Growing our Junior Club Membership Formby Hockey Club Growing our Junior Club Membership

Marc Bourhill – Formby HC Junior Development Programme Manager (click on picture for video):

Our Journey – from 100 to 300 In 2012 we set up a junior development programme targeting local primary schools in and around Formby This programme now runs in 8 primary schools and 2 secondary school and coaches on average 130 schoolchildren per week (across all year groups). Since 2011, and as a result of this programme, the number of juniors attending training sessions and playing at the club have increased significantly: 2011-12 – 80 2012-13 – 170 2013-14 – 200+ To cater for the extra demand we have trained up more junior coaches and also put on extra Junior training sessions: Up to 2012, we ran 2 junior sessions , one on a Thursday and one on a Sunday. From 2013, we now run 5 junior sessions on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and 2 on Sundays to cope with the increased interest and offer plenty of options for children who play other sports.

How Did We Find Coaches? We were fortunate that one of our experienced club coaches who is a qualified teacher, was able to take up the post of part time hockey development officer. We have a number of qualified coaches at the club and a couple of our younger coaches are on gap years and have worked on the project from the outset. We are continuing to get our young players qualified to help maintain the project. Key thing is that the coaches have a good rapport with children whilst being able to deliver quality sessions.

How Did We Find Schools? We already had a link with 2 primary schools in the town through other members of the club, so we followed up with these initially and gradually then approached other schools as interest grew Development officer contacted the schools and then went in to meet the Heads/PE co-ordinators to discuss the delivery options available and to see which would suit the school best Schools bought in as we offered free delivery initially, and our model was tailored to suit individual school needs – in some cases teachers attend sessions, one school uses sessions for teacher PPA time Our development officer has built really good relationships with the schools so they now trust him to go in and deliver as agreed

What Delivery Did We Do? We were very keen to deliver hockey in curriculum time as this would enable us to reach more children. The majority of the schools were keen to do this. We also deliver some after school clubs. The success of the delivery has only been possible because of Quicksticks The balls are ideal for working in primary schools that have tarmac netball courts and school halls. We couldn’t imagine having the success we have had using ordinary hockey balls. We coach classes of 30 often on 1 netball court and it works.

How Do We Make It Sustainable? Luckily, we had some funding left to us in a will. We increased this through a Sportsmatch grant and used these funds to start up the programme and fund the initial delivery Schools are now charged £30 per hour for the sessions. From 2013 the primary schools were encouraged to use their sports premium to enable delivery to continue – all the schools were happy to do so as delivery had impressed them (and the children!) enough Club has produced flyers advertising club sessions, and coaches also encourage children to come to the club sessions and attend Easter and Summer camps Culture of delivery in schools is really developing now, and the club has a real community feel to it Numbers attending training sessions are bringing in finance to put towards the following year’s costs Parents and children now attend the social events at the club!

Our Key Success Factors Developing the programme at a rate that suits us so we could grow our club capacity to match demand – by increasing number of junior coaches and sessions Initial funding – this meant that we could go in and deliver for free initially Having the right person to manage the programme and to go in and deliver quality sessions – this is very important Not spreading ourselves too thinly – we didn’t want to deliver ‘taster sessions’ in lots of schools but deliver more sessions in a smaller number of schools. We work in some partner schools all year round. Longevity is key – build strong relationships with the schools so that we can continue delivery year on year