Scottish Water Polo Committee Meeting 20th November 2016

NSA Stirling Uni, 12:30 – 12:30

Minutes (version 0_2 – published)

MINUTES from meeting on 13th October 2016

Attendees

  • Alan Anderson (AA) – Chair & Secretary
  • Joan Dundee (JD) – Scottish Girls TM
  • Debbie McRobbie (DM) – Scottish Womens TM
  • Neal Rayner (NR) – Development Officer
  • Ian Melville (IM) – Scotland Mens TM
  • Jen Hardy (JH) - Portobello
  • Gael Drummond (neé – Logan) (GD) - Events
  • Brian Campbell (BC) – Scotland Boys Head Coach
  • Mathew James (MJ) - ?
  • Dougie Gardiner (DG) – Forth Valley
  • Lesley Luke (LL) – U16 league Co-ordinator, Stirling
  • Michelle Lawrence (ML) – Pool Co-ordinator, DWPC
  • Duncan McGregor (DMcG)- Warrender
  • Alison Thompson (AT) – Edinburgh University

Apologies

  • Katie Elder (KE)
  • Ross Elder (RE)
  • Paul Metcalfe (PM)
  • Alan Scobie (Kirkintilloch & Kilsyth ASC)
  • Ian MacCallum (IM)
  • Mike Forster – U18 League Co-ordinator

Notes & Actions

  1. Apologies – Chair

AA advised apologies had been received as noted above.

  1. Welcome and update – Chair

AA welcomed all to the 2016 AGM, and provided an overview of Scottish Water Polo in 2016.

  • 2016 has seen steady development of the sport. Participation numbers are increasing, the sport is more visible and performances of Scotland teams across all ages are improving.
  • The domestic competition consists of 3 boys/men’s leagues and 1 girls/women’s league as well as a Scottish Cup competition, which culminates in a finals day and has become part of the annual events calendar.
  • Scotland hosted the 4 Nations Cup in Aberdeen in September, with the men’s and women’s teams winning their respective competitions. Junior teams are also competing to a much higher standard on a regular basis as well.
  • Relationships with Scottish Swimming are very positive and we are well supported as a discipline. Ian McCallum has finished his term on the Scottish Swimming board and it will become important to maintain our relationship and profile with other/incoming Board members. AA thanks IM for his support and contribution to the development of water polo in Scotland while on the Board.
  • GB remains a challenge after British Swimming withdrew funding a number of years ago, however relationships have been maintained with home nation counterparts through the GB management team. The focus of this is entering teams in EU competitions (U17 and U19), the British Championships and potentially a senior GB team in the future.
  • The committee aims to continue to make steady improvements and is mindful of capacity of volunteers in the sport. Improved definitions and breakdown of roles is helping and the introduction of the pool coordinator, team managers and competitions coordinators is evidence of this.
  • 2017 will see a focus on the development of technical officials in order to ensure the sport continues to develop and everyone involved is well supported.

The meeting was run using the slide deck “SWP AGM 161120 0_5 final.ppt” which accompanies these minutes.

  1. Approval of minutes from previous AGM and matters arising

AA advised there had been no formal AGM in 2015 and as such there were no minutes to approve. AA advised there had been regular monthly committee meetings since April 2015 with the minutes published on the SS website at

  1. Finance Report
  • Attention was drawn to the sizeable spend in running Scottish Water Polo at over £140k in 2016 of which £15k is provided by Scottish Swimming.
  • AA thanked Katie Elder for putting our financial situation back in order, he also noted Katie was standing down due to work commitments. The position of Finance Manager has been advertised for some time without any volunteers coming forward, there is a need to fill this important role.
  • There is additional spend in the Development budget
  • Similar £15k contribution from SS in 2017
  • Scottish Cup Finals day made net contribution
  • Pool utilisation has improved with appointment of Pool Co-ordinator, but still too many sessions being un-used – and paid for.
  1. Domestic Competition
  2. Report 2016

The absence of an overall Domestic Co-ordinator was in part mitigated by each league competition and the Scottish Cup events being managed by a Competition Co-ordinator

The domestic coordinators have had a positive impact on the girls and boys leagues; thanks to Lesley Luke and Mike Forster for their contributions at U16 and U18 respectively.

Challenges remain in getting senior women’s and men’s fixtures played but it is hoped they will be played before the end of the year.

  1. Presentation of Pennants for Scottish Cup 2016

AA advised the intention was to provide successful clubs with a permanent recognition of their domestic success in the League and Cup competitions through the provision of pennants.

Pennants were presented to the following 2016 Scottish Cup winners

Under 16 Mixed / Warrender BC
Under 19 Girls / Warrender BC
Under 21 Boys / Dunfermline WPC
Ladies / Dunfermline WPC
Men / Portobello ASC
  1. Proposals for 2017

The Scottish Championships will take place on 23 April 2017 at the Olympia, Dundee. Entry is set at £100 per team per competition and there will be 6 competitions in the 2017 championships (although this will be confirmed with entries):

  • Men’s
  • Women’s
  • U21 boys
  • U19 girls
  • U18 boys
  • U16 mixed

Entry forms have gone out already and the draw will be made before Christmas.

Weekends will be set for prelim and semi final matches; these dates will be set and communicated by Michelle Lawrence.

There will be a deadline date for matches to be played; please adhere to this as failure to meet them will impact on the latter stages of the competitions and operational aspects f the Championships day especially order of play, vital to those teams with players playing across teams.

Please direct any questions to Paul Metcalfe and Gael Drummond.

Scottish Leagues 2017

The following leagues were agreed for 2017:

  • Men’s (see note a. below)
  • Women’s (see note a. below)
  • U21 boys (see note b. below)
  • U21 girls (see note c. below)
  • U18 boys
  • U16 mixed (see note d. below)

Decision: Player entry will be maintained at £35.

Points to note:

a) There was a suggestion that the senior men and women’s competition could align with the BWPL season i.e. September to April as opposed to annually. This will support those players competing in British & Scottish competitions and will also support the university teams who currently need to enter 2 competitions per academic year. This should be discussed further by teams involved before a decision is made.

b) The introduction of a U21 boys League competition will have the additional condition that those who have a full international cap are not eligible

c) U21 girls competition will not be a formal competition as it is not though there are sufficient players in clubs to form sustainable teams. As such players will invited to compete, will teams \ squads being selected at the start of the season and playing in an allocated team across 3-4 development tournaments across the year.

d) U16 mixed competition will continue to be played over set weekends

  1. Development Report – Neal Rayner
  • A 5 year development plan has been created for 2016-2021 with the focus on 4 regional areas: East, West, North, and Central \ Midlands. Development officer, Neal Rayner will move away from delivery into a supportive role, helping clubs and regions deliver activity themselves.
  • Those who are focused on recreational/participatory water polo will be supported locally through Scottish Swimming’s Regional Development structure; those who are interested a player pathway and being a competitive club will be more supported by Neal.
  • In addition, Neal will focus on supporting and developing newly qualified and current Level 1 coaches and technical officials to increase skills, experience and confidence throughout our volunteer staff.

Action: The Development Plan will be circulated to all clubs. This is not for comment as comment has been taken previously to develop to this stage; clubs are asked to consider which aspects of the development plan is relevant to them and to take responsibility to deliver

  1. National Teams Report 2016 & Preview 2017

The reports for the Girls, Boys, Women, Men and the North Sea Cup 2016 are contained in the slide presentation deck.

AA offered his thanks to all who had worked so hard during the year to establish and run programmes for these teams.

Special thanks to Joan Dundee and Jen Hardy who are standing down as Team Managers to the junior girls and senior women’s teams respectively.

Action: The Girls Team Manager role will be advertised.

Action: Chair to contact other home nations regarding Scotland hosting junior North Sea Cup in 2017 and to enquire who is hosting the senior competition

  1. GBR Update - Chair
  2. GBR Plans

The focus on the GB management team remains hosting the British Championships and preparing U17 and U19 teams for European competitions. Unfortunately the boys didn’t qualify, however, the U19 girls did; Congratulations to Hannah Edwards who was the only Scottish player to make the squad.

  1. HC Nationality considerations

AA advised there had been a number of issues regarding athletes who wished to “change their sporting nationality” between the Home Countries during 2016. AA working with counterparts in England and Wales have tried to address this matter as practically as possible, however, ASA Legal became involved and there is further work required to achieve a consolidated and agreed position. AA noted here will continue to be issues of nationality within and across teams, due to the current arrangements. Nonetheless, ensuring Scottish athletes have an equal opportunity in GB squads is the base position and is agreed with England (& Wales).

  1. Technical Officials Report

There is no report for technical officials due to the role of Technical Officials Co-ordinator becoming vacant during the year and not being filled.

The organisation and support of technical officials will be a priority for 2017.

The proposal is for a joint approach to managing this situation making optimal use of the Technical Officials we have to manage the pathway and technical matters; and having someone organise the allocation of technical officials to events.

For the pathway and technical matters; Neal Rayner and Ross Elder have produced a strategic development plan and technical official’s pathway; this will require resource to deliver however, we can tap into resource elsewhere, especially BWPL, so it is not unrealistic.

In addition to qualification, support is required for those who are newly qualified or less experienced. It is stressed clubs are required to take responsibility for the development of technical officials; they are just as integral as a coach, CPO etc in that the game cannot continue without them.

Action: Prepare a role description for the “Technical officials co-ordinator” - AA

Action: Clubs are requested to identify an individual who will lead on technical officials. This will include the recruitment, training and support of table officials.

  1. Scottish Swimming Update – Chair

AA provided an updated based upon a recent meeting with all the Discipline Chairs, hosted by the CEO Forbes Dunlop.

  • The corporate plan is in development and the water polo development and performance plan feeds into this. KPIs are currently being met.
  • Scottish Swimming have a focus on retention of membership, which is a particular opportunity for water polo in terms of recruiting swimmers who are falling out of swimming/other disciplines.
  • Speedo are no longer the equipment sponsor and have been replaced by TYR; details to follow.
  1. Election of Office Bearers and Management Committee Members

Position / Proposed / Second
Management committee
Chair / Alan Anderson / Brian Campbell / Joan Dundee
Event (domestic competitions coordinator) / Paul Metcalfe / Alan Anderson / Michelle Lawrence
Technical officials coordinator / Vacant
Finance Coordinator / Vacant
Co-opted members
Vice Chair / Ross Elder / Alan Anderson / Brian Campbell
Committee secretary / Vacant
Events, marketing and comms / Gael Drummond / Alan Anderson / Michelle Lawrence
National Teams manager / Jen Hardy / Alan Anderson / Joan Dundee
Governance and secretariat / Vacany

Additionally one representative from each club is invited to committee.

  1. AOB

Calendar Management

  1. Actions: clubs to confirm all and any dates they cannot play any fixtures in preparation for 2017 season. This includes clashes with other competitions players may be involved in (BWPL), school holidays, exams etc
  2. Action: Neal Rayner to circulate draft dates of development tournaments for information