Humber Squash Organisation

Development Plan

2006-2009

1. Raise the profile of squash in the Humber area.
   (a) Ensure a full review process by Humber Squash is carried out in relation to the Hull and District Squash League and its associated individual competitions, and, as part of the plan, to consider whether there are any other competitions it could organise. This should include a focus on closer links with and complementing what goes on at a county, regional and national level. For instance, all clubs/centres should be made aware of the opportunities to enter teams in the Yorkshire League, national team knockout tournaments etc.
   (b) A Humber Masters Championships should be organised, and local players made aware of the opportunities for participation in county and national age related squads and the various regional and national Masters tournaments.
   (c) Consideration should be given to a local ladder/ranking list, maybe complementing and linking into the one run by England Squash (E-Grading), which could be used as the basis for seeding local tournaments and provide yet another opportunity for players to add a competitive element to any game they play.
   (d) Investigate opportunities with the Yorkshire SRA and England Squash to bring both regional and national junior competitions to the area along with a range of county squads.
   (e) Co-ordinated and extensive media publicity, using the Hull Daily Mail and Sports Mail (both widely read throughout the area), the Humber Squash website and newsletter, posters for clubs/centres, clubs mailings to members etc. The role of the proposed Handbook/History of the Hull and District League might also be considered.
   (f) Encourage the participation of racketball to ensure court usage is maximised and as another option to ensuring participants try facilities
   (g) Investigate the opportunity of securing sponsorship from local companies to help implement and further develop all aspect of the plan
   (h) Link in with wider local sporting competitions (such as the Humber Youth Games) to set up demonstration events to provide young people with an opportunity to use the new junior squash equipment and have an opportunity to experience the game.
   (i) Devise ways to link into national campaigns such as World Squash Day and to ensure local events take place to help raise the awareness and profile of the game.
2. To promote and develop a co-ordinated junior squash programme to ensure an opportunity for young people to access the local, regional and national player pathway.
   (a) Ensure the development and promotion of a sound junior squash programme by utilising England Squash's National Coaching scheme, which includes the establishing or building on Club to School links between specific schools and squash clubs/centres, and taking mini-walls and mini squash equipment into the schools to introduce juniors to squash.
   (b) Ensure there are clubs and centres ready to receive and nurture juniors who have tasted squash within the school and wish to take it further.
   (c) Support should also be given to clubs who run junior sections based around specific sessions with coaches, where members are recruited through other sources than schools (many are children of adult members, for instance).
   (d) Offer all juniors who play squash to have the opportunity to achieve the various grades of the Development Player Awards set down by England Squash (this would ensure a local grading system is established linking into a national prospective).
   (e) Ensure all club/coaches/juniors are aware of the local, regional and national player pathway opportunities to ensure all young people wanting to further there game, know how to access further coaching and competitions. One aspect of this would be to re-establish an annual local closed tournament for the various age groups in line with England Squash.
   (f) Develop further links with local publicity sources (e.g. Hull Daily Mail) to publicise junior squash and ensure an increase in knowledge of the game to attract new juniors into playing the game.
   (g) Discuss new and innovative ways of attracting new junior players into the sport and ensure all clubs/centres provide a safe, effective and quality service.
   (h) Establish Area Academies in various age bands for the more advanced juniors across the area
3. To develop and maintain links between Humber Sports Partnership (HSP), the four Local Authorities, England Squash (ES), Humber Squash (Hull and District Squash Association Ltd.), local clubs and centres with squash courts, coaches, volunteers and other key partners.
   (a) Initially achieve the above by means of an operational partnership between the Humber Sports Partnership (HSP), the four Local Authorities, England Squash and Humber squash
   (b) Ensure that all development takes place within a context based on the HSP Equal Opportunities Policy i.e. irrespective of disability, sex, ethnic origin etc.
   (c) Identify the resources required and that are available to implement this plan, and the action required to attract these resources.
   (d) Consideration of the plan being recognised by England Squash (and maybe Sport England) as having national significance, and therefore having national resources allocated in return for a commitment to share its results nationally and maybe to monitor and evaluate its success in accordance with national guidelines.
4. To encourage existing and additional players to play on a regular basis.
   (a) Encouragement to existing players to play more often and to continue playing. This could include advice to individual clubs/centres on how to do this, ranging from ensuring courts are warm, clean and well lit, to booking systems, internal organised activities such as team and individual mini-leagues, open and handicap tournaments etc., and opportunities to play in inter-club competitions, plus availability of coaching, purchase of equipment and clothing, exhibitions by top players and so on.
   (b) Bringing back lapsed players into the game, by organising and publicising specific occasions where they can come and have a game with each other and current players, and stressing the healthy benefits of so doing, then encouraging them to rejoin a club/centre and involving them in the activities in (a) above.
   (c) Attracting new adult players in the same way, with maybe some focus on groups who may make more use of off peak courts (the common thread running through all this is the better use of squash courts) such as women, unemployed people, shift workers etc.
   (d) The basic drive is to encourage more players onto courts, and to play regularly at their chosen club/centre. However, this needs to be matched by opportunities for those players who wish to engage in inter-club and wider competitive activity to do so.
   (e) Building Equal Opportunities into all aspects of the Plan, with the aim of making squash as accessible as possible to groups such as: women, unemployed people, people from ethnic minorities, people with physical or learning disabilities, and those with mental health problems.
5. To develop a range of child friendly, safe clubs working towards England Squash Club Accreditation and ensure clubs adhere to affiliation guidelines
   (a) Encourage all clubs/centres to join England Squash and seek appropriate accreditation.
   (b) Give clubs the England Squash Club Charter Application Pack, and encourage them to apply for award of the Club Charter through help from England Squash, HSP and Humber squash
   (c) Clarify the relationship with England Squash - whether individual clubs/centres need to be members of ES to participate fully in the elements of the plan (and, if not, which elements they can still use.
   (d) To ensure all club personnel have a commitment to ensuring their junior committee members are well educated in key issues such as child protection and equity, and are made aware of and encouraged to attend relevant training courses.
6. To develop the number of quality and qualified coaches/volunteers across the area.
   (a) The provision of coaching courses at all levels for potential coaches/volunteers including both generic qualifications to raise the knowledge of key topics and squash specific coaching awards (including racketball), made available as cheaply and accessibly as possible, and with a lot of encouragement to clubs/centres to bring them to the attention of club members and encouragement to them to participate.
   (b) Identify relevant coaches from the area to undertake the required tutor training to ensure local representatives have the expertise to deliver appropriate squash specific courses to all interested personnel.
   (c) Maintain a database of all qualified coaches in the area, identifying whether they are still actually or potentially active, and involving them in the delivery of the plan. Following on would be the organisation of courses at all levels to ensure that we increase the coaching pool in the area. (c) Offer a support, training and recognition package for all volunteers, players and coaches to access the generic courses co-ordinated by HSP, specifically Equity In Your Coaching, Good Practice and Child Protection, and Emergency First Aid.
   (d) Investigate the opportunities within refereeing to ensure all clubs possess suitably qualified personnel to enable a good understanding of the rules of the games across the area. The organisation of a refereeing award for club members would begin to address this issue
   (e) Ensure all coaches and volunteers involved in working with juniors undertake a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) Police Clearance Form provided by the HSP or England Squash to be updated every 18 months.
7. To develop a series of key performance indicators to measure the impact of the plan against increased participation across the area.
   (a) The overall aim should be to increase the overall number of squash players by 5% and court usage by 10% over the period of the plan (and, by implication, to draw up a further plan towards the end of the period, amended in the light of the most successful features of the first plan). (b) To exceed the Yorkshire Plan for Sport's target of increasing participation within squash by 1% for each year of the plan.