Information for Members (and prospective members)

This page details information for members, including policies, procedures, governance and organistion of the club and the ways in which members may participate and volunteer.  Additional details may be held elsewhere on this website, and relevant links will be included.  This page will be maintained and is publicly available.

Leadership and Development

Constitution - SWHC Constitution

Committee Governance - SWHC Committee Governance

Updated AGM Invite - Invite

Latest AGM Report - Report and AGM Minutes - Minutes

Regular Committee Minutes - Details are available on request

Adoption of Policies - It was agreed by the committee on 10th Jan 2022 to continue to adopt England Hockey policies and procedures – specifically England Hockey safeguarding, Equality, Ethics and behaviour policies.

• Duty of care in Hockey
• Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

These include – Safeguarding, Mental Wellbeing, Safe Hockey, Insurance, Injury Reporting, Equality Policy, Transgender Guidance.

Further details can be found on the England Hockey website (opens in a new window) - https://www.englandhockey.co.uk/governance

Safety

The Club has appointed a Safety Officer, who can be contacted by emailing safety@saffronwaldenhockey.co.uk and details of the policy are here - SWHC Safety Policy

The Policy covers the following -

• General Advice and EH Guidelines - https://www.englandhockey.co.uk/governance/duty-of-care-in-hockey/safe-hockey
• Role of the Safety Officer
• Regular Risk Assessments
• Accident Reporting
• Coaching
• First Aid Provision

Link to EH Injury reporting here

Session Risk Assessment Form

Accident Form

Membership

Playing Membership Options -

• Playing membership for Adults (£160), Concessions (£80) and Juniors (£80)
• GKs with there own kit (£20)
• More than one Juniors in same family (£80 for first child and £60 for each subsequent child) - discounts also apply to children of committee members and coaches
• There is provision for anyone who cannot afford subscription fees and these are dealt with on a case by case basis - please contact the membership secretary or anyone on the committee

Temporary Membership Options -

• Juniors are offered temporary membership to allow them to try out training before committing
• Juniors and Adults are offered temporary membership (no voting rights) for events such as Additional Junior Training, Back to Hockey and Summer Hockey, if they are not already members of the club and temporary subscription costs are set by the committee nearer the time

Social members can join without paying a fee and apart from playing, can be involved in all other aspects of the club

Ways to Play

We currently offer a range of options for people to play, including higher and lower adult training, regular league games, friendly intra-club summer hockey, back to hockey, Bailey Cup 7 a-side adult tournament open to other clubs and regular junior hockey with both competitive and friendly tournaments.  We have in recent years also responded to member requests to enter vets teams into EH competitions when there has been demand and more recently spliting lower mens training between younger and older members. With the addition of a second pitch and the increased capacity that this offers, we will consider widening the opportunities to play. Both summer hockey and back to hockey have proved very popular and we are considering offering adult 7 a-side pay and play during spring and summer evenings, as we think this will also prove popular. We will also canvass our members to see if there is sufficient interest for us to offer walking hockey.

People

Recruitment

We follow EH's Safe Recruitment Policies - see EH Safeguarding Policies for details.  This is overseen by the club Welfare Officer to ensure that all relevant roles are subject to regular DBS checks and undergo Safeguarding Training - this includes all parent volunteers working with juniors on a regular basis.

Safeguarding Training

This is overseen by the club Welfare Officer to ensure that all relevant roles are subject to regular Safeguarding Training.  All parent volunteers working with juniors on a regular basis will have attended an EH Online Course and Lead Coaches will have attended a Sportcoach UK Workshop Course but this can be renewed with an EH Online Course.

The Club organises in person first aid and child protection courses on a regular basis - the last first aid course was summer 2021 and further courses will be arranged in 2022 as required.

Induction Process - we have role descriptions for all roles within the club and these are available to all roleholders, who are asked to review and confirm their agreement.

Player, Umpire and Coach Development

Player Development

Juniors playing in Adult Teams - We welcome juniors playing in adult teams, once their coach feels they are ready and they themsleves are willing to play.  Juniors cannot play until their 13th birthday (this also applies to the club's summer hockey) but once they are we can usually find places for them in our lower mens and ladies teams - please speak to your coaches and also the mens and ladies club captains.

Team captains will have had a DBS check and undertaken Safeguarding training - please make sure that you have complete your child's information on Teamo (including medical and contact information) as this allows the captain to access information in case of emergency.  Captains meet on Tuesday evenings to select teams for the matches on Saturday and it is important that you make sure you update your child's availablity before then as this helps with selection - if you are not sure, then please let the usual captain know as this is still helpful.  Captains, together with the club captain and coaches, will always try to accomodate children in the team they feel is the most appropriate in terms of playing level and support from adult players and coaches, and are happy to provide feedback if you have any queries.

EH Player Pathway - there are details on the EH website (see Talent Pathway) but if you have queries, please feel free to discuss these with you child's coach or our head coach (Martyn Webb)

Umpire Development

EH Umpire Courses (see Umpiring) - the club encourages members to become umpires and will fund courses provided you then umpire at the club.  If you woud like to try umpiring, please contact our Junior Coordinator who can let you know about junior tournaments to help with U10s and U12s.

GMS Registration - please see GMS for details of how to register

Coach Development

EH Coaching Courses - (see Coaching) - the club encourages parents and members to become coaches and will fund courses provided you then coach at the club.  The main coaching courses that allow you to lead sessions are the Sessional and Hockey Coach courses and are equivalent to level 2 coaching qualifications - these courses require you to have already attended a shorter course such as Introduction to Hockey or Engaging Games for Children, however these short courses may be of interest on their own as they introduce concepts such as the Golden Thread and will make you more effective at supporting lead coaches.

Junior Coaching Framework - At SWHC we have a coaching framework/ curriculum which sets out our philosophy of coaching and how we expect young players to progress over time and how we try to focus on their development - Junior Framework

Community and Social

Communication policy is detailed here -

Local Marketing - this comprises of the following initiatives and aims to continue to grow the club at all levels

• Juniors
  • We currently have over 250 children training in the U8, U10, U12 and U14 groups.  We are planning an outreach programme for local primary schools to be in place this coming summer to attract new members for the start of next season and further details will be available once detailed planning has been completed.  In addition, we are actively looking at extending this into local secondary schools to support local state schools be providing additional qualified coaching resources.
  • We hold regular hockey camps for children during Easter and Summer holidays and once dates are available, they will be made available under the news section of the website.
• Adults
  • We have run Back to Hockey sessions in the summer since 2010 and this has attracted a wide range of players into the club, playing, captaining, umpiring and coach, as well as volunteering as committee members.  We are planning to run Back to Hockey again this season - dates are provisional but we expect to run these over the summer and once details are finalised, they will be made available under the news section of the website