Attendees
Taff Ahmed (TA) Coach and parent rep,
Dominic Batty (DB) Co- Treasurer,
Tom Collins (TC) Coach / Mens 1s captain,
Charlotte Dunham (CD) Coach / Ladies 2s Captain/1s Vice Captain/ Co- Social Sec,
Nikki Finn (NF) Ladies 1s Captain,
Cecelia Jaques (CJ) Advisory member,
Simone McCaskill (SM) Ladies Chair/Co-Welfare Lead / Heroes &Juniors administrator
Craig Moran (CM) Lead Coach / Co-Welfare Lead,
Tom Pfeiffer (TP) Men’s Chair / Social Sec / Co-Treasurer
Apologies
Jo Henderson (JH) Fundraiser / First Aid lead,
Paul Lewis-Freeman (PLF) Mens 2s Captain,
Grant Rolland (GR) Mens 1s Vice Captain,
Jude Willams (JW) Junior development lead
Introductions
With the arrival of Taff Ahmed as one of our parent reps, we had a round of introductions and welcomed Taff to the committee. Taff brings a wealth of personal hockey and coaching experience to our committee and is actively involved in promoting and supporting hockey, we are very lucky that he can offer his time to help at The Northern Club.
Volunteer coaching development and reward plan – discussion and decision making on way forward (Craig Moran)
Much discussion was held over this topic in relation to maintaining our status as a volunteering organisation whilst rewarding coaches for their effort by promoting their personal development in free coaching courses whilst also recognising the significant amount of very specific committed time that they give up on behalf of other members. The committee discussed many options none of which has been finalised but did agree that going forward that a coaching team would be defined with very specific roles, with a size that reflects its requirements and that steps would be taken to further develop this idea and these roles for future meeting.
The committee did agree that for specific events run by Club coaches (eg holiday camps) but covered under the umbrella of the Northern Club, separate financial arrangements would be made to reward those who have to give up work in order to facilitate this commitment.
Further information to follow on this topic.
Getting set up on new EH GMS player and fixture system (PLF)
We were not able to get to this topic but PLF is on top of this and is doing a great job on behalf of the Club. Thanks Paul! Update from Paul: All currently playing Senior Team Members of the Hockey section are now signed up with GMS and Match team sheets are now being submitted online prior to matches as per the North West Hockey League requirements. Many thanks to all players and parents for your support in getting set up before the deadline!
Safeguarding – feedback on club wide audit input
The audit paper was circulated by SM for all to think about. Did not discuss this fully due to other matters so feedback was asked to be sent in to Sim by end of Jan. Some of the themes we briefly chatted about including needing to consider how we look to support under 18s to feel valued/listened to/respected whilst also maintaining appropriate boundaries. As promoted in the positions of trust code of conduct this includes not following/allowing under 18s to follow your private social media accounts if you are in a position of trust (which is generally everyone in a team who is an adult if playing/coaching/supporting under 18s unless a parent), avoiding private messaging by always involving the parent/wider group in the communications, making sure if giving lifts good practice is followed including DBS in place seen by Sim/Craig and avoiding lone driving, if this can’t be avoided parents should be liaised with about pick up/drop off plans and under 18’s should always sit in the back of the car, alcohol shouldn’t be consumed by the driver. Other areas we talked about was the scope to provide parents/young people with more information on expectations when they join the club eg if your young person attends a social event that the parent collects them and arrangements are confirmed beforehand, support from parents with transport, making sure young people follows safety requirements eg wearing protective equipment etc….
A club ‘welfare’ workshop event is planned by each of the sports sections welfare officers for the Spring time which will be promoted with all sections once plans in place. This will cover safeguarding, first aid, defib awareness raising and inclusion topics.
Other safeguarding/safe recruitment areas
DBS checks to be completed for Taff and new parent reps so they have a Northern one, Simone picked up references as is appropriate for Taff.
Agree session dates for next heroes and junior programmes
This course of Hockey Heroes ends 1st Feb. Next course will start 22nd Feb and there will be spaces available as we have approx. 8 children are progressing to juniors Hockey Heroes / Home (englandhockey.co.uk)
Juniors will run for one extra week finishing 8th Feb to allow for a focus on fun games and awards.
Tom Pfeiffer will chase any outstanding debt for this term – this is becoming quite time consuming so will need to look at a more stringent approach possibly moving forward. We will not be taking any new children once next term starts 22nd Feb whilst we review capacity / coaching team implementation. Still using 8 week booking link approach £28 for 8 weeks, £50 with kit https://northernclub.uk/shop/coaching/junior-hockey-training-course-8-weeks
At juniors attendance is currently approx. Under 10 – 30 average, Under 12 – 7, Under 14 – 8.
Hockey Heroes
We completed our Fifth Hockey Heroes programme. Here are a few of our amazing Heroes picking up their certificates!
Half term camp W/c 14th Feb
Decided to roll over to an Easter camp. Charlotte, Tom C and Taff offered to coordinate this and to bring a plan to next committee regards to numbers, structure and costings etc
Discuss if we can link with Chesterfield high to support their extra curricular sessions or not and who?
Any coaches interested to please let Simone know so she can feedback – if no capacity Tom C to pass on Mikes contact info who coaches for Merchants
Children’s university destination – should we sign up?
Rolled over to next time but looks good to be involved in
First aid
Jo H has ordered snazzy new first aid bags with more robust kit in for our injuries! She is also going to work with one of our hockey heroes parents Liz Price who has come forward as a volunteer to offer basic first aid workshops for our members which will be coming soon! We love it thanks ladies
Blind Wine Tasting
This fantastic night was a huge success raising £1000 for the section! Here are a few photographs from the night!
Socials coming up and tour plans
End of season party for seniors (possibly include older juniors/families too) is planned for 23rd April. Need to plan a junior event and also a wider section AGM meeting. Tour plans for Scotland to be developed
LGBTQ+ awareness raising in Feb and rainbow laces promotion
Libby Parkinson is doing some work on LGBTQ+ club friendly status through her work and has offered to promote/share this at Northern which the committee are in support of. More details to come but it will include awareness raising, the opportunity to purchase rainbow laces to show our support and having a champion to promote this in the ladies, men’s section and possibly also at the wider club welfare event being planned for Spring. Fab work Libby and also thanks goes to Charlotte D and Neil McC who have offered to help out in championing this campaign. Look out for more info coming soon.
Next meeting date:
Thursday 24th Feb 8.30pm @ the Northern (or can join via zoom)
Members to let the committee know if there’s anything you’d like on the agenda for discussion