Grow your own
WHAT DOES YOUR CLUB NEED?
EHB
Find out about how to join in with the annual Grow Your Own Club Day in September and the nationwide balloon race!
www.englandhockey.co.uk/gyo
Start planning for the future of your club now with the support of the EHB
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Contents Does your club have everything it needs?
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What is Grow Your Own?
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What does Grow Your Own involve?
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What is Club Day?
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What will organising a Club Day involve?
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How much commitment is needed from my club?
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What are the timescales for Grow Your Own?
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What else can my club do and where can I find more information and support?
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www.englandhockey.co.uk/gyo Grow your own WHAT DOES YOUR CLUB NEED?
EHB
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England Hockey Board (EHB) wants to encourage, support and nurture all hockey clubs in England to recruit, retain and reward their volunteers, staff and players and to take pride in their facilities and surroundings.
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Does your club have everything it needs? EHB understands that each club is unique. Clubs vary in size and have different aims and priorities. We appreciate some clubs may encounter more restrictions or barriers than others whether this be in terms of facilities, volunteers, money or any other factor. Grow Your Own (GYO) is for all clubs; men’s, women’s, mixed and junior. It is also for university clubs. All clubs attract a great pool of talent as well as a great number of participants. By ‘club’ this guide is referring to any affiliated hockey clubs. Each club should be proud of its achievements, whether that’s winning a league or a cup, achieving ClubsFirst, providing excellent facilities, attracting more players than last season or having a dedicated volunteer structure; there are many ways to measure success. Think hard about what your club can be proud about – you’ll be surprised how much there is already! These are the things that make your club unique and great.
Sometimes there maybe an area of your club that needs a little help. Do any of the following scenarios sound familiar? ÖÖ Your club needs to raise some money but have run out of fundraising ideas. ÖÖ Your club is having trouble attracting spectators to home games. ÖÖ Your club doesn’t have a permanent club house. ÖÖ The same people are always volunteering but no one new wants to help. ÖÖ Your club facilities could do with being updated. ÖÖ Players are leaving for other clubs ÖÖ Your club match results never get published in the local paper. ÖÖ Your club cannot attract enough young players to start a junior section. ÖÖ Your current volunteers are overworked and stretched – you need more help to spread the roles between more people. There are small steps your club can take to make big changes and create a lasting positive impact on the future of your club. 5
What is Grow You Own (GYO)? GYO is a new programme with the aim of helping clubs to plant a seed, and grow what they need to be successful. It’s about clubs finding what they need and then growing their own players, volunteers and coaches creating a sustainable club for the future.
Our vision for the future looks like this:
EHB is committed to ensuring clubs have the resources to seek out what they need and create a platform from which they can promote themselves to the wider community. GYO focuses on all areas of the club structure including volunteers, facilities, players, coaches, spectators, finance and young people.
Great facilities
A full house of volunteers and staff
The Future
High income is generated
High but manageable number of players
Great pathway into senior teams for young people
High number of spectators
GYO allows all clubs to achieve their potential, maximise participation, and to become what they want to be.
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A whole club formula for success
What does Grow Your Own involve? EHB has some exciting initiatives planned leading up to, throughout, and beyond 2012 and encourage all clubs to get involved!! The programme will grow year on year, and will offer all clubs in England a variety of support launched throughout the season. These range from events, web-based features, resources and competitions. What could your club take part in?
Club support guidance EHB will be producing various resource guides focusing on many different areas of club management and organisation. This series of useful guides will include chapters on subjects such as linking with volunteer centres, securing funding/sponsorship, preparing for 2012 and beyond, ClubsFirst and more. You can read these guides individually or combine them to create a recipe for success depending on what your clubs objectives are – see below for an example of how they can be combined to create your own recipe. Download these free of charge at www. englandhockey.co.uk! Alternatively hard copies will also be available from Head Office.
An example of how you can use the ingredients supplied by the EHB to create a recipe for success for your club
Club objective: we need more money and more volunteers to keep our junior section up and running
Take one Grow Your Own Money resource
add to it a Grow Your Own Volunteers resource
and end up with a successful, sustainable junior section for your club 7
What is a Club Day? Club Day is a chance for your club to show your local community how great you are! Use it to fundraise, attract more members and volunteers, and kick start your season by bringing your club together. Why not even invite the local media!
Club Day is an open day and has two purposes: ÖÖ For all members to get the club ready for the new season, front and back of house; ÖÖ To showcase the club to new members and volunteers, potential sponsors, and the local community.
When will it run? Club Day will be held on the first weekend of September and will be an annual event, promoted locally and nationally by EHB.
Club day will be held annually on the first weekend of September 8
What if my club can’t hold a Club Day that weekend? Don’t worry! Your club can hold an open day any time, but EHB is encouraging a coordination of a nationwide Club Day. Make sure you tell us when it is so we can help promote it! For example, universities may wish to hold GYO Club Day in October around Fresher’s Fayre. We don’t mind when you hold it, but national coverage will be promoted for the first weekend in September. Maybe your Club Day can fit into or around any other existing events at your club? For clubs, EHB would suggest this is still around September so you can attract members and generate income for your season ahead!
What will organising a Club Day involve? There are a number of things you can do to prepare your club for its open day, and activities you can carry out on the day itself. Planning will need to be coordinated throughout the summer to make sure you have the correct support for the day.
Take care of your facilities – this includes indoors and outdoors! ÖÖ Painting, cleaning, tidying ÖÖ Signage, scoreboards, branding, sponsorship
Administration ÖÖ Advertising vacant roles within the club - and not just to existing club members! ÖÖ Update notice boards ÖÖ Advertise courses to members – coaching, umpiring, child protection... ÖÖ Who will the point of contact for new members? Can anyone show them around? ÖÖ Nominate someone (or a group) to coordinate your Club Day ÖÖ Achieving ClubsFirst if you have a junior section, or maybe you could start one!
Advertising ÖÖ Produce leaflets and posters, or use new media such as Facebook and your website. ÖÖ Tell your local press – maybe ask for a photographer to come down or send in photos to your local paper yourself! ÖÖ Distribute flyers through letter boxes, in gyms, sports clubs, schools, colleges, or shops – anywhere where people will see them! ÖÖ Ask existing members to bring someone with them, get the kids to bring a friend, or even their parents!
Organise some fun activities! ÖÖ ÖÖ ÖÖ ÖÖ ÖÖ
Games BBQ and refreshments Competitions or quizzes Five-a-side or seven-a-side matches What is your social calendar for the season?
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Tell your prospective new members! Or maybe use your club day to ask for suggestions! Make sure your key members are also there, such as your Welfare Officer, Membership/Finance Officer, Lead Coach or Junior Coach, in case any new prospective members – especially parents – have any questions. Most importantly, remember what Club Day is about, if you are welcoming new volunteers, members and coaches how would you feel as a newcomer to an environment you may not be used to? The hockey participants amongst you will be keen to put on games to welcome new players, but how can volunteers who have little or no hockey background feel welcome? GYO Club Day is as much about creating a welcoming environment for newcomers to hockey, as it is to welcoming current participants.
Spotlight GYO Clubs Fancy having the spotlight put on your club? Each year EHB will be fully supporting and promoting clubs, catapulting them into the spotlight and giving them nationwide exposure. These will be called our ‘Spotlight Clubs’. This isn’t about promoting our premier league clubs or even our largest, even if you are a small club this may be you! Find out how on our website, www.englandhockey.co.uk. A competition will be run each year to find our Spotlight Club. Key EHB staff will be attending events held at Spotlight Clubs where you can go along and discuss specific topics with them.You might want to ask the Safeguarding lead about CRB issues, or the Volunteering lead about retention of your new volunteers. Being a 10
Spotlight Club will be a fantastic opportunity for your club, its members and the local community.
Branded goodies and giveaways
A balloon race is easy to organise. Firstly decide when your launch event will be – try and incorporate this into an existing event and make sure you have time to sell as many tags as possible!
GYO branded merchandise will be provided to help promote Club Day, including goodies for you to use at the club and materials such as beer mats to circulate to local pubs and bars. These will help you to raise awareness of your club and the volunteering and playing opportunities. Clubs will also be invited to take part in competitions and promotional initiatives such as a nationwide coordinated balloon race.
Helium filled balloons go the furthest – maybe a
The nationwide coordinated Grow Your Own balloon race!
be providing are made of latex which is an organic
EHB will provide participating clubs with 200 balloons free of charge with the option of ordering more. Balloons can be used to advertise your club and we will try our best to give you balloons in club colours. Clubs can generate income by selling balloon tags and by holding a launch event. Tags will have your club details on one side and the name of the sponsor on the other. Ask your club members, family and friends to sponsor a balloon. EHB suggest £1 per balloon is a good start and will make the club £200!
are completely biodegradeable and under the same
Balloons are then released at Club Day, and hopefully found by a member of the public. Whoever finds the balloon will firstly see the balloon is advertising your club and secondly will hopefully follow the instructions on the tag to fill in where they found it and post it back to your club to receive a prize. This could be a cash prize, or a free coaching session. Why not also issue a prize for the person whose balloon results in a new member for the club?
local company can help? Offer them free advertising at your event in return for filling up your balloons! You will also need a net to hold your balloons. This could be as simple as a goal net or a large plastic sheet – ask around your volunteers and members if they have anything. And if you’re worried about the environment, don’t be! The balloons we will material made from the sap of rubber trees (no trees are harmed in the process!) Latex balloons conditions decompose at a rate equal to or even faster than an oak leaf!
Our International Athletes, Officials and Coaches will be getting involved too! Our international players grew up playing hockey in clubs like yours. Maybe your club is nurturing the GB stars of the future? Some of our current stars will be visiting their old clubs to talk to and inspire budding hockey players. Our top coaches and officials will also be taking a trip down memory lane. What questions would you ask and what could you learn from them? From the England Men’s team winning the European Championships and the Women securing Bronze, to the London 2012 Olympics there is sure to be plenty to talk about! 11
How much commitment is needed from my club? Why not get the whole club involved? Whether that’s your junior players fundraising, your committee writing a new development plan or parents helping with refreshments on match days. Does one of your members, volunteers or even parents have skills that may be useful; someone in marketing or a good negotiator who can help you get sponsorship or funding, maybe from a company they work for? Someone artistic who could design some promotional posters? A painter, builder or someone with good DIY skills who could redecorate your club house or maintain the pitch? Even if it’s only an hour’s work, volunteers can help transform your club – get to know your club members and volunteers and see what they can offer.
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EHB employs 14 dedicated Development Officers (DO) who work closely with clubs and can help you to identify your priorities. They can help you achieve ClubsFirst, organise courses, offer general support and advice. They are your first point of contact with EHB. If you don’t know who your EHB DO is then go to www.englandhockey.co.uk and click on ‘Regions’. EHB encourage clubs to participate in all GYO initiatives but it is up to individual clubs to decide which opportunities to take advantage of.
Get to know your club members – you’ll be surprised at how much support you have!
My Club wants to be involved, what are the timescales for GYO? The diagram below shows when you should be doing what in order to run a successful Club Day every September. The process begins in April when you should register and then continues throughout the year until celebration time in September!
APRIL
Register for GYO with EHB. Make sure your club members and committee are behind it. Encourage as many people as possible to get involved!
SEPTEMBER to APRIL Retain and reward your club members and volunteers
APRIL to JULY
Key Dates
Apply for your guidance packs and start thinking about what your clubs wants to achieve.
SEPTEMBER
Celebrate your club at your Club Day! Don’t forget it’s a great way to start the season and well as promoting your club!
AUGUST
Step up preparations for your Club Day.
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What else can I do for my club and where else can I find information and support? There are many different opportunities for clubs and various places to find out additional information about how to progress your club. The guide below gives you a number of pointers to get you started.
ClubsFirst
www.englandhockey.co.uk
Does your club have a junior section? If so is your club ClubsFirst accredited? ClubsFirst is the EHB accreditation scheme for clubs. It is a national recognition of clubs that can demonstrate that they are working towards minimum operating standards. All clubs achieving ClubsFirst also achieve the Sport England Clubmark accreditation, a nationally recognised award for sports clubs.
Look on the EHB website for information and guidance on areas such as safeguarding, CRB checks, facilities, funding, courses and events. Keep up to date with the latest news from EHB including what’s happening with GYO!
Clubs achieving the ClubsFirst award are recognised as working towards providing a Safe, Effective and Child Friendly hockey Environment. County Sports Partnerships and funding agencies are increasingly recognising these clubs and choosing to work with them as a priority. There are also a range of benefits, priority bookings and other services available to ClubsFirst clubs. To find out more go to www.englandhockey.co.uk/clubsfirst or speak to your Development Officer – contact details are available on the website.
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www.greatbritainhockey.co.uk Great Britain Hockey is the body responsible for the development and administration of hockey in Great Britain related to the Olympic Games. This role includes the preparation, selection and performance of the men’s and women’s GB hockey squads and their participation in the Olympic Games and other relevant competitions and tournaments.
www.passionspeedrespect.com England Hockey has a new identity, which it launched as it announced a five year kit deal with adidas. The new identity, underpinned by the themes of Passion, Speed, Respect has a brand new micro site.Visit the new website for the latest news and player profiles of our national squads.
Grow Your Own Balloon Race – First weekend of September every year Look out for specific dates annually on www.englandhockey.co.uk 15
Grow your own WHAT DOES YOUR CLUB NEED?
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E HB
Grow Your Own aims to assist clubs who aspire to be well run, welcoming and successful and to be proud to promote themselves to the local community and beyond.
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This resource was produced by the England Hockey Board for use by affiliated clubs in May 2010. The England Hockey Board Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre Marlow Buckinghamshire SL7 1RR Telephone: 01628 897500 E-mail: info@englandhockey.org Website: www.englandhockey.co.uk