Sports
The Hockey SAG has taken a number of forms over the years, however with the relatively recent changes in BUCS, it seems sensible to review the role the SAG plays and ultimately make recommendations for the way forward.
Click on the links below to jump to the appropriate sections:
Outcomes
Principal Challenges
SAG Structure
Effective Delivery
How to Apply
The following things therefore need to be considered:
a) What outcomes do we want for student hockey?
b) What are the main challenges that exist face in delivering these?
c) What should the SAG structure look like to help deliver the outcomes and address the challenges?
• Competition - provide a competition structure that looks to best serve the varied demands of institutions, nations and all ranges of ability.
• Officials - support the development of and investment in officials to ensure that officiating matches the level of competition. Exploring, in particular, links with NYUPL and connectivity with regional umpires associations.
• Coach development - facilitate a framework that both promotes student involvement in coach education and makes it accessible.
• Club/Student development - provide support and expertise to help student hockey clubs enhance their service delivery and within that process provide an opportunity for the club officers to develop.
• Partnership with the relevant hockey NGBs - develop mutually beneficial partnerships that looks to develop hockey at all levels
• Profile - raise the profile of student hockey, to both celebrate the good work that takes place, promote participation and also provide a platform to attract in sponsorship and additional investment. Key partners could include Unisport online, Push Hockey and NGBs.
• The British challenge - each of the home nations has different issues and challenges which can't always be dealt with from a single British perspective.
• NGBs - the different hockey NGBs have different views of HE hockey and its place within their performance pathway / the role it can play in supporting their wider objectives. Moreover each NGB has different levels of resource and therefore different priorities.
• The Institutional challenge - designing a programme that suits all institutions is problematic as there is such a varied landscape dictated by geography, performance level, institutional priorities etc.
• Officiating - ensuring an appropriate level of officiating for matches when the majority of games are played at a time when non-students work and on the whole the students involved want to play not officiate.
• Engagement - the majority of clubs are student led with a rapid turnover of officers, therefore getting information consistently to the right people to ensure they are properly informed and engaged is a real challenge.
The SAG has largely functioned as a sounding board for BUCS, with a range of sports professionals with extensive hockey knowledge, making themselves available over email or the telephone. However the majority of the SAG members are senior university sports staff, making it a challenge to deliver a more proactive service. Moreover the SAG had no specific roles making it difficult to effectively delegate roles. As well as the tremendous level of hockey experience, the SAG has always had good representation from a breadth of nations and regions.
In the proposed restructure it is recommended that the following key factors are considered in designing the make up of the group:
• A good mix of personnel from all management levels
• Representation from each home nation
• Members from outside the HE sector
• Clearly defined roles with associated accountability
• A good geographic spread of members to assist with any regional engagement or delivery
• Student representation, albeit it is noted the turnover of student officers can make this a challenge.
Some thought should be given as to whether there would be sense in involving the following
• A member from Sport England or Sports Coach UK
• Representation from one of the hockey NGBs, although care would need to be taken that the group did not become focussed on a single NGB.
One area where the Hockey SAG can deliver a tangible benefit is through regional training for the club hockey officials. It is envisaged that a template of delivery is drawn up with both practical sessions and theory sessions thereby appealing to presidents, captains and treasurers alike:
• Coaching – practical sessions delivered by a leading regional coach on ideas for training sessions.
• Top 10 ideas on effective club management e.g.
o Running club trials
o Effective websites
o Accessing sponsorship / funding
o Club development plans etc...
o Retention of members
o Budget planning o Alumni engagement
o Understanding Universities
o Dos & Donts of working with local leagues / umpires associations
o Important BUCS rules you need to know
There are a few approaches that could be taken to help move this forward. The first would be to advertise some clearly defined roles, however this risks alienating some who might be highly effective members of the SAG. Therefore it is proposed that an advert is put out for expressions of interest in getting involved with the hockey SAG, highlighting some of the generic responsibilities of being on the SAG. Within the expressions of interest document it would be worth highlighting key skill sets or specifications that the group would like to fill, therefore allowing the roles to be designed around the specific individuals. then subsequent offers can be made based on the skill sets identified. This will hopefully ensure a balanced and well designed SAG.
The key areas would be:
• Officiating, rules & umpire development
• Coach education and development
• Competitions structure
• Home nation representation and associated NGB engagement
• Regional representation
• Press, social media and web skills
Click here to download a copy of the generic role description for the Hockey SAG
Click here to download an Expression of Interest Form for the Hockey SAG
The deadline for expressions of interest is Monday 20 August 2012
Generic responsibilities that each representative would be signing up for include:
• Support of major BUCS hockey events
• Designing and supporting the delivery of regional hockey training for new club officers
• Effective engagement with designated regional HE institutions I.e. communication, point of advice, sharing best practise, promoting local interest stories
• Liaison with local hockey bodies e.g. Umpires associations, development officers etc...
• Supporting home nations delivery i.e. Trials, scouting, student nominations
• SAG meetings (approx 2 per year)
• Consultation and feedback over email
BUCS central office support
In order to be effective, the SAG will need support from the central office in the following key areas :
• Creation of a portal for effective distribution of information to student clubs
• Support the uploading of information to the hockey portal
• Sourcing of club contacts annually
• Create a chat forum within the hockey portal with both general and private access to allow for effective SAG discussion and also for student feedback.
• Support with the advocacy and negotiations with the relevant NGBs
• Clarity over the budget available for the SAG and the role of the PWC partnership.
• Support the promotion and delivery of regional training sessions
• Clarity over the future of the Home Nations hockey programme
Dan Tilley
July 2012
Chair
Dan Tilley appointed from October 2011 - October 2014
Dan was first appointed to the Hockey SMG in 1998 and was also a member of BUSA National Committee in 1996-97. He has competed in National League (Chelmsford), represented Buckinghamshire and Essex and England mixed.
Dan attended the University of Exeter (92/93) and University of York (93-96). During University he was Hockey President at York (95-96), Hockey Captain at York (94-95) and AU President at York (96-97).
Dan was also Sports Administrator at Royal Holloway from 1997-99, Assistant Director of Sport and Essex University from 1999 - present, Manager of English University Men's Hockey from 1999-2002 and Manager of British University Men's Hockey from 2002 - present.
Last updated: 17th Jul 2012 16:38
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