East Region Hockey Association Meeting

Friday 25th November 2005 – Wyboston Lakes Conference Centre 6.30pm

 

Present: John Hendy (JH - Chairman), Ros Marsh (RM – President ERHA - guest), Ian Le Page (ILP), Steve Baker (SB), Sarah Fretwell (SF), Miche Bloch (MB - Secretary)

Apologies received : Phil Hurst (PH)

 

1)      Welcome to RM and all & introduction of & thanks to Miche Bloch in her new role as Secretary for the Performance group – JH

2)      Changes to minutes of last meeting.  SB recommended the Performance group contact the ‘UK Lions’ by letter as per last meeting, but also copy the letter to all other Regional Chairmen for their information.  Agreed by all – JH do.

3)      Minutes of last meeting duly signed by JH

 

 

AGENDA

 

1)      Confirmation of next 2 Performance group dates

Friday 3rd March 2006 (changed FROM 10.03.06 TO 03.03.06) - Wyboston Lakes

Friday 28th April 2006 – Wyboston Lakes

 

2)      Roles & Succession

  • JH – Chair & Squad Management
  • MB – Secretary
  • SB – Regional Coach
  • ILP & SF –Individual Development Scheme (IDS).  Historically the East has been made up of Squads & Camps.  Now wrapping everything into one and moving forward with ‘East Performance’ annual programme.  This will be made up of both squads and staff (approx 50 pa) & player development (approx 500+ pa).  Top players & staff will be selected and 1:1 development undertaken. 
  • ND – Think Tank
  • PH - Kit

 

 

RM – How does ERHA scheme fit with the England set up?

JH – We need to meet again with David Faulkner to clarify further.  Early indications are that what ERHA & England are trying to do is mutually beneficial.  David Faulkner wants to produce performance players via performance coaches – to this end he has been looking at & met with Regional Performance Chairs, National League & Regional squad u15 & u17 coaches to assist in achieving this.

RM – Will ND be staying with us next year or will he be taking a break as he may have suggested?

JH – to contact him direct to find out his intentions for next year. Understood that he has large work commitment at the moment.

 

 

3)      Website

JH – We need to get information about what we are introducing, doing & have done (results) disseminated via the East web site & then encourage people to look at it.  Can we see if this is possible via Trevor who runs the website.

 

4)      Group Communication

  • Management Committee & Competitions Committee – currently reasonable level of communication.
  • Competitions Calendar & England Set up - comes out in February 2006, MB to submit our dates as soon as possible after this to ensure likelihood of getting them.
  • Counties within ERHA - reasonable levels of communication, some channels could be improved & we are inviting them to East Camps August 2006 to encourage them to participate & be a part of what we are doing.
  • David Faulkner – meetings took place at 2005 u15 & u17 Regional Tournaments.  Many Coaches were invited to meet & discuss with him England’s priorities and schedule to 2012.  Would like to have closer links with the National office.
  • CPD - Coach and Manager Development - we need to push ahead with this as fast as possible, as agreed at the last management meeting. RM agreed.  We are very much committed to developing quality staff already identified & involved.  It is imperative that they gain necessary coaching qualifications in time for summer camps & 2006 season. We have established & agreed minimum qualifications for both & must have qualified staff by these deadlines. This is also in line with (Nat Performance Director) David Faulkner’s published wishes that we must have performance coaches to produce performance players for the National squads.  It is plain that the lack of a development sub-committee for a few years in the East has allowed the development of coaches to slow down significantly.  ILP agreed to meet direct with Anne Baker regarding staff CPD.

 

5)      ERHA Constitution

RM requested the performance group’s input to the East’s  Constitutional review currently underway – particularly in the areas contained in the ‘Schools and Youth’ sections. Terms of reference and relevance of the ‘schools and youth’ grouping in particular.

 

6)      Squad Managers 2006

We will be looking to use the staff that were part of the 2005 set up at Haileybury as the members of the support teams for squads.  They have been involved in the East’s Ethos, have been mentored, & will be involved in the ongoing CPD programme.

 

7)      UK Lions

As mentioned earlier JH will write a formal letter quoting insurance issues & the effect of non-affiliation as our reasons for being un-involved with UK Lions & copy this to other regions.

 

 

 

8)      Kit Policy

MB to make sure everyone gets back to JH by Friday next with comments on Kit Policy as presented by PH, prior to presentation to Management by JH. In particular reference to the Girls U15 East this year at their regional tournament.

 

9)      Update on Regional Tournaments 2005

Girls U17 – 1st Place, 8 England Trials  (Neil/Larraine)

Boys U17 – 3rd Place, 9 England Trials, 2 from NL (Martin/Miche/Josie/Leigh/Rich)

Girls U15 – Last, 4 England Trials (Jane/Sarah)

Boys U15 – 4th, 4 England Trials (Mike)

 

10)  Haileybury

We had over 500 players through the camps this year.  Currently about 4-5K up.   It is possible that unless the pitch is upgraded at Haileybury before the summer we will not be returning there this year. It is in a dangerous condition. They have been made aware of this & will be replying to ILP shortly.  We hope to remain there, but hope of doing so is fading.

 

11a)  Individual Development Scheme (IDS)

  • Individual Professional Development – ILP stated that the aim is to support anyone & everyone whilst they are with the ERHA.  Need to

-Rebrand & publicise East scheme

-Establish a talent ID process

-Pilot EYE

-Implement & Evaluate Staff CPD

May introduce a buddy system for mentoring process.

 

11b)  Staff CPD

  • Coaching - ILP has identified urgent staff qualifications to be done in 2006.  RM recognised the importance of the current situation we find ourselves in stating ‘Do what it takes to make it happen’.
  • CRB – Following on from 2005’s East camps system drawn up specifically for  Welfare, 2006 will see the introduction of ‘employees’ having to produce a CRB certificate or agree to be CRB checked.  SB has a list of all those who potentially will be involved in & with this process.
  • Child Protection – Haileybury camps are covered with literature & training.  For performance squads we must collate for managers the policies & documents from other Regional associations, other sporting bodies & the NGB that already have these in place.  CF is currently the ERHA Welfare Officer. RM stated that the East Performance Group need to appoint a ‘Welfare Officer’.  This was agreed with all present at the meeting on the express understanding that this would be for East Performance Group only & not for the rest of ERHA also.  Currently if there was an incident, it is likely that it would be directed to the National Governing body for Hockey, EHA.  We have Norfolk’s document that will be built into our paperwork.  RM confirmed that it was good example to follow.

 

  • Minimum Qualifications to work with the East – ILP listed these as: coaching qualification, CRB checked, first aid trained, Child Protection Act course, insurance, code of conduct signed.  ILP stressed that the procedure for getting us to where we need to be with regard to qualified individuals needs to be facilitated with every agency necessary to accomplish our outcomes in the fastest time possible.  RM again noted the importance of achieving these within a brief time frame re-iterating that we need to ‘Do what it takes to make it happen’.  This may necessitate close discussion with the National Coach Education Officer due to the range of England Hockey Schemes (levels 1-4), non-hockey courses (Sports Leaders UK) & the geographical nature of our staff (spread over 5 regions & Scotland).

 

12)   Performance Appointments for 2006

 

This matter was aired again as several changes had been made necessary due to career moves by incumbents or nominated staff.

 

  • Boys

U13 Ian & Fiona Gall

U14 Steve Baker

U15 Mike Anderson

U17 Martin Fields, Miche Bloch, Leigh Sitch, Richard Hobley

U21 Phil Cobbold TBC

  • Girls

U13 Trish & Maggie (please add surnames)

U14 Sarah Fretwell & Phillippa Hurst

U15 TBC 

U17 Jane Hurt TBC

U21 Neil Deans TBC

 

13)  Think Tank

Basic Timelines for run up to Tournaments & at tournaments, as part of Handbook for Managers, The Coach’s way into Squad involvement from counties in the East region is to have necessary qualifications & to come to Haileybury & get involved, be seen. This is a tried & tested method which has provided all of our more involved & committed staff.