Warwickshire ASA Chairs Forum 12/2/17
Notes of meeting
Present - Mrs S Stow (Warwickshire ASA), Mrs H Weeks (WM Region),
Mr M Hart (Perry Beeches), Ms Jo Deakins (Coventry),
Ms S Finch (Fox Hollies), Ms S Cramb (B’ham Masters),
Mr S Rigg (Rugby), Mr K Sherwood (Facilitator),
Mr P Welsh (Raporteur)
ApologiesMrs R Saysell (Leamington), Mr N Pemberton Solihull), Malcom Ratcliff (Boldmere), Quentin Hayes (Warwick Water Polo), Orion SC
1Introduction
Mr Sherwood welcomed everyone to the meeting and invited them to introduce themselves. He emphasised that this was the Chairs Forum, their meeting and they could direct discussion as they considered appropriate.
2What do the Clubs want from the CountyAssociation?
Information Coventry had raised this question at their last committee meeting. They were unsure what the county did in respect of Water Polo – what events, the results of competition and the promotion of Water Polo.
They would also like to see links to the Midland Masters.
Officials training - In respect of training people working towards JL1 and JL2 qualifications had problems with getting mentored. This led to an extended discussion, overall experience at higher level galas, such as the Warwickshire’s was valuable in experiencing what to do and network, it was at the lower level galas where more swimmers made mistakes that they should develop their skills; for example the Junior League. However there can be a problem, because most of the officials do not have to be licensed and this can severely restrict mentoring opportunities.
It emerged that several clubs run low level galas – club championships, CDC, sprint nights etc. It might be possible to cooperate so that where these are being held and there are qualified officials on duty that mentoring for members of other clubs could be arranged. This requires ongoing discussion between clubs, but could be of overall benefit.
It was agreed that many clubs would benefit from publicity/presentation on the officials qualifications and how the necessary training can be arranged. This could include sharing of the theoretical sessions; the numbers on any one session need to be ten or fewer but many sessions have space for a few more.
FINA updates & Contemporary Issues - There is a need to arrange for FINA Updates and Contemporary Issues courses to be set up for those who need them. There are sufficient course leaders but requests would be best put to the county officials coordinator and well in advance of peoples need to renew their licence.
Sharing of members to make up relay teams - Some clubs raised the issue that in some competitions they were forced to declare an over age relay team member; to give others the experience of competing in a relay. This was particularly common with the boy’s teams but can also occur where they want to field an A and a B team. Is there a possibility that members could be ‘borrowed’ from other clubs to avoid disqualification? It would give the ‘borrowed’ member a chance to swim that would not otherwise be possible. In Masters this is common practice with the make up of a team being decided on the day.
50m pool experience - Fox Hollies raised the problem that their members had few chances to swim in a 50m pool, so that when they did so in competition it was both overwhelming – the size of the building, but also difficult because swimming one length in a 50m pool is quite different from swimming two lengths of a 25m pool. From this emerged the information that the new Birmingham University pool was very unlikely to be available for hire as a venue, but hire of one to possible three lanes is likely and a reasonable rates. The current intent is that 50% of the pool will always be available for general use and the layout of the pool will only be set up for 50m some of the time, at other times it will have the boom in. The need for 50m experience links in to the idea being considered by the CountyAssociation, to provide training opportunities in a 50m pool at two centres one either side of the county. This had been put in abeyance because the Birmingham pool opening and availability was not yet known.
3Level 1 and 2 Teaching courses require a whole week of a volunteers time
There has been a significant change that some are not aware of. Many of the available courses as advertised on the WM Web site are ‘Blended courses’. These have an on-line element which then requires a two day attendance to cover the practical elements. Unfortunately one of these had to be cancelled recently because there were not enough applicants. It was important to note that the on-line and practical were integral to one course and had to be taken together.
This then led on to a discussion about the funding available for courses. At present the WM Region was funding half the cost of Level 1 and 2 courses. However this had to be considered with an important caveat. It is known that Sport England is going to reduce funding to swimming. How much the cut will be or exactly what the impact will be is unknown. The Region has made no decisions and will be discussing the issue further at the next board meeting, but Sport England has not said when the cuts will be known. In addition there is the possibility that the IoS will provide a voucher of £100 to some people. Details are on the IoS web site of whom may apply and how to do so.
There is a possible further way of saving course costs, by organising ‘internal’ courses, confined to a specific group;club, organisation or association, can be run at a significant discount. This approach would permit members of more than one club to share a course.
N.B. ALL clubs involved must be Swim 21 members and the cost of the course is a unit price for a number of people, not per person. So, if the number of attendees was less than was provided for the price per person would be higher to cover the overall cost.
Coventry will be running a ‘Blended’ course with the practical on the 17th and 24th of September. This will be on the WM list shortly. The on-line element must be completed in advance and attendees must do the week end element of that course.
Received prior learning There have been queries about people wanting UK recognised qualifications that have overseas training and experience. The IoS web site provides information on how ‘Received Prior Learning’ can be taken into account, for example qualified teachers and overseas qualifications.
4Other business
Job descriptions The question was raised as to whether club positions had to conform to Swim 21 job descriptions. It was pointed out that the Swim 21 JD’s were models for the key jobs. However if there was a need for additional separate jobs the JD’s can be created to suit as and when necessary.
Sucession Planning In many clubs it isn’t easy to develop succession planning. At present many key people are long serving and will want to stand down eventually. It is suggested that recruiting new people is best done by direct approach; many parents have valuable skills in their daily lives and if some of this can be tapped into, it can contribute greatly to succession. It does require the personal touch.
Fund Raising Helen Weeks will be publishing a new document on fund raising and raising the profile of clubs, it is due inApril.
Visual Impairment Birmingham Masters have some members who are visually impaired. They need a portable ‘clock’ that can assist them at the different pools they train at. They should contact Dave White who will be able to advise ( ) and may be able to help with obtaining a grant towards a suitable device through a ‘Club Development grant. In addition some operators have been able to offer assistance.
Charitable Status Many clubs are considering this because it does now offer advantages. Coventry have now gained experience of this and can offer advice to other clubs on the process.
Chairs Forum The Chairs Forum on the Warwickshire ASA web site could be used to greater advantage. It is presently only accessible by those chairs that have registered. It was agreed that Helen Weeks and the WASA Secretary should also have access as a means of direct communication to club chairs.
Note:Messages posted on the forum use ‘information push’, that is they are automatically sent to everyone who is registered, signatories to not have to check whether there is a message.
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