As all bowlers should know, the BCGBA introduced a £1 per player Development fee this year and the governing body is now focused on delivering a National Development Strategy for an initial 5 year period up to 2030.
They are doing this via County Development Officers, so in Shropshire’s case that is Pauline Wilson.
And, as development lead for the League, secretary Malcolm Fletcher has already had a zoom meeting with her and other league reps, plus she also attended an officers meeting on 17th November so the top table know exactly what is expected of us and out clubs. So here is the . . .
MSBL Development Plan – for the League and its Clubs
Firstly, Pauline stressed that all the various targets in the Strategy cannot be done all together and wants the MSBL to adopt a targeted approach.
This will include League initiatives and also county association led developments, which will start this winter by with dealing with junior issues.
In Pauline’s words: “This means Parents, Club & Player charters. I’m awaiting the data for this from our county registrar who can hopefully identify clubs with Juniors registered to them. So there will be a targeted approach to this.
“I’d like to look at our Juniors & Safeguarding practice. My experience is that many pay lip service to Safeguarding & don’t really understand it although each club does have a Welfare officer with a DBS check. Mostly because Shropshire mandate that!
“However this year I have twice been asked for my opinion on a safeguarding issue both of which in fact were Code of Practice & behaviour issues not safeguarding
“I am also concerned that we could become the victim of our relative success around juniors & anecdotally know we have had ‘parent’ issues at games
“So I would like to look at issuing some form of tailored email to clubs who have Juniors registered to them. Perhaps including something like the following – NSPCC Charters for Junior Players, Parents, Spectators.”
But as for the League initiatives, she added:
“So PART 1 – One of BCGBA strands of development is better governance for clubs and leagues.
“Experience tells me that club & league constitutions are mainly a set of rules and don’t take account of current legislation & are usually quite old, even if they are tinkered with each year.
“BCGBA have come up with a draft League constitution & draft club constitution which include what they think we need these days – email from Dawn Gray.
“My view is that this will be too much for leagues & clubs to change everything at once but as Development leads we should be encouraging them to have a look at what is missing & review & change their club & league constitutions over time.”
So this is the League’s starting point – we are asking member clubs to use the winter’s quieter months to compare their constitutions with what they have received from the BCGBA and amend accordingly to bring them up to date and in line with current legislation. The League will do this too.
The League will be monitoring this, as required by Pauline, and will be, by mid March, submitting a report on both the League’s and club progress on this – and our plan for the next 1 to 2 years direction of travel.
And we would urge all clubs to start the process by taking a real easy development step by conducting a risk assessment at their clubs – any advice needed, just ask vice-chairman Rich Simmonds!
Pauline concludes: “I agreed a rough plan of action with the BCGBA Development officer Jayne McCay early in the season that said we would take this year to baseline our position and be ready to act in Year 2 & beyond.
“We should remember that the BCGBA Development policy is a 5 year plan & we just need a clear line of progression over time.
“So between now & next season we need to decide where we are going & I think this is best accomplished by Leagues as well as some generic initiatives like the Governance one.”
Other Aims of Development in the BCGBA strategy, to be looked at before 2030, are:
Communication, Club Development Plan, Coaching, Recruitment, Safeguarding, Support, Juniors & Inclusion.
But, as a League, our first target is Governance – and that’s why we are urging clubs to take the first step and look at their constitutions over the winter.