DUNFERMLINE |
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WATERPOLO CLUB |
DUNFERMLINE |
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WATERPOLO CLUB |
The Club Development Plan is constantly under review to keep it current to meet clubs aims and aspirations.
DEVELOPMENT UPDATE JAN 2012
A successful 2011 which has seen the introduction of the minipolo
section and moves towards an Academy structure to encompass all junior
members. Membership has steadily
increased with 42 players having taking part in one or more Scottish
competition matches and at least another 12 who have experienced waterpolo in
the development games.
The DWPC award scheme is to be introduced in 2012, with thanks to George
Spowart for his design work, and is expected to be rolled out shortly to bridge
the gap between our youngest players abilities and the Kellogg's scheme.
The land training evolved from 30 mins in a cramped room to a
progressive and structured, coach led session utilising the park out the back
of Cowdenbeath centre. Progress test
results speak for themselves and showed a clear improvement in fitness levels
for all those taking part. This has now
come to an end but we will continue to keep our options open when we return to
Carnegie. Simon Metcalfe and Alasdair
Campbell have undertaken the polo aspects of the UKCC Level 1 and we await
dates for UKCC L2.
We have recently entered into partnership with Fife Sport and
Leisure Trust to support their waterpolo skills initiative. This will involve our coaches delivering a
course of 1hr lessons for the Trust on a Sunday evening starting in jan 2012 in the main pool as
part of their overall Learn 2 swim programme.
This is an exciting initiative and for the first time in many years, we
will see waterpolo training being conducted in both Carnegie pools at the same
time. The Trust are also planning to
encompass ball skills within their swim programmes as one of the complementary
activities. Combined, these two
initiatives should bring waterpolo awareness to an increased group of young
people and can only be good for the sport and the club. They are also considering utilising our award
scheme.
In a continuing effort to improve communications, we have
introduced 'Teamer' for notifying players of games via email and text. A key milestone was the award of the poloMark
accreditation, the first polo club in Scotland, and work will continue towards
poloMark Plus. We have also applied for
ClubFife status.
Development aims for 2012 include consolidating on the benefits
from poloMark and work towards poloMark plus; continue to encourage and support
coaches and officials personal development including licensing and to review
the Club Development plan to ensure it remains current to meet our aspirations
once we have returned to Carnegie.
DEVELOPMENT UPDATE Jun 2011
Role descriptors have been approved and Development Plan produced and both are now available to view on the website.
'poloMark' has been achieved and Scottish Swimming have awarded a certificate and a voucher to help with funding further coach/volunteer development. DWPC is the first poloMark accredited waterpolo club in Scotland.
We are also now in discussions with Fife Council's Active Fife team regarding their Club Accreditation scheme 'ClubFife' which is their quality assurance scheme.
2010 has seen the introduction of PoloMark accreditation which has evolved from the SwiMark initiative and we are in the vanguard of the process. The PoloMark process centers' on the standardizing of club administration, coach and player development, finances and delivery of ‘Best Practice’ in all areas of club business. It also requires the production of a body of evidence to support and document the way we do business and this is also well underway. Some limited financial support is available for PoloMark clubs as well as discounts for SASA training courses.
After registration of interest, we held a very useful meeting with the Regional Swimming Development Manager (RSDM) and a number of points were clarified and way ahead’s established. A number of items on the PoloMark checklist were also signed off.
Coach
licensing is not yet mandatory however clubs are being encouraged to move
towards registering all their poolside staff and supporting continuous
personal development. Richie
Metcalfe and
All coaching staff have signed the Coaches Code of Conduct and in the coming weeks I hope to start rolling out Ethics Statements and Codes of Conduct for Players and Parents/Spectators in preparation for the annual membership renewals along with Codes of Conduct for Volunteers for the new committee. We are also in the process of validating Role Descriptors for key club positions and these will be in place in the near for the new committee to approve. These will hopefully help when advertising future post vacancies.
In the longer term, I hope we can maintain and build on administration best practices, have mechanisms in place to strive towards fully qualified and licensed coaches and thus provide the optimum platform for supporting our coaches and players in moving the sport forward.
Richard Metcalfe
DWPC Sec
