Clubmark newsletter - March 2009

IN THIS ISSUE

Spring fever...

Welcome to this Spring edition of the Clubmark newsletter! Whether your sporting season is about to start, finish or is in full swing, I am sure you have your fingers crossed that the recent warmer weather is a sign of more good weather to come!

In this edition we focus on juniors and how Clubmark clubs have witnessed tangible increases in participation as a result of their accreditation.

Take a look at the Spotlight on features, where you can read about some exceptional junior volunteers that give up their time to give something back to their sport.

Also, don’t miss our piece on external verification. If we visited your club recently as part of EV, please can I take this opportunity to thank you for welcoming us and relishing the opportunity to showcase your club.

Finally, congratulations to Berkshire Sport, the latest CSP to be awarded a licence to accredit Clubmark.

Keep active, accessible and accredited!

Clare MacLeod
National Clubmark Manager

News

Berkshire Sport awarded licence to accredit

Berkshire Sport has become the latest County Sports Partnership (CSP) to become licensed to accredit Clubmark, taking the total number of licensed organisations to 42.

Coaching support for accredited Golf clubs

The English Golf Union (EGU) and English Women's Golf Association (EWGA) have announced details of a new Club Coaching Grant for 2009, which replaces the previous Free Golf Coaching and Junior Club Coaching Grant schemes..

Academy of Beach Sports becomes the first Beach Volleyball Club to achieve Clubmark

The Academy Beach Sports has become the first Beach Volleyball Club to achieve Clubmark/Volley 1 Accreditation. The Club now has over 140 members including 13 qualified coaches and 8 qualified referees.

A new look for squash

Nick Rider, Chief Executive of England Squash & Racketball is delighted to announce that England Squash, the governing body of squash and racketball in England, has officially become England Squash & Racketball.

Clubmark re-accreditation for Greater Manchester Basketball Club

Following a weekend in which their U16 and U18 men's teams completed a Sureshot Cup double, Greater Manchester Basketball Club acheived more positives when the club successfully re-accredited as a Sport England - England Basketball Clubmark club.

Clubmark opens doors

Prior to achieving Clubmark accreditation in 2007, the Club had difficulty accessing funding for coach development and to replace aging and worn out equipment. It also needed to review and update its policies to fit new BCU structures and recommendations. This established Canoe Club found that Clubmark improved its access to funding.

Clubmark leads to increased participation

BMX Club increased participation by meeting the needs of local young people.

Spotlight on... Naomi Dean

Naomi Dean has been involved with Tyne Valley Canoe Club for over 3 years and is now a UKCC Level 1 coach, coaching many of the club's young people and assisting on river trips. She also helps with the School Club Links programme..

Spotlight on... Debbie Foote

Debbie Foote, 15, is a volunteer and badminton player in Grantham, Lincolnshire. She began playing badminton 4 years ago at the South Kesteven Development Squad, and now plays in both junior and senior leagues for Grantham. She is currently in year 11, studying for her GCSEs at Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School.

Spotlight on... Chloe Glendenning

Teenager Chloe Glendenning is not only an experienced paddler at Hexham Canoe Club. She also performs many other roles, including Step into Sport volunteer, BCU Awards Officer and Youth rep.

Spotlight on... Natasha McIntosh-Berry

Natasha McIntosh-Berry has been involved with Minchenden Netball Club for two years and is an experienced player, having played netball in Australia, South Africa as well as in the UK.

...this year's External Verification is nearing completion?

External Verification is a highly regarded aspect of Clubmark’s processes to ensure high standards of implementation and moderation to ensure consistency through the sports. Although not designed to give feedback to individual clubs or NGBs, EV does provide an opportunity to illustrate best practice, celebrate stories of success and gather testimonial evidence from the clubs who have been involved in the process.

As Year 3 EV nears completion, we thought it would be useful to give you the heads up on the initial findings. The increased number of bodies who are now licensed means that this year we have visited the widest range of sports to date.

KKP has visited a sample of clubs in each of the nine Sport England regions across around 30 sports. The clubs visited relished the opportunity to showcase their club. Rotherham Hockey Club, for example has published its EV letter on the Club website. Clubs also welcome the visit as an opportunity to seek clarification, share good practice and highlight potential improvements to the scheme.

As with previous years, clubs reported that they generally continue to see the value of Clubmark and it has led to, for example:

increased levels of junior membership

more structured links with schools and community organisations

improving training opportunities for coaches and other volunteers

Many clubs view Clubmark as THE club development tool and continue to improve the processes and procedures set out as part of their Clubmark accreditation.

The intrinsic values of Clubmark – quality, consistency and robustness are underpinned by EV and so inevitably we expect to identify areas for development. Further to last year’s findings, this year we are widening the process to include the EV of the NGBs and CSPs that are licensed to accredit Clubmark. This will ensure we monitor and moderate from all angles to maximise consistency and help everyone benefit from identified examples of best practice.

The full EV report will be published later this year, but in the meantime, here are some of the comments made by clubs to give a taster of what is to follow:

..Clubmark is a benefit to the club to help do things properly, especially important when working within the education environment.

..really important in helping integrate junior club and senior club as one. ...instead of developing another club which was on the cards, we are now focusing on making present club better and more efficient.

...think Clubmark should be branched out to adults.

Summary of accredited clubs

Congratulations to clubs accredited in January and February...

Stowmarket Lawn Tennis Club... Royal Leamington Spa Archery Club... BILLERICAY NC... BRAINTREE TOWN NC... DEEPING PHOENIX NC... Mansfield HC... Winscombe HC... Long Buckby Archery Club... Targetcraft Archers & Targetcraft Junior... Bromsgrove Golf Club... Crown Lodge SC... Poole Road Runers... Broxbourne Tennis Club (Section of Broxb... Cleethorpes Golf Club... Brigg Colts Hockey Club... Hagley Golf & Country Club... Ulverston HC... York Volleyball Club... 7Oaks TC... Milford Tennis and Squash Club... Kings Park Tennis Centre... Keighley Just-Ride CC... Glossop Kinder Velo... Birley Wood Golf Club... Hayling Golf Club... Central Lancashire TC... Blackburn Northern... Eccleston Park Golf Club... North Walsham Sports Centre... Lytham Tennis Club... Rainford Tennis Club... Next Generation Club Leicester... Market Bosworth Tennis Club... Carswell Golf Club... Chartridge Park Golf Club... Maidenhead Golf Club... The Wychwood Golf Club... Burslem CC... Audley CC... Chalford Tennis Club... Boirne Wheelers... Wessex Orienteering Club... Grove (Saffron Walden) Lawn Tennis Club... Tame Valley Basketball Club... Preston Pirates BMX... David Lloyd Milton Keynes... Priory Tennis Club (Cheshire)... Kumo Judo Club... Hollesley Judo Club... Ludlow Judo Club... Whitehaven Judo Club... Haydon Bridge Judo Club... Haltwhistle Judo Club... Hexham Judo Club... Hessle Lawn Tennis Club... Robin Park Sports & Tennis Centre... Wheatley Hills Tennis Club... Next Generation Club York... Salts Tennis Club... Jamie's Gymnastics Academy... Staines BC... Star Club... Southside Basketball Club... Southdowns Orienteers... Lincoln Cannons Volleyball Club... Dunnings Mill... Varsity Squash & Tennis Club... Fakenham Squash Club... Sundridge Park Lawn Tennis & Squash Rack... Westside LTC... L-Dub BMX Club... Stratford Upon Avon CC... Sherborne Tennis Club... David Lloyd Club Warrington... FORDS BC... FORDS JUNIOR BC... David Lloyd Club Leeds... Penzance Tennis Club... David Lloyd Club Newcastle... BRECKLAND BC... FOREST BC... Topsham St James CC... Brixham CC... Theydon Bois Lawn Tennis Club... Gidea Park LTC... Twickenham CC... Tiverton BMX Club... North Shields Basketball Club... Bingley Bees HC... Norwich CSC... Hemel Hempstead CC... Evesham & District Whls CC... Winstanley Tennis Club... Leicester Riders... Leeds Carnegie... Haringey Warriors... St Leonards & St Ives LTC... Chippenham Tennis Club... Louth AC...

For more information, see the Clubmark database