National Development Conference, 2010
This year's National Development Conference was held at Lilleshall on 23-24 October 2010.
The following agenda contains links to the various presentations:
- Welcome and introduction by the new ArcheryGB Chairman, Dave Harrison;
- Key note speech by Huw Irranca-Davies, MP in which he explained his role as ArcheryGB's new Parliamentary Fellow and why he got involved;
Sport Fellowships of this kind are a volunteer role and very valuable in ensuring that the needs of sport are considered when legislation is being framed and to lobby on behalf of the sport - many people involved in framing government policies and legislation know little about sport. (For example, recent changes to the assessment method for commercial water rates were in danger of severely damaging sports clubs that own their own building - lobbying by the CCPR and Parliamentary Fellows has helped to reverse the change by exempting most clubs.) A full transcript of Huw's speech is available from the link above - it is a little long, but very interesting.
- Launch of ArcheryGB's ontarget Development Programme;
ontarget is the new development programme that is now available to all clubs, if they believe that it will help them - it is completely voluntary. The subject was sufficiently important that it is reported in a separate news article, available from the link above.
- The role of partnerships in the growth of archery: Kate Moss (1.2 Mb) (expired link) (Archery GB) and Jane Kracke (0.5 Mb) (expired link) (Staffordshire County Sport Partnership) presented how they have been working together in the Stoke and Stafford area to develop archery;
Kate Moss joined ArcheryGB from SportStructures specifically to co-ordinate ArcheryGB's schools and young people development activities at national level. Her presentation concentrated on the reasons why School Sports Partnerships (SSPs) and County Sports Partnerships (CSPs) are valuable to archery, not least because resources within archery are limited and because it opens up access to additional skills.
Jane Kracke works for a CSP and explained the type of assistance that they can give to clubs.
- David Reader (0.6 Mb) (expired link) (ArcheryGB National Development Manager) on the (sometimes surprising) results of the 2010 sport satisfaction survey;
The 2010 Sport Satisfaction survey was conducted by MORI on behalf of SportEngland - its results are therefore independent and not influenced by what our directors might like to see!
Although satisfaction in ArcheryGB has fallen slightly since the previous survey (2009), it is significantly higher than the all-sport average - we are just in the top quarter of sports. All sports are down on 2009, but archery has fallen far less than most. Members of affiliated clubs tend to be more satisfied than people who shoot outside of our club system! Perhaps the least surprising result of all is that, when asked what would most help improve their satisfaction in archery, almost half replied 'Coaching'; perhaps the most surprising result is that satisfaction levels among those who do and those who don't receive coaching help are almost identical - it appears that receiving coaching makes no difference to the level of satisfaction that archers say they experience! This sounds like a result that needs research to find out why.
- Sue Matthews (2.3 Mb) (expired link) from Silver Arrow Archery (Northamptonshire) on how she delivers archery in schools;
Sue Matthews provides archery lessons and after school activities as a full-time paid contractor. The main theme of her presentation was to show a professional attitude when dealing with the school itself, showing how students could have an enjoyable time shooting, but at the same time learn skills that applied elsewhere. However, when dealing with the students, the emphasis was on safety, enjoyment and rewarding success - the skills of team-work and numeracy would just develop automatically, without having to 'teach' them to the students.
- Roger Crang (0.4 Mb) (expired link) from Deer Park Archers (Gloucestershire) on the extraordinary expansion of his club;
Deer Park Archers has expanded from about 30 members in 1998 to over 300; about 100 more are currently in beginners' courses and there is a waiting list of a further 180+. It achieved this by following two basic principles:
First, it runs the club in the same way that one would a small business - proper budgetary control, documenting everything it does, and innovating when the tools it needs don't exist (for example the idea of accrediting 'Parent Coaches', who help in the training of their own children only). Second, by concentrating on providing after-school archery locally, they attract a high proportion of the students into the club itself; when the students become enthusiastic members, it draws the parents and teachers in and most 'catch the bug'.
Roger was quick to acknowledge that there have been problems on the way - one club which is likely to have close to 600 members shooting at 5 or 6 different venues at the same time is probably becoming too much of a juggernaut, so it is quite possible that they will separate it into several smaller, but more manageable units.
- Bob McGonigle (2.7 Mb) (expired link) (ArcheryGB Development Director) on why sport has to develop;
Bob's presentation was intended to get people thinking about the speed at which the world is changing and therefore whether our sport needs to adapt accordingly.
The presentation is itself an adaptation of one by Karl Fisch, an American educationalist, who put it together to show why teaching in the US cannot resist change, without severely compromising students and the American economy. The original can be found on YouTube and is really worth a watch. Oh, and turn the sound up - the soundtrack is awesome. Alternatively you can Google "shift happens"!
As the last presentation shows, we live in a world that is changing ever more quickly and it would be wrong to think we can ignore the change. However that does not mean that every club automatically has to change because of it; there is a place for tradition and calm and there is a place for the modern - the important point is that we consciously make an informed choice.
It cannot be emphasised enough that the message from the conference was not that we all have to develop, nor that development must necessarily mean throwing away all the important values that our sport stands for; the message is simply that we need to consider development very seriously - then for those clubs that do want to develop and want help to do so, there is help available from a variety of sources, which now includes ArcheryGB.
During the coming week each club will receive a letter from the ArcheryGB Development Team, giving more information and inviting you to get involved. Please discuss it with your members and decide whether your club wants to get involved.
If you have any questions about the development program, feel free to contact the development team or the Kent CDC. Alternatively, you can ask and discuss during the informal meeting after next Sunday's county AGM.
Finally, it is intended to set up a meeting in the near future for interested clubs to attend, to which we plan to invite one of the ArcheryGB development team. More information will be available about that shortly.
