Armagh Swimming Club Development Plan 2003 - 2006
Aim
To allow the Club to maintain it’s position as a competitive swimming club. To allow the Club to meet the individual needs of all swimmers regardless of standard, of all coaches and of all other officials and volunteers. To allow all members to reach their full potential and to allow the Club to play a leading role in the community as both a sporting and social activity.
Where Are We Now?
Armagh Swimming Club was originally formed in 1936 to cater for swimming, water polo, life saving and diving. Over the intervening years, three of these items fell by the wayside. Presently Club membership stands at 115. The Club has developed a healthy social programme with various activities for all age groups, including an annual weekend outing to an outdoor activity center. The Club has two main teams, the Provincial Town’s League (PTL) and Teletots.
Every year we like to run a course to train new coaches or upgrade existing coach qualifications. Currently the coaching is shared between 14 qualified coaches ranging from Assistant Teacher, Teacher to Club Coach. In addition, we have an active 8-person committee who takes care of the administration side, plus help with time-keeping from another 6-8 parents during galas, a Press Officer, Child Protection Officers, a Swim Desk once per week, a semi-regular Newsletter, and a PB Certificate Officer. Swim training is provided on four days per week with the swimmers divided into age groups, namely young Teletots, older Teletots/younger PTL and the older swimmers. The maximum available pool time for the older age bracket is 5 hours while the other two groups have 3½ and 4½ hrs respectively. A few years ago, we only had at most 3 hr for all our swimmers but no defined structure.
A few years ago, our membership fees were collected on a daily basis (e.g.1£ per session). We now have a more streamlined system whereby the fees are either paid on a one-off basis or via a Bank standing order. This has allowed the Club to plan ahead, e.g. provide coach training, purchase equipment, as our annual costs versus income are known to a high accuracy.
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Strengths |
Weakness |
Opportunities |
Threats |
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Good numbers of swimmers & trained coaches.
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Insufficient pool time for our swimmers to compete at Ulster or Irish level once they become 11 year olds |
With a healthily number of coaches and a good relationship with the Leisure Centre and the Council’s Sports Officer |
The local council are considering plans for changes to the pool, if so, this would mean pool closure for a period of time, which would be disaster for the Club. |
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Where Do We Want To Be?
Management and Administration .. Our current structure is good, however, we need more coach input to the committee, and also we need a gala secretary to look after the appointment of officials.
Performance and Excellence .. To improve upon current performance/excellence levels and to get our swimmers to take part in more competitive events.
Leadership and coach training and development .. To recruit and develop volunteers. To provide further training and development of coaches and officials.
Equipment - to purchase equipment relevant to an area of the Club’s development, eg: swim videos, etc.
How Will We Get There?
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Specific |
Measurable |
Agreed |
Realistic |
Time-phased |
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Increase available pool time.
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Will take time for the swimmers to come through |
First get the agreement of the coaches, then the committee as it requires funding |
Increase pool time by 50% |
Start with one evening extra for a selection of swimmers, then add a morning session |
Coaches
Aims
Ø Ensure that each year we run a course, alternating between an Assistant Teacher and a Teacher course on alternative years.
Ø Ensure that we increase the number of female coaches
Ø Ensure that in the above time-frame we train a new Club Coach
Ø Ensure that the Club is able to respond to targets set by the Governing Bodies
Officials
Aims
Ø Appoint a Gala secretary who will adopt the role of appointing officials for all home and away fixtures.
Volunteers
Aims
Ø Increase the number of volunteers who are willing to assist the Club
Female Members
Aims
Ø Although the ratio of male to female membership are equal we have difficult on holding on to our older female swimmers, we must find ways of addressing this problem with the aim of keeping them within the Club when they leave school.
Ø Increase the number of female coaches.
Recruitment
Aims
Ø Hold membership at the 120 level.
Ø Develop closer relationships with the local leisure centre with the view of recruiting younger members when they complete their swim lessons.
Ø At present, the local leisure centre has a rather dated learn-to-swim policy. The new ASA training programme takes swimmers through a 12-level process leading to a swimmer of pre-competition level in all four strokes. We must work with the centre on trying to get them to adopt these new guidelines.
Retainment
Aims
Ø Find ways and means whereby those swimmers who leave and go to University are informed about Galas and encourage them to continue Club membership.
Ø Ensure the Club provides a full range of competition and encourage swimmers to retain their membership with the Club.
Ø Ensure that new members are fully integrated to the Club as soon as possible with as much information being given as possible upon election to the Club.
Ø Create an environment within the Club that encourages people to attend. All members, parents and friends are responsible in ensuring this environment is maintained.
Internal Communication
Aims
Ø Ensure all members are kept as up to date as possible of the Club’s activities.
Ø Make more use of clubnotice boards; appoint a volunteer to remove out of date information and to keep them tidy.
Ø Ensure the Club newsletter is produced on a regular basis. Encourage the swimmers to get more involved in this project.
External Communication
Aims
Ø Continue to promote the activities of the Club, the achievements of the membership, as a potential recruitment vehicle and as a means of securing sponsorship.
Ø Ensure a swimming coach continues as a member of the Armagh Sport Forum.
Facilities
Aims
Ø To ensure that all swimmers are able to train in a safe enjoyable surroundings with equipment suitable to their training needs and abilities.
Ø Get the Club to purchase specific training equipment.
Ø Bring to the attention of the City Council, the Club’s needs in equipment provision.
Ø Work with the City Council and maintain regular communication and meetings to ensure ongoing development.
Finance
Aims
Ø Maximise income available to the Club and its members in order to allow all to progress as far as possible.
Ø Apply for funding to meet this development plan.
Ø Ensure that the Club is able to meet the needs of potential individual members.
