Club Development E-Newsletter
Edition X - September 2007
Win a share of $1,000 worth of Volleyball equipment from Madison Sport and the Australian Volleyball Federation - the cost effective way to replace equipment
Congratulations to the Victor Harbor Volleyball Association (SA)
Winners of August’s Madison Sport prize draw
As winners of the prize draw the Victor Harbor Volleyball Association received $500 worth of volleyball equipment from Madison Sport and the Australian Volleyball Federation.
Other winners in August were:
Manly Warringah Volleyball Assn. (NSW) - $200 worth of volleyball equipment
Northern Beaches Volleyball Assn. (NSW) - $100 worth of volleyball equipment
University of Western Australia Volleyball Club (WA) - $100 worth of volleyball equipment
Norwood Bears Volleyball Club (SA) - $100 worth of volleyball equipment
For information about how to be in the next prize draw (end of November) to win a share of $1,000 worth of volleyball equipment from Madison Sport and the Australian Volleyball Federation for your club, association or school please view the information towards the bottom of this page.
Introduction
Having recently tendered my resignation with the AVF to take up a new position in New Zealand working in the sport of hockey, this will be my final Club Development E-Newsletter and I would like to take this opportunity to thank those clubs, associations and schools that have supported this publication through the provision of articles for inclusion, questions to be answered and simply supplying updated information on a regular basis for the Where To Play section of the AVF website. Certainly the incentive of the prices made available as part of this initiative were a primary reason for many to engage. However, the emails received along the way indicating that the newsletter was a valuable read and that some Clubs appreciated having an avenue to which they could forward genuine questions and receive a detailed response, proved that this was a worthwhile endeavour.
As is to be expected with any change, the value of any project is reassessed when new staff take control. Therefore, to support the need for this e-newsletter in the future I would like to encourage clubs, associations and schools to come forward with articles and questions in the coming months to form the basis of the first newsletter for 2008.
To those of you that have just completed your indoor season, I trust it was a success. With summer on the way preparations for another beach season are certainly underway for many, while others get ready for the summer version of their indoor season. The AVF wishes everyone success with their upcoming seasons.
Tim Shannahan – AVF Sport Development Manager
Included in this edition of the AVF Club Development E-Newsletter are:
- Strengthening Your Club – forming links with other sports;
- Your Questions – A summary of questions addressed over the past two years;
- Your Initiatives – A summary of the initiatives that have been submitted over the past two years;
- The latest edition of ASC Club Development E-News; and
- The opportunity to win a share of $1000 worth of volleyball equipment from Madison Sport
As always, it is appropriate to point out that often the term “Club” is used in a generic context in this publication to mean clubs, associations and schools.
Strengthening Your Club – forming links with other sports
At an ASC Club Development & Membership Growth workshop earlier this year there was some discussion regarding a trend that is seeing clubs and associations from different sports work more closely together. The reason for this is the ability to share members as players across multiple sports.
Every sports Club typically wants more members, but attracting new participants can often be a struggle. The notion of having another sport assist your Club and provide a source of new members is certainly a foreign concept to many as it has generally been about competing with other sports for the limited number of people that wish to engage in organised sport, but this new approach is about working smarter to achieve desired outcomes.
Most sports are seasonal and Clubs do not give much thought to what their members may do in the off-season. Sure, some will continue to play the sport they are passionate about in an off-season league (e.g. summer indoor volleyball competition) and the sport of Volleyball is one of the few that naturally lends itself to being suitable all year round with a definite summer option and winter option. However, it is people looking for a seasonal change that are at the forefront of these new alliances.
The concept is simple. A distinctly summer sport and a distinctly winter sport, that by their very nature are not competing for members, decide to work together to allow the other to directly market their sport to the other’s members through newsletters. Known alliances that have been established to date have tended to be built on the social nature of existing membership across two sports and therefore building on this. However, some sports are now thinking in terms of suitable options for off-season training for their members.
What does this mean for Volleyball Clubs? Beach Volleyball and the training benefits of playing in sand would appeal to a number of winter sports that require agility and jumping from players. On this basis Beach Volleyball Clubs could look to establish alliances with AFL, netball and basketball clubs and associations to name just a few suitable examples. Similarly, indoor Volleyball Clubs could forge relationships with summer sports such as softball, baseball, cricket and tennis.
However, any such alliances would have to work both ways and so Clubs need to be willing to provide a reciprocal service to the sports with which they create alliances. This does create a risk of loss of members, but experiences of those sports that have tried this to date have been positive and worked well for both parties to any alliance.
For further information, email sdm@avf.org.au.
Your Questions
With no new questions submitted to be addressed in this issue, it has been decided that a summary of the questions that have been raised previously would be beneficial to remind Clubs what can be located in past editions.
What are the benefits to Clubs for members participating in State-run Referee and Coach Education Training Programs? – submitted by Sydney University Volleyball Club (NSW) (Edition II – September 2005)
Is there a software package available from AVF that covers all the administrative processes relating to the management of a volleyball club? – submitted by the Brisbane Volleyball Club (QLD) (Edition V – July 2006)
In terms of internal validation, what is best practice when seeking club member's feedback regarding the clubs performance in all areas of operation? – submitted by the Brisbane Volleyball Club (QLD) (Edition VI – September 2006)
There are many elite or development programs currently being run through either state programs or others. Are there any plans to create a learning or information network between those running these programs and clubs? As clubs our players feed into those programs. It would be good to understand how these programs are working, what coaches are looking for in players (skills etc) and what current thinking is in relation to training and development of players. – submitted by East Brisbane Volleyball Club (QLD) (Edition VI – September 2006)
We have permanent poles on our local beach for volleyball. The association maintains and replaces these poles as required and permission is supplied from the Local Government Authority for seasonal use of the beach under certain conditions. What responsibility (insurance wise) does the association assume if we hire nets out to the general public for one off social events? Does this change if we supervise the event or ‘gift’ the use of nets rather than charge for them? – submitted by the Bunbury Volleyball Assn. (WA) (Edition VIII – March 2007)
As a duty of care issue, is it the Club’s responsibility to ensure that the younger players are safely on their way after training has finished; or is it enough to ensure a parent comes to the door to collect their son/daughter; or are we under no such legal obligation? Should the Club have a waiver signed to the effect that parents understand it is not the Club’s or coaches responsibility to ensure players are in the correct vehicle after training/playing? – submitted by Rossmoyne Volleyball Club (WA) (Edition IX – June 2007)
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If your Club has a question regarding any aspect of Volleyball that the Australian Volleyball Federation can answer in this publication then please submit your question to sdm@avf.org.au. Each legitimate question submitted earns your Club two additional entries into the next quarterly Madison Sport prize draw.
NEW – The Club Clinic is a new feature of the Club Development Network that is currently being piloted by the ASC. The intention of the Club Clinic is to provide a way for members to communicate with each other and with the ASC to discuss shared issues. Keep an eye on future editions of the ASC Club Development E-News for information regarding the availability of the Club Clinic to all Club Development Network members.
The Club Development Network is a free, Web based program that supports the development and management capacity of sporting clubs.
The aim of the Network is to assist clubs across Australia to identify ways in which they can develop their clubs so they can provide the best possible service to their members. The principle upon which the network has been established is one of promoting continuous improvement. To be a successful, well-run club you need a clear understanding of leadership, planning, people and organisational performance while maintaining a strong member focus. These areas are emphasised in the Club Development Network.
By developing and promoting products and services from the ASC, National Sporting Organisations (NSOs), and other groups, clubs can improve their management.
On becoming involved in the Network, a club/association undertakes an internal review using a simple checklist. The checklist helps to identify how the club is performing in various aspects of its management and operation. In doing so it identifies a number of areas for improvement and develops an action plan for addressing those areas. From here the club can access the Resource Library which has a wealth of club friendly resources to help the club address its agreed actions. Members have asked for examples they could print off and use at their next committee meeting. Resources range from a template for a strategic plan through to a fact sheet on how to run a safe sausage sizzle. It is all there waiting for you to log on and print it off.
More than nine thousand clubs are already members of the Network and your Club can join by logging onto www.ausport.gov.au/clubs
ASC Club Development E-News
At least once every three months the Australian Sport’s Commission releases its own Club Development E-News.
The latest edition of the ASC Club Development E-News, the September edition, is now available. The main articles within this edition are:
- Competition: win a Gatorade drinks package
- Club profile: Newport Power Junior Football Club
- 9000th Club Development Network member
- Club Clinic pilot
- Thanks Coaches and Officials program
- Sport-specific resources: part 2
- The mobile revolution — GatorTeams
To access the E-News, click on the link below:
www.ausport.gov.au/clubs/members/enews/index.asp
AVF Website - Where To Play
Make your Club accessible to members of the public seeking somewhere to play or a team to join. A listing on the AVF website on the 'Where Can I Play' map gives your Club an advantage in obtaining new players or teams. The AVF receives a number of approaches on a weekly basis from people interested in participating in our sport and the standard response is to refer them to the ‘Where Can I Play’ map, so can your Club afford not to be included.
If your club, association or school is not currently listed then look at the type of information provided by other Clubs and submit something similar. Information can be submitted to sdm@avf.org.au. For some States the intention is to link to the 'Where To Play' sections that exist on the website of the appropriate State Volleyball Association, with Victoria the one State that currently has this in place. Therefore, information can be submitted directly to the State Volleyball Association for inclusion within their Where To Play section and a link will be added from the AVF website to the relevant page.
If your Club does have an existing presence in the Where To Play section, consider what can be done to improve the accuracy or quality of the information being presented. This information becomes dated all too quickly and therefore it is appropriate to ensure it remains accurate so that potential players do not become frustrated and lose interest.
Too often it is the ease of information that can be obtained from non-affiliated corporate providers of the sport that results in potential players opting to participate in the programs these centres offer and therefore never become an affiliated member of the sport. The Where To Play section of the AVF website hopes to help address this issue by making information about participation opportunities easily accessible.
For this reason the submission and confirmation of the accuracy of information listed in the Where To Play section of the AVF website remains a mandatory component of entry into the quarterly Madison Sport prize draws run in conjunction with this publication.
Please submit information relevant to your Club to sdm@avf.org.au. Information will be loaded to the AVF website as it is received. (Worth 2 entries in this quarter’s Madison Sport Prize Draw and must be completed to validate any other entries)
Club Initiatives
With no new initiatives submitted for this issue, the following is a summary of the articles provided in the past in this section.
Sydney University Lions Cup: the establishment of a new competition – submitted by Sydney University Volleyball Club (Edition II – September 2005)
It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time: the establishment of a new club – submitted by Brisbane Volleyball Club (Edition VI – September 2006)
Technological Innovation – submitted by Brighton Secondary School Volleyball Program (Edition IX – June 2007)
A Successful Restructure – submitted by Rossmoyne Volleyball Club (Edition IX – June 2007)
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If your Club has experienced success in an initiative it has undertaken and other Clubs could benefit from reading of and learning from your success please contribute a brief article (photos optional if appropriate) to sdm@avf.org.au. Each article submitted earns your Club five additional entries into the quarterly Madison Sport prize draw and that will significantly improve your Clubs chances of being a winner in the next Madison Sport prize draw, as has been the case for previous winners.
Latest AVF News
To access all of the latest Volleyball news at the national level, visit the Australian Volleyball Federation website – www.avf.org.au – and view the content on the news flash.
Win a share of $1000 worth of volleyball equipment for your club, association or school
To encourage clubs, associations and schools to engage in the initiatives identified each quarter in this e-newsletter, the Australian Volleyball Federation, in association with Madison Sport, presents clubs, associations and schools with the opportunity to win a share of $1,000 worth of volleyball equipment. Each quarter a series of tasks will be presented, with the completion of each task worth a designated number of entries into the prize draw.
The following prizes will be drawn each quarter:
First Prize - $500 worth of equipment from Madison Sport
Second Prize - $200 worth of equipment from Madison Sport
Third Prize - $100 worth of equipment from Madison Sport
Fourth Prize - $100 worth of equipment from Madison Sport
Fifth Prize - $100 worth of equipment from Madison Sport
How To Enter
This quarter clubs, associations and schools can gain entries into the prize draw via the following means:
· Submit information for inclusion in the AVF Website 'Where To Play' section about your club, association or school volleyball program. If information is already listed for your club, association or school, send a confirmation email that it is still correct (value – 2 entries)
· Register with the ASC Club Development Network or be an existing member of the ASC Club Development Network (value – 1 entry)
· Submit an article for publication in a future edition of this newsletter on a successful initiative undertaken by your club, association or school for inclusion in ‘Club Initiatives’ in a future edition of this newsletter (value – 5 entries)
· Submit a profile of your Club, providing information on its structures, how it delivers its volleyball programs, what makes it a successful entity (value – 5 entries)
· Submit a question relating to club development to be answered in ‘Your Questions’ in a future edition of this newsletter (value – 2 entries)
Please note that the AVF Website 'Where To Play' information is considered a mandatory requirement for entry. If this component is not completed then ‘clubs’ will be awarded no entries, regardless of how many other activities are completed. Likewise, those Clubs that have previously submitted this information must confirm that the information currently listed is still correct.
For entries to be validated an email must be submitted to sdm@avf.org.au. This email should identify the number of entries a club, school or association is entitled to in the upcoming prize draw. This email should also include any information for inclusion in the 'Where to Play' section or other information relating to other entry activities.
Entries close on Friday, November 30th 2007, with winners drawn on Friday, December 7th @ the Australian Volleyball Federation office. Winners will be contacted via email in the week following and will be published in the January 2008 edition of the AVF Club Development E-Newsletter.
Club & Association Development Information on the AVF Website
For further information on Club & Association Development, please visit the Club & Association Development webpage on the AVF website. The information presented provides options for accessing further assistance to benefit your ‘club’. The appropriate page can be found at www.avf.org.au/index.php?id=55. Past editions of this newsletter can also be located in this section of the AVF website.
The Australian Volleyball Federation is supported by the following organisations:
The Australian Volleyball Federation delivers national programs in conjunction with the following affiliated Member State organisations:
