Committee to task someone with review and overhaul of website to make it the main noticeboard and comms method.
Committee to task someone with review of team selection/availability info and making proposals for change.
Junior manager and comms officer to make proposals for better links with parents. |
Mid season: Success of updated website to be reviewed and any necessary changes actioned.
End season: comms generally to be reviewed. |
End season: comms generally to be reviewed. |
End season: comms generally to be reviewed. |