Footie chums,
I hope that you are all well.
I am sure that we are all looking towards March / April , hopeful that the restrictions start to diminish.
We have the pumps at the ready to inflate those footballs!! ?
Whilst we wait for that moment, we have been busy shaping the future of the club.
You will have seen the ‘stepping into the future’ document (copy attached), today we spent 2 hours discussing how we make it happen.
We have agreed a detailed draft action plan (copy attached ) which will guide us through the next 12 -18months.
It might be helpful if I summarise our focus and planned investment – :
Background
The ‘stepping into the future’ document was agreed by the CCWFC committee in October 2020.
It was circulated to you as members and the feedback was very positive.
We have since incorporated it as our ‘club vision’ in the recently circulated club governance documents.
What were we saying in the ‘stepping into the future’ document?
It says who we are and what we stand for. It sets out our club ethos and what we believe about how we play the game and treat each other.
It also affirms that we are determined to strike the right balance between offering ‘social’ football to all abilities and levels of fitness and
being a club that has a healthy competitive ambition.
It also highlights our geographic opportunity as the only walking football club serving a Chelmsford population which has an estimated
27,000 men over the age of 50 (8,500 who are retired). Of course, we are also open to ladies who want to play walking football.
It has highlighted some very real issues that we need to actively manage.
- We have progressively struggled to field a genuine o50’ side ( it has often been supported by o60/o65’ players)
- We now have 33 registered o70’ members
- We are not getting a o50’ /early 60’ feed into the base of the club
- We have not, to date, considered specific provision for the o70’ group
- We have not fully leveraged our unique relationship with CCFC
- We haven’t capitalised on our geographic position
- We haven’t made full use of our coaching capability
- We have under-utilised our assets ( for example, leveraging that we have the England walking football captain playing at the club)
So, what is the focus of the ‘stepping into the future’ action plan?
As you will see, the draft plan has 10 objectives.
Its time frame is broadly 12 -18 months (subject to changes in COVID restrictions).
The first priority is to continue the exemplary good practice that has kept us safe during the pandemic.
Beyond this our goal is to attract more people into the club, we are aiming to have 100+ active members by Sept 2022.
We will undertake an audit of existing members in Feb / Mar to refresh our club membership register.
We will have a refreshed and enhanced marketing campaign which will focus on appealing to a range of age groups and abilities.
We will have a special focus on attracting o50’ and early 60’ , so that we can create a future pipeline for the club.
We will progressively add different marketing material to our existing stock to help support this.
We have also developed a relationship with a local radio station in order to promote the club. This will involve features about the club and a short repeat ad.
We have also agreed that we will add a new committee role , Club Development & Membership Secretary. We are finalising the role description.
This role, in partnership with other committee members, will drive the growth of the club.
We will also re kindle the relationship with Steve Shore , Chairman, CCFC and seek to get (1) support for our local marketing effort and (2) develop a sponsorship deal.
We will create a strong partnership with CCFC.
Lockdown has been disruptive, but it has also taught us a lot, not least of all the value of skills and fitness training.
We will retain this element for up to 40 mins in all future Tuesday / Thursday sessions.
However, we recognise that our efforts throughout lockdown have largely been our ‘best endeavours’ , we now need to build on this.
Spence will now take the lead on football coaching across the club.
We will undertake an audit to create a register of existing coaching capability within the club. Bob will support Spence in helping to
document / administrate coaching plans and materials.
We will look to establish a range of coaching that supports both recreational and more competitive play.
We are also conscious that we now have 33 members who are 70 or over, which is a real credit to the club.
It is our intention to explore and potentially campaign for an o70’ Essex League competition for the 2022 season.
In the meantime, we intend to trial an o70’ ‘Essex’ tournament at CCWFC in the 2021 season. If successful there may be scope for more than one tournament.
We will continue to consider and nominate players for EWL , regional and England trials and representation. We will put in place a more robust and transparent system to achieve this.
Finally, we will maintain our investment in making sure that members feel connected. This will continue through ‘Newsflashes’ and the House Parties, returning to our more traditional social events as COVID permits.
This is an ambitious, growth agenda and will sit alongside the normal running of the club ( team selection & management; fixtures secretary ; club administration; kit & equipment management).
I hope that this summary gives you a real sense of building on the great foundation that we already have.
If you have any questions or ideas , please feel free to talk to Terry, Peter, Bob , Gary or myself.
The agreed minutes of the last Committee meeting (5/1) will be uploaded onto our website shortly.
Our next meeting is on the 2nd March 2021.
Best wishes and stay safe!
Chris
Chairman
On behalf of the CCWFC Committee
