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NWFCC Spring Meeting – Executive Summary (Tony Thomas 03/03/12)

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Ten clubs were represented by 30 people at the Spring Meeting held at Culcheth on 3 March 2012. Chairman Liz Wilson welcomed delegates and especially the representatives from our latest new club – Flixton. The meeting was pleased to hear the news that the CA have awarded Ian Lines an award for outstanding achievements in coaching. The acting Secretary, Tony Thomas, was delighted that Paul Rigge has volunteered to take over as Secretary.

There has been an upsurge in developing new clubs and Janet Davies was pleased to report the CA Development Fund had been increased. Clubs are reminded that applications for Apps Heley, Townsend and Millenium Awards can be made this year for clubs who have made excellent progress during the last two years.

The committee will be reviewing the Federation Constitution and bring proposals to the next meeting. A working party has been established by the CA to look at the relationship between the CA and the various Federations and Geoff Young will be designing a questionnaire to ascertain club views.

The League Fixtures for 2012 were distributed and the meeting ratified cosmetic changes to the League Rules. 167 matches will be played this year. Chester have replaced Liverpool in the Advanced league, Birkdale have moved from the Short to the Handicap league and Westmorland have joined the Golf league.

Ken Cooper has organised several Coaching courses at Silver, Bronze, Golf and Coach Trainer levels. There was a discussion about allowing players of other Federations to join our coaching courses – in principle no problem, providing NWFCC players are not disadvantaged, however the committee need to look at issues regarding administration and costings.

Organisation of the Millennium tournaments, Festival of Croquet, Pennine Cup are all progressing well. There were progress reports from all thye clubs.

Date of next meeting will be 3 November 2012 at Culcheth, all club members are welcome.

You can download the full Minutes of the Meeting here.

 

Coaching Recognition for Ian Lines (by Roger Staples 28/02/12)

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Ian Lines given the Outstanding Service Award for Coaching 2011.

Ian Lines coaching a Flying Circus course at Southport

Ian has been a member of Bowdon Croquet Club since 1993 and has progressed quickly within the world of croquet. He is not only an A-Class player but is also a Grade 3 Coach.

Although he works, he spends most of his spare time at the club and is always enthusiastic and willing to help anyone to improve their croquet. Ian helped to run the Beginners’ Course at the club every year for about 15 years, including taking the lead role on a number of occasions. His patience and friendly approach over the 6-week period encourages newcomers to look forward to the following week’s lesson. This is one of the most successful beginners’ courses in the country and often leads to up to about 20 new members each year.

Ian has led C.A. coaching courses at Gold level and below, around the North West of England as part of the NW Federation’s Flying Circus programme of regional coaching. In 2011, despite playing in tournaments most weekends of the year, he still found time to travel to Southport to lead a group of 16 players through a Silver course, assisted by 4 other experienced coaches.

Ian coached and provided individual tuition to a number of players at Bowdon, most significantly in 2011 to the 14 year-old Adam Swinton who went on to win both the North West and National Finals of the All England Handicap Championship. Julie Horsley and Brian Shorney reporting on the CA website, ascribing Adam’s victory to his being “very talented and well-coached”.

During the preceding year, Ian had identified Adam’s potential talent and offered to provide some individual coaching to help him develop as rapidly as possible. Ian spent several evenings after work before the All-England regional final providing a wide range of coaching, concentrating on how to maintain a 4 ball break and take bisques effectively, but also taking Adam through all the mechanics of a triple peel to show that it only requires a little thought and control. Indeed, Adam later went on to perform his first triple peel in a club handicap competition, using most of his bisques in the process. Adam’s father, Jonathan, said: “At the beginning of last year Ian offered unprompted to coach my son and gave generously of his time to do so. Even outside the formal sessions he was always watching Adam play when he could, and offering appropriate feedback, always calmly and quietly and without drama but always authoritative and effective. He took Adam seriously as a player despite his initial handicap. As a direct result Adam won the All England Handicap Championship in Sidmouth last year.

I asked Adam, who has just turned 15, for his comments and they speak for themselves: “Ian gave me a few coaching sessions this season, about a number of topics. He taught me about 3-ball breaks, croquet strokes etc. It definitely helped – from being a 24 for 2½ seasons to going down to 12 was pretty much down to him pointing out what I had done wrong, and helping to improve my game in various aspects. I would say it was down to his giving up some evenings for me to coach me that I managed to win the All England Handicap; I remember in quite a few games doing something differently to how I would have done 6 months ago, purely based on his advice, and it definitely helped me win. Without his coaching, I would probably still be around a 22-24 handicap”.

The development of promising youngsters is vital to the future of croquet, and having relatively young world-class players like Ian providing coaching to potential stars of the future is something that is to be welcomed and encouraged.

Executive Summary – Autumn Federation Club Meeting 2011

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Summary of Federation Autumn Club Meeting (5 Nov 2011 by Tony Thomas):

38 people attended the NWFCC Autumn Meeting at Culcheth on Saturday 5 November. The meeting agreed changes to the committee, new league rules for 2012 and agreed tournament dates for next year.

The meeting received reports from each committee member and then progress reports from the clubs. Retiring chairman David Barrett presented the league trophies to the successful clubs.

Liz Wilson was elected new chairperson replacing David Barrett who was not eligible to stand having served three years. Former Secretary Ian Lines has relocated and his position remains vacant. Tony Thomas will carry out the role on a temporary basis until a volunteer comes forward. Bob Connop was elected Treasurer with former treasurer, Peter Wilson, agreeing to serve as Federation Auditor. All other positions remain as before. The meeting also agreed to co-opt David Barrett onto the committee.

Some changes to league rules were agreed for 2012 – updating rule 8b defining scores for ‘walkover’ games, clarification of rule 23a explaining doubles pairing in Golf Croquet matches, rewriting rule 2b on procedures for postponed matches (two weeks to agree a new date or concede the match).

Dates were agreed for various events in 2012 and these are listed in the Diary column on this page.

Club subscriptions for 2012 remain as £20 and are due now.

Date of next meeting: 3 March, 10.00 am at Culcheth.

Clubs are asked to: (a) Ensure league team entry forms are with the League Manager by 31 Dec 11. (b) Ensure Ken Cooper has any amendments for the Croquet North leaflet by 28 Feb 12 (c) Keep the Federation Secretary informed of any changes to club contacts. (d) Keep the webmaster informed of any club events, tournaments, etc for inclusion in the web diary.

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