1. North East Club Forum MArch 2017

2. Since London 2012 806 Clubs 51% female v 49% male 138k club players
36% more players since 2011
64k u16
80% more juniors since 2011
74k 16+
Impact since London Olympics with Bronze Medal and now with a Gold Medal.
What could the state of the nation be in 4 years time now after the Gold Medal??

3. 2016/17 DATA
Growth in both boys & girls / men & ladies
Juniors shown a clear growth – acknowledge this may now be presenting a challenge for some clubs
Exciting to see growth in the more ‘mature’ adult age range – perhaps combination of club retention of members & attracting players back to the sport through ‘B2H’ initiatives??
What will the picture look like in another 4 years time?
Are we ready? So hand-over to Barbara to take you through key elements for a club to consider about itself.
Clear growth in 5-10 and age groups with good signs of retention age groups and in the post University and groups. Also clear growth in 46+ areas for males.

4. Be the Difference. Create History. INSPIRE THE FUTURE.
What impact has the Gold Medal had within your clubs?
Has this been seen at Affiliation? Old faces returning?
EXERCISE – all get up, only sit-down when number of new faces is called-out.

5. 28 Hockey Clubs affiliate to NHA & CDHA 3589 players within the NE
Hockey in North East
30 Hockey Clubs in the NE
28 Hockey Clubs affiliate to NHA & CDHA
3589 players within the NE
(Juniors (U16s) 1284 & Adults 2305 (2016/17 affiliation data)
Increase from 2015/16 of 11%
Overall Increase in hockey affiliation 11%
Adults increase approx. 11%
Juniors increase approx. 11%
19 Clubs grown.
4 Clubs static.
7 Clubs shrunk.
‘Check & Challenge’ – encourage clubs to go back into Affiliation portal and update.
Future – clubs happy to share their Affiliation Data with other clubs within forum? M F
6- 10 yrs
193
232
yrs
163
320
14-16 yrs
170
206
17-18 yrs 92
109
19-21 yrs
368
346

6. Why a forum? Barbara Reynolds
Relationship Manager for Cornwall, CIs, Devon and Somerset
Has successfully brought clubs in her area together to help develop the club structure and increase participation across each county.

7. What makes a great club? March 2017
BARBARA
Why a forum?
Barbara Reynolds, Relationship Manager for Cornwall, CI’s, Devon and Somerset, who has successfully brought clubs in her area together to help develop the club structure and increase participation across each County.

8. Central to the discussions
Inspiration - Clubs are at the heart of everything that we do. We look to you for inspiration.
If you were England Hockey what would you do?
What can we do in the North East?
What can you do at your club?
Integrity - We want your honest thoughts and feelings
Ambition - What do you want your club/ clubs to look like in 10 years time
Focus - We need to focus on solutions and outcomes, we know the problems!
Realism - We can’t cover everything tonight and we certainly can’t solve everything. We need to be realistic about what we can achieve
EH Brand Personality - Inspiration, Integrity, Ambition, Focus but need to have Realism!

9. WHAT MAKES A GREAT CLUB?
The best clubs aim to give the club player the best experience of our sport.
Those that do have more , better, happier players in a sustainable and vibrant club environment.

10. 7 ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS
Having great club leadership
Having access to appropriate and sustainable facilities
Developing an inspired and effective people
Providing different ways to play
Staying friendly, welcoming and social
Being local with strong community connections
Stretching and developing those that want it

11. The Big Issues
Facility Provision – lobbying and local support for appropriate facilities – Protect, Improve, Develop
Coaching- Player experience driven by appropriate coach training and support – coach led training needs to be more flexible, relevant to the audience and local.
Variety of playing opportunities - A greater variety of playing opportunities is required by players – not just league.
Varying club membership models - Club membership models need to vary from the traditional to suit evolving player groups and habits.
Maximising volunteer efficiency - We need to help you make volunteer jobs as realistic and efficient as possible by reducing bureaucracy and helping leaders break jobs down.

12. The big issues
Internal Club Communication - We need to help clubs with tools for internal communication
Club support and tools - England Hockey must provide appropriate club support and provide it coherently through a consistent framework of tools, face to face contact, information appropriate to the audience and leadership from England Hockey.
Talent development within clubs - England Hockey needs to better support talent development in the club setting (players, umpires, coaches). A significant proportion of contact time outside of the Single System is in clubs.

13. Club strategy
Vision
To give every club player the best experience of our sport
Mission
More, happier, better players in a sustainable and vibrant club environment
Aim
The club strategy will aim to provide the inspiration, tools and support to enable clubs to provide an excellent experience for participants. At all levels this will help to increase participation, develop , talent and increase the profile of hockey to help achieve our objective of being ‘ A Nation Where Hockey Matters’

14. What makes a great club?

15. Explain quickly the 7 key things.
Leadership: We think this is the most important of the 7 objectives. Great leadership is about having the right people in the decision making positions. These people will have the good of the whole club in mind and will be prepared to make sound long term decisions. They will be accountable for the governance of the club (finances and policies) but also seek to lead in a way that supports the vision and values of the club. The best leaders seek to leave the club better, engaging people in decisions and encouraging new volunteers.
Facilities: The best clubs have facilities that are appropriate for their needs, are able to develop as the club develops but aren’t unsustainable on a day to day basis. The majority of clubs do not own their own facility and therefore need to have excellent partnerships with the providers of the facilities that they use. Many of our clubs underestimate the need to do this yet pay large hire fees year on year to providers. Developing strong relationships politically is critical. For those that do asset on we need to ensure the facilities are sustainable in the long run with maximised use, careful maintenance and long term financial planning. We all need to work together to ensure that we get the right facilities in the right places.
People: Having effective and inspired people. This is about the people who make playing hockey possible. Coaches, umpires, organisers, captains and anyone who does anything to help make the club run. The best clubs have a really clear idea of what jobs need doing and when they need to be done. They work hard to allocated these jobs according to the amount a person is prepared to take on. New helpers are supported and invited to take on tasks that they are confident to do. It is also about supporting people with the right training to deliver for the club. On a longer term basis it is also about motivating these people so they feel valued and part of a team.
Ways to play: Our player research and wider knowledge of participation habits have made it clear that behaviours are changing. Many players don’t want to play every week but are happy to play at any time of the year. They want opportunities that provide good experiences but are also local enough to allow room for other interests and commitments. Saturday league hockey is in good shape, we have slightly more affiliated teams in the last few years, but it is also not the only thing we should try to offer. People’s time is becoming more precious and we believe that providing variety is the key to retaining more players. This is particularly critical through the teenage years. At the moment we have significantly more young players in our clubs than ever before, so a huge opportunity to grow the game if we can maintain their interest. How can we be flexible in what we offer, how we charge for it and who feels like a member?
Being social, welcoming and friendly: This came directly from the player survey, players told us that having a friendly, welcoming and sociable club is more important than what happens on the pitch! It is evident that clubs who do this really well recognise the importance and work hard on the club atmosphere. The single biggest way of attracting new players was through word of mouth – so it is safe to say your reputation precedes you. This is an area we have not really focussed on previously but it is an area where clubs are seeking support and is crucial to the recruitment and retention of players.
Local: Staying local with strong community connections. Players said that they wanted a club that felt local. They want their club to be part of the fabric of the local community. We all know local connections are critical when attracting players (such as club school links) but also being visible locally is a factor – local press, posters, banners, community events and active social media. We also know being local is critical when it comes to attracting sponsorship, forging partnerships and influencing decision making around facilities. To do this effectively the great club maximise the resources of their club – players, helpers and parents – to help strengthen their connections.
Stretching and developing those that want it: This is providing everyone in the club with appropriate opportunities to develop if they want to: players, coaches, umpires and leaders. For a player this might mean additional or different coaching or supporting them to progress upwards when they are ready. For officials and coaches it might be about supporting their development through training and qualifications or connecting them with broader opportunities within the hockey world such as HUAs or Single System.

16. What does your Club do well? What does your Club find challenging?
CLUBS IN The NORTH EAST
What does your Club do well?
What does your Club find challenging?
FLIP-CHART Exercise

17. Where do we go from here? Identify priorities.
Top 3 to focus on in the NE – next Forum??
How can CDA and NHA support?
Regularly review.
What EH support do you need?