MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF
THE ERHA MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE HELD ON
WEDNESDAY, 9 MAY 2007 AT 7.15 PM AT THE HILTON HOTEL,
STANSTED
PRESENT:
ERHA Management Counties
Ros Marsh, President [RM] Jill Warrick, Lincs [JW]
Bill Felton, Deputy President [BF] Peter Wright, Norfolk [PW]
Margaret McCall, Treasurer [MM]
Catherine Lymer, Secretary [CL]
Loraine Bant, Competitions [LB]
John Hendy, Performance [JH]
Russell Nutter, League [RN]
Mike Trett, Umpiring [MT]
Charlie Farrow, RDM [CF]
1 APOLOGIES
FOR ABSENCE
Rob Oakley, Beds; John Helliwell, PR & Appeals; John Adams, Suffolk.
2 MINUTES
OF THE MANAGEMENT MEETING HELD ON 21 MARCH 07
Minutes agreed as an accurate record.
3 MATTERS
ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
[a]
Criteria for Welfare Officer – From Alison Hogg: Welfare Officer needed
in key departments ie Performance and Umpiring.
RYUAG covers Umpiring. Performance:
it would be ideal to have someone that sits on the group, otherwise may
have to advertise. CF has a meeting with
Performance and will discuss it then.
Guidance document still not ready.
[b] Single System – progress. EH are going to
speak to each county individually, but no dates are planned as yet. There is a
meeting on 25 May to discuss the workings of the Centrally Contracted Coaches
and how to move forward.
[c]
Youth Competitions – East contribution to cost of indoor halls. LB asked if there could be a bigger
contribution, subsidy at the moment is £300.
Discussion was held over the idea that competitions should be
self-financing. Agreed that next
season’s indoor competitions will be given a £600 subsidy and to review in
2008.
[d]
England Hockey AGM 2008 – any venues from counties? Rob Oakley had offered Bedford HC, much
discussion held, decided to approach Fords as seen as a bigger venue. RM – to email Sandra Richards for a
date. [Provisional date given as
Sunday 16 March 2008]
[e]
England Hockey – venue of Mens CC Final 17/18 May 08. 3 clubs that could host - Old Loughtonians,
Chelmsford and Harleston Magpies. Various
issues discussed. Still awaiting a
decision from one club. RM to progress
when venues known. [Date changed to 31May/1 June 08]
[f]
Cambridge City won East Women’s Vets tournament and then came 2nd
in the National Final. MM to liaise
with Cambridge City for a date in 2008 to host this event.
4 HANDBOOK
2007-08
Trevor Williams had agreed to do the
Handbook this year. CL to let John
Helliwell know that Trevor’s doing it, and to ask if he will get in touch. RM has got a list from David Gill about the
mens vets, that will go in the handbook.
5 EAST AGM -Thursday 5 July 07- approval of
draft agenda
Item 5 needed changing to 06-07. JH - any
elections for vice presidents? LB to
speak to Jenny Cardwell’s nomination and MM to speak to Ken Lochhead’s
nomination. Vice Presidents to be on the
agenda as a separate agenda item. JW
thanked RM for always making her feel welcome at Management meetings. RM asked that everyone produce the reports in
advance and try to get enough people to make a quorum (20).
6 INDOOR HOCKEY
Kelsey Kerridge has given East a good
price to hold events there. CF to visit
venue and report to next indoor meeting on 31 May 07.
It is envisaged that there is going to be
an umpiring problem for the 1st two weekends in December as it is
also the East League, and the regional indoor rounds for youth and seniors.
7 COMMITTEE REPORTS
[a] Finance (Short verbal report)
·
MM
is still chasing up Cambridgeshire for their schools’ affiliation fees.
·
This
year East will need another auditor – there is a small gratuity for this. Does anyone know anyone that would be
willing? BF – will chase up David
Hobbs. MM – will have finished with the
accounts by early June, the auditor will have 5 weeks to audit them.
·
05/06
season - Mini’s money has not been received from EH, going to send it with the
money for 06/07 season in Jan 08.
·
Officers
and Officials please let MM have their expenses as soon as possible, by email
is fine.
[b] Competitions
(Written report but not in appendices)
·
Presented the proposed
fixture list – U18 Boys Indoor not on yet, possibly swap the U16’s to 13
January, letting the U18’s boys have the 2 Dec date.
·
There were problems with
umpires this season – schools/clubs/counties would prefer to know at the start
of the season if they need to bring umpires.
MT- RYUAG will be dealing with those fixtures next year – it is to be
discussed at a meeting they are having next week.
·
Dates of Competitions
meetings to be confirmed once the rep from Lincolnshire is decided. MM - pointed out that the first meeting that
is proposed is the day after the Management Meeting. LB will correct that.
·
This year the Boys U14,
U16, U18 finals will be at the weekend, next year moving to mid-week.
·
Congratulations to U14
Boys (Ipswich) who became National Champions.
David Walsh and Barry Barr are stepping down as chairs, a big thank you
to them for all their support.
·
CF – What about the venue
for the Minis, has that been decided? LB
- leaving it for the Youth Panel to decide.
[c] Performance ( Written report but not in
appendices)
·
Meeting
has been set up with Jane Powell, key members from Performance and CCC’s in
late May – to discuss the best way to utilise the CCC’s within the East. All will be used at the Camps, as part of
their contracted days for EH, meaning East will not be paying them, this will
be reflected in the budget. Miche Bloch
recently held a meeting with Culford and got a further reduction in cost.
·
Still
problems with getting anything to do with Performance on the website. RM – has anyone spoken to Trevor directly
about this? JH will do.
·
Miche
Bloch has had trouble getting information to players as all personnel had
changed within counties. LB - if Miche had directed it through herself and
Fiona Wheeler it would have gone to the right people, also Kent were not
included on the list at all, LB only heard about it through her role as Chair
of Competitions.
·
Recently
U14 squad had a glowing review, Ian Gall got player of the tournament.
·
LB
– it is good to see ex-players coming back and coaching/managing East Squads ie
Claire Mackinder.
·
Future
Management Meetings will be attended by Miche Bloch as she is now the Chair of
Performance.
[d] League (verbal
report)
·
There
is no half–term break for men in 2008 because of Easter being so early.
·
EH
are reducing the numbers of teams in the National League, so could be up to 6
teams coming down.
·
2
year anniversary of the umpiring complaint form, no version of it has been
seen.
·
Umpires
want to appoint clubs to county pools this is in contravention of rule 5.1
·
There
were 1060 yellow cards this season in the EML (and 39 Red/MMO), there is to be an
increase in penalties for the 4th, 5th and 6th
yellow cards – extended match bans have been discussed. EML – 86 yellow and 1 red card.
·
Broxbourne
been told to put its house in order or get kicked out of the league, Captain
and Manager have been sacked.
·
There
has been lots of reports about a Ford player, playing whilst being banned. This
is not true, the player played whilst appealing the ban, which you are allowed
to do.
·
No
reports about Bedford HC, all the reports received have been complimentary.
·
Mike
Huckerbee has retired - a sad loss.
·
League
AGM – 10 June at Royston, everyone welcome.
·
RM
reported that when she attended the meeting on 26 April she had expressed her
disappointment that the League would not be implementing an U13 policy.
[e] Umpiring (verbal report)
·
There is to be a change of
officers. Sheila George is stepping down after 12 years as secretary. Mary Baker is going to stand in her place.
Alan Holliwell is stepping down as President – Sheila George will replace him. Barrie Pollard is stepping down as Chief
Coach – Jack Warner is going to be appointed.
·
A huge thanks was
expressed to all these volunteers.
·
Umpiring AGM is on 21 June
at the Red Lion, Whittlesford.
·
Peter Martinez’s funeral
yesterday. RN attended.
[f] Technial
Officiating (report in appendices)
·
Training course for
Technical Officials will run alongside PLUM again this year, dates are 8/9
September 07.
·
There is a note on the
East Website, directing people to Sheila George.
[g] Development [BF] (report in appendices)
·
To be discussed as an
agenda item at the next meeting.
·
JH – who has
responsibility for coaches within East?
Short discussion followed in which CF suggested that the CCC’s may have
that as a responsibility to pick the best coaches and encourage them forward. JH to ask at the performance meeting with EH.
[h] Public Relations & Sponsorship (no report)
[i] Appeals Committee/Discipline (no report)
·
MM – It has been raised
that East should refund the difference between the expenses and the £100 for
the appeal, once the appeal has been held.
Agreed.
[j] England Hockey
RDM (Report in
appendices)
·
Emphasised that the East has the most HDOs within
it. This a unique position.
·
The amount of clubs achieving clubs 1st
is growing.
·
Single system – 25% of clubs returned the
survey. Philip Kimberley has promised
nothing is going to be rushed.
·
There is positive news regarding the Club and Coach
Fund, but waiting for all the sport boards to meet before anything can be
announced.
·
Youth Panel – there has been 12 applicants – initial
meeting has been postponed due to exams.
·
Short discussion on where the applicants are from,
CF to extend the invitation to Kent Women.
[k] Regions’ Consultative Committee (No Report)
·
Next meeting 4 June
7 ANY OTHER
BUSINESS
·
RM - Gosberton Clough Poachers HC have merged with
Spalding Mens HC. From now the Gosberton
Clough Poachers HC will be known as Spalding Hockey Club Poachers (women’s
section). Men will continue to be known as Spalding HC.
·
Canterbury Ladies were fourth in the EuroHockey Cup
Winners’ Cup.
·
In the Regional Grand Masters (over 60s), East men
won, congratulations sent.
·
MM – Rob Oakley is doing the Lands End to John
O‘Groats for Bedford Hockey Club and a local charity – shall we sponsor
him? Agreed to sponsor £50.
·
RM – expressed her thanks to everyone for the their
support and hard work over the past 4 years she has been involved as Deputy
President and President.
FULL COMMITTEE
REPORTS APPEAR ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES.
The meeting closed
at 10.05 pm.
President
.......................................…………………………………………………….. Date
...................………………………...
Technical
Officiating May 07
Ros
I believe I am right in thinking that there is a
Management Meeting this week; if so would you please mentioned the following:
Technical Officiating
It is anticipated that a training course of
Technical Officials will run alongside PLUM again this year. The dates for PLUM
are 8th and 9th September, a week earlier than usual due to an early league
date start.
I hoped that Trevor could put a note on the East
website to the effect that if anyone was interested in the training would they
contact me, either by land line 01493 752189 or by e mail. I have no other
details of the venues as yet but at least I can collect names.
Two or three of our trainees last year have had
the opportunity to officiate at England Hockey events.
Many thanks
Sheila
Report
from Development Committee for Management
Because of the number of people that called
off because of other commitments on the 14th May it was decided to postpone the
meeting until; early into next Season. It had always been the intention to only
have one meeting per year ,but at the meeting in October 2006 it seemed the
various Delgates wanted to meet more often and accordingly this meeting was
organised.
I think it appropriate to quote one of the
Delegates reply and I think much of the comment made is very relevent
Much as I love more meetings (!), I am finding it
difficult to believe that this one has a real purpose without having a fixed agenda
to start with. I know that we discussed whether the meeting was
worthwhile in November and there were mixed replies. I think we end up
with the same people going to these kind of meetings, but the title of the
meeting is just different, but we talk about the same things! If you look
at the invitees, most go to the Coaching & Youth Comps meeting for the
East, most go to the EH road shows, and most go to their own county
meetings. The HDOs meet anyway to discuss low level development with
their own counties, so that leaves the performance end of development to be
discussed in a bigger forum. This should have been John Hendy's role as
the regional perf. director, and as I recall, the reason for this committee to
be established within the East in the first place. It was not originally
meant for a forum for counties to talk about how they develop hockey.
Certainly, that is my understanding from the East constitution as it
reads now..
Last time we went over lots of old ground -
talked about single system, the road shows etc, and I fear that is what will
happen again, and to be frankly honest, I am sure all of the volunteers would
be glad not to do that again.
As I see it,and in line with EH dev county wide, we have:
1. HDO's delivering local development
in counties, and with county support.
2. Two new East HDOs ensuring
continuity of work between the county HDOs and available to the counties.
3. An RDM who oversees both types of
HDO work to ensure continuity of development throughout the region, and
works with the counties and sits on the East Exec, feeding back. If there
are any reasons for development issues to go back to county, it can be done
from management meetings, if the HDOs haven't done so already.
4. The East Performance director
(currently John Hendy), who should be looking after the East squads &
personnel, and regional development (with input from counties). (This is the
Development committee constituted in the East at present). This committee was
to ensure that the counties could get their better players to an East Dev
centre, by nomination and get feedback therefater. This part is the bit
that is missing from the East at the moment and not the low-level development
that we talked about at our meeting in November and covered by 1-4 above.
Those are well and truly being handled by the HDOs, counties and our RDM.
So what should a development committee at East
level do?
Like EH is doing now, I think East needs to
concentrate on the delivery of performance development (because 1-4 is working
and is already overseen by the East through the RDM, HDOs and counties and the
East management get reports each meeting) but until EH is ready to role
out its plans for regional performance/development centres, I would strongly
suggest that we hold off trying to have more meetings or to second guess
what might happen until we have proper plans to work with. Interestingly
enough, I believe that the East competitions committee is seen by most as
the more key driver for East hockey. In theory - this should change with
the single system introduction, with the role of competitions overtaken by
development at all levels, but as I said - I think we should wait until we have
concrete plans to introduce to counties, until we try to work all that out by
having get together to talk about a development system that is about to change.
I also believe that the East may need to revisit
the constitution and the role of the Dev committee, in line with how hockey is
currently developed to see if a separate committee is actually needed. It
may well be, that the new centres are actually what East had in mind in the
first place, and with a pro-active performance person in post who wants to meet
with counties maybe twice yearly to discuss perf dev- that the constitution
doesn't need to change!
Whatever happens, it is key to note that it tends
to be the same volunteers at county level trying to go to everything at the
moment with regard to hockey for young people so streamlining the use of their
time is key. A new committee could suggest to counties that they
appoint a performance dev person from their own coaching & managing team
who then goes to these perf. dev meetings.
I'm sorry to be negative about this meeting, and
if I am in the minority, then I'll accept it is, but that week is also Essex
AGM week and I would not be able to come along anyway, as I'll have a lot of
prep work to do in my spare time for it.
Have copied Charlie as he invited us, and he
might think I'm talking a load of waffle too - so sorry again!!
Regards,
I would appreciate if anybody else has any
comments???
Bill
Felton
RDM REPORT
1 INTRODUCING OUR NEW TEAM
The
new England Hockey East team is now in place. Catherine Lymer and Sapphire
Cutting took up their new Development Officer posts with us last month and join
Fiona Robson and I here in the region. Catherine’s day to day office will be in
Bedford at the Team Beds and Luton Sports Partnership’s office, whilst Saph
will be based at the regional office in Bury St Edmunds. We will meet at least
weekly as a team and we all look forward to an exciting future for our sport in
the region. I should stress that whilst we have an expanded England Hockey team
in the region, we have four county based Hockey Development Officers still in
post, employed by County Sports Partnerships. Dave Carter (Lincolnshire) Connie
Bedingfield (Norfolk) Stuart Hendy (Essex) and Peter Simmons (Hertfordshire)
are still of course very important members of our regional
team.
I am also pleased to confirm that the Suffolk post has been re advertised and
we expect the new person to be on board by July. In the east region we will now
have in place more Hockey Development Officers than any other region and this
is a great credit to all our local partners who have worked with us to secure
these posts. (Contact details for all
our team appear to the end of this update.)
2 ROADSHOWS 2007
This
year’s round of Roadshows took place last month with audiences hearing updates
on progress with the England Hockey strategy, the implementation of the Single
System, the Performance Plan and planning for the Euro Hockey Nations
Championships 2007 being staged in Manchester in August. Just over 30 people
attended the east event at Saffron Walden Hockey Club on the 19th April. Thank
you to all who attended and special thanks to the Saffron Walden club for
hosting the event. The board presented the club with a new style England
playing shirt to thank them for their excellent hospitality.
3 MORE CLUBS 1ST and CLUB
SCHOOL LINK SUCCESSES!
Congratulations
to Welwyn Garden City who are the latest club to achieve the Clubs 1st
accreditation,
in the region. They join Brentwood HC, Redbridge & Ilford HC, Christchurch
HC, Sudbury HC, Bury St Edmunds HC, Dereham HC, Pelicans HC, Spalding HC, Luton
Town HC, Bedford HC, Stevenage HC and Bishops Stortford HC, on the east roll of
honour. (Cambridge Nomads and Harleston Magpies are currently going through the
assessment process, Whilst other clubs are reporting they are close to
completing the award.) New Club / School link agreements have recently been
signed by Stevenage HC & Luton Town HC with their local School Sports
Partnerships (SSP’s). These agreements will enable the clubs and the SSP’s to
access a range of benefits from us to assist them in developing hockey in their
area.
4 LTAD / SINGLE SYSTEM
QUESTIONNAIRE
The
questionnaire / impact study sent out to all affiliated clubs to look at the
impact of potential restrictions on under 14 and under 15 players in adult
league was completed and returned by a rather surprising and disappointing 25%
of clubs. The results will go to the May EH board meeting; further information
will be circulated in due course.
5 CENTRALLY CONTRACTED COACHES
I
can confirm that were have appointed four Centrally Contracted Coaches here in
the East. Simon Letchford, Julian Halls, Joe Cowan and Stuart Hendy were
appointed following the interview process which took place in late Feb, early
March. The new CCC’s will work closely with our Performance Coach Manager Jane
Powell and support the regional associations with the development of regional
player development centres. Coaches will be employed between 50 / 80 days a
year and have started their induction period. Whilst were we successful in
filling four of the five east posts we were less successful elsewhere and the
second round of recruitment is underway.
6 EURO NATIONS UPDATE
Tickets
are selling fast and planning for the event is moving forward rapidity.
Volunteers for the whole event 18th 26th August have been recruited and a
training day is arranged at a test event on Sunday 24th June. On a personal
level I am busy organising the “Euro Fun Zone” which will include a tented area
with lots of activities for young people and a special pitch area (surrounded
by a inflatable barrier) which will allow young people to have a go at lots of
fun / skill activities and allow us to demonstrate our new version of the game
for primary schools amongst other things.
7 TALENT FUNDING - NOW CLUB AND
COACH FUND
We
expect to be able to report some positive news about our Club and Coach funding
application
to Sport England in the next few weeks. This application was for funding to
support the development of our Player Development Centres across the country.
8 EAST YOUTH PANEL AND RYUAG
The
recruitment process for the East Youth Panel has gone well and the successful
young people are being invited to attend an induction day in July. (We have
delayed this to avoid the exam period.) The Youth Panel will lead on the
arrangement for the East Youth Festival (Regional rounds of the Yazoo Mini
Hockey Finals and the Young Umpire and Leadership events taking place in April
2008.) The Youth Panel will be working closely with England Hockey and of
course the ERHA Competitions Committee.
9. COACH EDUCATION
The
programme of level one course arranged across the region is proving popular,
several are already full. All courses details can be found on the England
Hockey website. Courses have taken place already in Dereham (Norfolk) and St
Albans (Hertfordshire.) A further mop up course will be arranged at the May
Hockey Development Officers meeting. The level two courses which takes place
over two weekends in July, with a follow up day in October is expected to be
well supported.
I am
pleased to confirm that we are currently seeing several 2005 & 2006 level 2
candidates complete their awards. A number of East based tutors recently
attended our first ever Tutor (Coach Educator) Conference at Bisham Abbey as
part of their ongoing CDP. All attendees were involved in two days of training
/ updates and all delegates received a tutor pack which included a new branded
lap top bag and an England Hockey branded polo shirt.
England Hockey (East Team)
Charlie Farrow - Regional Manager Tel 07811 336895 email charlie.farrow@englandhockey.org
Sapphire Cutting - Development Officer (Essex, Suffolk and Hertfordshire)
Tel
07781 898509 email sapphire.cutting@englandhockey.org
Catherine Lymer Development Officer (Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and
Lincolnshire)
Tel 07742 898279 catherine.lymer@englandhockey.org
Fiona Robson Regional Administrator Tel 01284 756930 Email east@englandhockey.org
County
Based Hockey Development Officers.
Dave Carter (Lincolnshire) Tel 0794
0954160 email d.carter@lincolnshiresports.co.uk
Connie Bedingfield (Norfolk)
Tel 0778 5724967 email connie.bedingfield@norfolk.gov.uk
Stuart Hendy (Essex) Tel 0773
7262730 email stuart.hendy@hotmail.co.uk
Peter Simmons (Hertfordshire) Tel
01707 281008 email P.J.G.Simmons@herts.ac.uk