Just a few points / ideas / suggestions that sprang to mind after last nights AGM:
1. There should be an official role for a current manager at the club to help the new under 7's each year through the season. This could be designated to whoever moves up to the under 8's or to someone more senior but still playing 7 a-side. I certainly wouldn't mind doing this for next years under 7's (although it is debatable how much i know!). There were times during the season when I certainly could have done with advice on training, formations, substitutes etc. never mind all the admin, money collections, communication that needs to be done. Even small thing like ordering trophies - no one has contacted me and said at the end of the season ring joe blogs and order your trophies, you find that you stumble upon problems and the right solution.
2.The forum - The best way to encourage its use is to make it the only way of delivering certain content. If an email was sent to all the managers saying that new forms, action logs etc are now available via the forum rather than attaching them to emails then the website would become the only place to download these forms from. I am 100% sure that if managers used the forums and told their parents about it they would find it so much easier to communicate effectively to them. It is far easy to make one post to the forum with directions to your next game than it is to contact 20 parents or print off 20 sheets of paper with directions on - make them available in one place for parents to write down or print off at home.
3. Newsletter - Surely a 'must have', I know it comes down to time and organisation but could we not have a system where each age groups manager were responsible for sending a monthly news item regarding the team to one person who could compile this into a newsletter. This newsletter could be made available via the website. For an example of how effective newsletter are visit the kingsmead school website: http://www.kingsmead.cheshire.sch.uk/news/news.html. A real sense of belonging to the school exists because of the information that is available to parents on this site. It would be nice for players and parents to hear about the success of other teams in the club or any news regarding another age group - it gives younger players some focus as to where they might be heading in the future especially if it contained comments from players about moving up to 11 a-side for example. Also the fact that the club does so well with sponsorship is lost to the parents as is the fact that we have achieved charter standard, points that can be emphasised with a newsletter.
Maybe previously this has not happened due to printing cost etc. now that practically everyone has access to the Internet these things can be delivered very cheaply via the website. Any parents not on-line can have a copy printed by the relevant manger. If there were no other volunteers I would put myself forward to compile the relevant info into a newsletter and pass it on to Mile Parker but this obviously needs the agreement of all managers to supply ihe information in the first place.
4. Affiliation to schools - has the club considered contacting local schools such as davenham and kingsmead to offer football training to the school? I have spent the last 6 months taking a different age group per term and doing an hour training with them on a Wednesday afternoon - I have done this as a favour to the school but it is a shame that this has not been connected to the club in any way, even from a publicity view point. I have deliberately not used any kit or equipment supplied from the club in any of these sessions as I did not know how the club would view its use for this purpose. Offering training in schools would be a great place to start looking for new players especially at the younger ages and indeed their parents could be future managers.
feel free to comment
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".....then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel, is just a freight train coming your way......"
Thanks for the comments, some great ideas that will benefit the club, the difficulty in the past has always been finding someone who is prepared to take on the roles but if we can get more people involved it will really move the club forward.
My feedback on the individual points below:
1. I think the under 8's manager assisting the new under 7's is a great idea, and if you are prepared to take this on I am sure everyone will agree that it will be of great benefit to the club. Whilst the under 8's manager may not have the widest knowledge of club matters, I'm sure that the things that are most important to a new manager will still be fresh in the mind of the person who has just been through their first year. Re the trophies, it was announced at one of the previous managers meetings that the trophies were ready for collection and managers ‘clinics’ were available for anyone who needed more information or help with any club matters. However a new managers ‘buddy’ would be a great back-up and very worth while.
2. I personally have some concerns in making the forum the only way of communicating information through the club. I think that we all recognise that communication is a problem within the club as a whole and I think we should be looking at widening the possibilities as much as possible and look at various ways of communicating. I know that the forum has been a great success for the under 7's and I hope that more teams give it a try, but I worry that some managers/teams won’t have the same access to the web may suffer and miss information if it were web only based.
3. Newsletter, bring it on! - I agree this is definitely something worth trying again and if you are prepared to put it together I am sure it will be of great benefit to the club and will be one huge step closer in building a ‘club culture’ rather than individual teams. A newsletter was tried a few years ago and the 2 main problems were getting content from managers and getting the newsletter distributed to players/parents. With the website we now have the opportunity of publishing the newsletter online, reducing costs and increasing the chances of it being read.
4. Affiliation to schools is again another good idea, I know that in the past we have approached local schools with a view to using their pitches for matches. Maybe if we can offer the schools something in return we would stand a better chance (although I know the Kingsmead team use the Kingsmead school pitch). I suggest this is something we could talk about at the next managers meeting along with all the other points above.
thanks for the reply - its a bit poor that an email to all the managers did not produce a single reply.....
As above - item 2 - If you have concerns about distributing information electronically then by what other way is this possible? With the failure of managers to go to meetings and no other forms of communication available what other course is an option?
Personally it seems like mamagers need to make their minds up whether they want to contribute to the club or just run their own team. Those that want to contribute should start some form of communication and get things rolling. would it be possible to produce some form of questinaire to distribute to all managers to see if they would be willing to move the club forward?
How about a list of duties that a manger is expected to perform by being a part of the club - I have never been given this and although a lot is expected it is but by chance and being a manager that a lot of responsibilities become apparent. We clould list the functions expected from every member and see who wants to agree to these terms or leave and run their own team. Hopefully everyone will chip in and help turn things round.
Is it only through the managers meetings that issues have previously been raised? how many people never read or reply to emails? as managers should we all not be available to get messages to each other?
rambling now......will put some points in an email, maybe if I bug people enough we will get a few more responses
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".....then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel, is just a freight train coming your way......"
