It is important to have communication at all levels within the club. I have already mentioned the importance of coaches communicating the season’s target meetings to the athletes, and the communication between coaches to be organised. It is probably even more important for the Committee to keep the communication lines with club members and with the wider community open. It we take communication with club members first and only for this post, then it has always been the case that club members were encouraged to attend meetings, without the power of vote and see the committee in action. Are club members actively encouraged to attend? Derek McGinley always had his athletes attend – they were mainly Under 15 and Under 17 – at one time or another. I have sometimes felt in recent years that there was little incentive for attendance at the AGM. One of Peter’s emails apologised for the late sending, said the main item was the election of office bearers and it wouldn’t take long. This year’s AGM has not appeared on the website yet. No announcement of the new committee, no detailed comment on other agenda items.
For me, the most important feature of the AGM is getting the members to attend, and then the opportunity to quiz the committee on their handling of the club over the past year. Maybe especially about finances, recruitment – aims for the coming year could be in there too. And of course the election of the new committee.
It is not a good time for sports clubs in general and athletics clubs in particular right now. Recruitment is a problem that must be tackled and it is good that Jim Wright’s development plan is proceeding. Retention is also a problem too. Both are made more difficult by a growth in the number of sports available to youngsters now. The one that I had difficulty believing when I first heard of it was ‘Ultimate’ which is pretty well frisbee: it has coaches with qualifications, Universities award Blues for it and there are championships. The tremendous growth in women’s sport is an entirely praiseworthy development but it does make recruitment more difficult for the other sports.
Money is a problem and it is something on which club committees should be quizzed at the AGM. Without the Minutes of the AGM being available, we can’t compare this year with last – have we as much in the bank as last year or less is one question that raises its head. I know of one club which called in an administrator last year and of another operating at a deficit. They are both big clubs. Is it that athletics is following the wrong model? I have asked members of clubs in other sports how they collect money, how high their subscriptions are and have the patterns shown on the next post.
But first, I’d like to see Committee Meeting Minutes on the website.
