WILTSHIRE VOLLEYBALL ASSOCIATION
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Held at Calne Leisure Centre
Wednesday 4thJune 2014 at 19:30
1) Present
Cliff Ball Chair Calne
Paul Rainey Secretary Olympiad
Serena Morten Treasurer Calne
Matt Stevens League Secretary Devizes
John Bird Salisbury
Adam Postance Salisbury
Neil Bentley Competiton Secretary Calne
Mark Grigg Royal Wootton Bassett
Sarah Newstead Ladies Development Devizes
Jenny Boorman Child Welfare Officer Calne
Dave Woolrich Salisbury
Paul Davies Salisbury
Apologies
John Postance Vice Chair Salisbury
Richard Morten Calne
Steve Grimes NVL team Devizes
Irwin Aiken Beach Development Royal Wootton Bassett
David James Erlestoke
Phil Heads Royal Wootton Bassett
Tom Morten Calne
James Morten South-West Team Calne
Matt Morten Calne
2) Minutes of Previous Meeting
a) Everyone accepted the minutes as a true account of the AGM held on Wednesday 12th June 2013 (not Tuesday 12th June 2013). It was also noted that Cliff Ball was incorrectly spelt in 7h.
3) Matters Arising
a) From the WVA Executive committee reports:
i) Child Welfare actions had been completed verbally
ii) Club players that wished to play in the Ladies and Juniors competitions (where the club was not entering a team) had provided contact details directly to Sarah.
iii) It was noted that an extra column had not been added to the league table on the website for bonus points.
4) WVA Executive Committee Summary Reports
a) Chair (Cliff Ball) – See report in Appendix A.
i) It was noted that there is now a single junior officer rather than separate boys and girls officers.
ii) Not many clubs are bringing ladies through to the Ladies and Juniors competitions.
iii) Bath Mavericks Ladies came 5th in the league.
b) Vice Chair (– No report was provided.
c) Secretary (Paul Rainey)
Thanks to everyone for their support of the WVA, without them there wouldn't be such a well organised league and competitions. Thanks go to Sarah Newstead for taking and providing the minutes for one of the general meetings in my absence. Hopefully the minutes will be supplied in a timely fashion and next season will be as enjoyable as this season.
Action - League Secretary to add email address to the player registration form to allow better distribution of official notifications. BCC should be used for all members except the WVA representatives and the executive committee.
d) Treasurer (Serena Morten)
See Appendix B.
i) Thanks to Jorg Steimer and Volleyball England, as well as all others for their kind donations for the presentation evenings raffle.
ii) Serena Morten has been the treasurer for the WVA for a number of years and will be looking at resigning the post either this season or next season. Everyone thanked Serena's for all of her hard work over the years.
iii) It was discussed if clubs could apply for a grant of £100 from the WVA to help with the financing of members that want to take a coaching course. Proof of attendance would be required for the money to be given.
11 people voted for the grant to be made available and there was 1 abstention.
iv) A discussion was also had regarding money being made available for people taking a referees course. £20 was suggested per referee on proof of 1st refereeing at least 2 matches with a maximum of 3 referees per club.
10 people voted for the money to be made available and there were 2 abstentions.
v) It was suggested that the following fees stay the same.
League entry is £30 per team, £3.50 per player, £2.50 for junior, £35 for tournaments and £20 for the good will deposit.
11 people voted for the fees to stay the same and there was 1 abstention.
e) Area Welfare Officer (Jenny Boorman)
i) There have not been any incidents or allegations made during the season.
ii) All clubs are reminded that they are responsible for providing a safe environment for all players, officials and spectators.
iii) All clubs should have a welfare officer and should communicate with the Area Welfare Officer.
iv) All people that have had CRB checks done (which need to be done through VE) in the past should check if they are running out as VE do not necessarily send out reminder when they are about to lapse. On sending official documents, VE are quick at sending them back.
v) On the application the role should be kept as broad as possible so that it is not limiting.
Action – All clubs to provide details of their Welfare officer and members that have been CRB check through VE to the Area Welfare Officer.
f) League Secretary (Matt Stevens)
i) The start of the season was very hectic with Melksham pulling out of the league and Olympiad almost pulling out but ending up putting 2 teams into the league. Devizes also increased their number of teams entered.
ii) There were some issues with setting up the fixtures due to the increased number of teams entering the 1st division and the number of matches on Sundays. It took 3 days to arrange the fixtures due to clubs having other volleyball commitments.
iii) It was allot of effort to setup and the league online especially player registrations. About 5 hours a day, 2 days a week for a month was required to get things going properly.
iv) With the changes to the teams entering the leagues after the initial fixtures list, minimal changes were required and everyone should be thanked for allowing the additional teams to enter.
v) The player short/ play down rule was amended part way into the season as a number of clubs had different understandings of how this was supposed to work especially if a club had 2 teams in the same league.
vi) There was a problem with the website, which went down and also ran slowly when functional. This was improved by the WVA paying for an upgrade in the server. Thanks must go to Richard Howells for the continued hosting and support of the WVA website including the league system.
vii) The system has been tailored for the running of the WVA which has saved a lot of time and effort of the league secretary but some additional automation of the system would be beneficial.
viii) This season saw the rules fully enforced. Bonus points were not applied if the teams did not meet their requirements of online entry or fixture requirements. The information supplied online for the scoresheet entry had some errors in it, so all clubs are asked to try and ensure the information supplied is correct and that a copy of the scoresheet is supplied to the league secretary by email or post.
ix) Approximately 10 matches were not played this season (which is too many) and a number more were rearranged.
x) There was a play off between the 2nd place team in division 1 and the bottom place of the premier division. Due to the imbalance in the number of teams in the leagues, this saw 2 teams promoted and 1 team relegated.
xi) Thanks go to Matt Stevens for running the league this year and to everyone for making it an enjoyable season.
g) Competitions Secretary (Calne VC – Neil Bentley)
Available on request from Neil Bentley.
i) The Christie Miller has been booked for the Pre Season Tournament on Sunday 14th September.
ii) All clubs agreed that the End Of Season Tournament and Presentation Evening went well and was very enjoyable.
iii) It was suggested that the tickets for the presentation could have gone out earlier to try and get more people to come (and buy more raffle tickets).
iv) Bath Mavericks wanted to say thank you for allowing them to play in the EOS tournament.
h) Junior Development Officer - Interim (Matt Stevens)
i) There has be a reduction in the number of teams entering the regional training/ tournaments.
ii) Vicky Cooper won player of the league for South West (adults league).
iii) Yasmin Kaashoek is going to play in Portugal for the U17s but is actually U15.
iv) 2-3 juniors are training with Bath with an U16 setting for them.
v) There has been some training for juniors after the Ladies and Juniors competitions for 1 - 2 hours, to which up to 30 have turned up. These training sessions have been run to give juniors a chance to train together but have not been for a specific purpose.
vi) If there are to be more juniors entering competitions next season there needs to be someone/ a number of people taking on the role of organising them.
i) Ladies Development (Sarah Newstead)
Available on request from Sarah Newstead.
i) The Ladies and Juniors Tournaments provide a real opportunity to play at ladies height.
ii) All fixtures were played during the season.
Action – Clubs that do not enter as a team, could the player contacts be provided to Sarah Newstead so that they can be informed directly for upcoming competitions.
j) Beach Development (Irwin Aiken)
i) A timetable of dates has been supplied to all clubs. The format is 2-a-side, the cost is £2 per player and trophies can be won.
ii) Proposed fixtures so far are:
29/6
27/7
30/8
5) Club Round Up
a) Salisbury - Will hopefully be entering 3 teams into the league next season. Salisbury Tournament is on 9 - 10 August. It would be good to see as many Wiltshire teams as possible. There have been an number of issues within the club, but they are being worked through. The club is trying to work on improving the junior section of the club. It has been a bit slow over the last few months, but hopefully it will improve after the AGM. Currently John Bird is Chair and WVA rep for the club. There is an issue with current hall closing during exam times, so the club is looking at other venues. As a request, please could home teams always confirm matches are on 10 days before the match. If there is no confirmation request, the away team can phone to check the match is on. Another request is that scoresheets (a whole pad) be supplied early.
b) Calne – Looking at putting 3 teams into the league. There have been some issues with player availability. There is no set WVA rep as there are members on the WVA exec. committee.
c) Royal Wootton Bassett – Currently there is no chair person. There are over 60 members that train with the club in 4 teams (A, B, Ladies and Juniors, and South West) which is almost like running 4 clubs. There is a 4 hour training session on Sunday. Currently playing outside in Lydiard Park.
d) Devizes – There are 10 - 25 juniors at training and 12 - 30 seniors with some juniors staying for the senior training. Looking at having 3 mixed league teams and 1 - 2 junior teams next season. There has been less stress on the junior coach this season as they have not had the role of Junior Development Officer and has more time. There are some of the juniors playing South West and Mavericks. The club is running well with the AGM due in the next couple of weeks. Currently there is no chair person but Matt Stevens and Sarah Newstead are the WVA reps.
e) Olympiad – Chair person is Gordon Gerrard and WVA rep is Paul Rainey. The club is looking at entering 2 teams into the mixed league next season. There were only 4 players at training at the beginning of the season and there was potential for the club to not enter a team into the league. Players from a social volleyball club in Trowbridge joined just before the league started and numbers grew to 12+ (with some old Olympiad members rejoining as well). With the new members there is a lot more of a buzz and enthusiasm and will hopefully go from strength to strength.
f) Erlestoke - No report supplied. David James is basically running the club on his own. The club is keen to play friendly matches.
g) Mavericks (Mens) – Steve Grimes has organised the National team this year. Most of the players are from Devizes. James Morten has organised the South West team and had over 20 player play during the season.
h) Maverick (Ladies) – Bath Mavericks had a disappointing start but then won 8 out of 10 matches. The team is entered for next season but is low on numbers. More players are needed.
6) Election of Officers
|
Position
|
Elected
|
Proposed
|
Seconded
|
Votes For
|
Abstain
|
|
Chair
|
Cliff Ball
|
Serena Morten
|
Adam Postance
|
11
|
1
|
|
Vice-Chair
|
John Postance
|
Matt Stevens
|
Sarah Newstead
|
11
|
1
|
|
Secretary
|
Paul Rainey
|
Serena Morten
|
Jenny Boorman
|
11
|
1
|
|
Treasurer
|
Serena Morten
|
Paul Rainey
|
Jenny Boorman
|
11
|
1
|
|
Child Welfare Officer
|
Jenny Boorman
|
Serena Morten
|
John Bird
|
11
|
1
|
|
League Secretary
|
Matt Stevens
|
Neil Bentley
|
Serena Morten
|
11
|
1
|
|
Competitions Secretary
|
Neil Bentley/ Calne
|
Adam Postance
|
John Bird
|
11
|
1
|
|
Junior Development Officer
|
Neil Bentley
|
Paul Rainey
|
Serena Morten
|
11
|
1
|
|
Ladies Development Officer
|
Sarah Newstead
|
Serena Morten
|
Adam Postance
|
11
|
1
|
|
Beach Development Officer
|
Irwin Aiken
|
John Bird
|
Neil Bentley
|
11
|
1
|
i) Both Cliff Ball and Serena Morten are stepping down from their roles on the committee after this year, so nominations are required for people to take over the roles of Chair and Treasurer.
ii) It was discussed and verbally agreed that Salisbury will take over the role of Competitions Secretary for next season.
7) AOB
a) WVA Rules And Constitution
Action - Cliff Ball to place the Constitution, Minutes and an Archive onto the website. Rules are also to be placed on the website with aversion number and date.
b) Club Affiliation & Insurance
i) As the 3 South West meetings, club affiliation was discussed and all clubs other than Erlestoke and Wellington affiliated.
Action - Serena Morten to contact Erlestoke regarding Volleyball England affiliation.
ii) Insurance for playing volleyball is covered through the registered coaches and referees. If there is no coach, the match can be covered by a referee.
c) Tournament Update
i) Salisbury Tournament is on 9 - 10 August.
ii) Pre Season Tournament 14 September.
iii) 2 teams from Royal Wootton Bassett, 2 from Salisbury, 1 from Calne are all playing in the Whitfield Tournament.
d) WVA Committee - Sub Volunteers
To reduce the workload of the committee members it was suggested that help be provided by other members from within clubs.
e) Paul Rainey - Asked if it would be possible to change the day of the meeting so that not all meetings were on Wednesdays.
f) Matt Stevens -
i) Requested that reports from officers be supplied and read in advance to save time in the meetings.
ii) Currently the rules state that the teams have 5 days to update match results whereas the system is setup for 7 days. Matt requested that the rules are changed to 7 days so that the rules reflect the system (rule 6g1 & 2). The vote for changing the rules to match the system were 10 for and 2 against.
iii) Clarification was requested and a potential rule change to the player short system if a 2nd team of a club has only 5 players and 1 1st team player and 1 3rd team player are on the scoresheet, that the 3rd team player must play up before the 1st team player plays down. A vote for the 3rd team player having to play before the 1st team player was taken and 3 vote were for the change and 8 were against the change (chair did no vote). Rule not to change.
g) Dave Woolrich -
i) Thought that the bonus point system should be changed so that bonus points are rewards for playing rather than being for admin. There was a long discussion about the use of bonus points being used as an incentive to get the results onto the system in a timely fashion and checked by the away team. The reason it was introduced was that financial penalties were not ensuring the results were entered in a timely fashion whereas not gaining the league points did make a difference. As there are still matches where the results are not entered/ or are late, removing the incentive was viewed by some as detrimental to the league.
ii) Everyone was asked to confirm they agreed with the bonus point rules, or if they didn't supply an amended proposal for the rule so that it can be considered in an extra meeting prior to the new season.
Action - Everyone to consider if the bonus point rule should stay the same. If it is to change, a proposal should be submitted for discussion.
Action - Matt Stevens to discuss with Richard Howells on how the system could generate an automatic response/ email for the away team once the results have been entered by the home team.
Action - Matt Stevens to discuss with Richard Howells to have an extra column in the league tables showing the bonus points for entry/ checking results online.
People were thanked for attending the AGM. Meeting adjourned 22:45
8) Date of Next Meeting – Wednesday 10th September 2014
Appendices
Appendix A.
Chair Report – Wiltshire Volleyball Association - 2013/14 Season
The WVA 2013/14 season successfully concluded on Sat 10th May with the End of Season Tournament and Annual Presentation Evening. Both events were a great success and saw the best attendance for many seasons, which was pleasing for all the organisers and also good for Wiltshire Volleyball.
The WVA Committee once again had a full complement of volunteers for the season, with only two changes. A total of four WVA committee meetings were held during the season, including the AGM, which is due to take place on Wed 4th June. This was reduced from 5 meetings in previous seasons. The WVA Executive Officers for 2013/14 season were as follows: -
a. Chair (Cliff Ball – Calne Comets)
b. Vice-Chair (John Postance - Salisbury)
c. Secretary (Paul Rainey - Olympiad)
d. Treasurer (Serena Morten – Calne Comets)
e. Welfare Officer (Jenny Boorman – Calne Comets)
f. League Secretary (Matt Stevens – Devizes )
g. Competitions Secretary (Neil Bentley - Calne Comets)
h. Junior Development Officer - Interim (Matt Stevens - Devizes)
i. Ladies Development Officer (Sarah Newstead - Devizes)
j. Beach Development Officer (Irwin Aiken – Royal Wotton Bassett)
The league and competitions produced some good volleyball, and it is good to see some younger players developing rapidly and keeping the old guard on their toes. The Ladies & Junior section is fairly strong, and Sarah has done a fantastic job of managing the ladies development for the past several seasons. The competition offered by the junior players in this league is getting stronger each year, although it seems there are some Wiltshire ladies holding back from entering this competition. I would encourage all Wiltshire ladies to come along to these monthly tournaments, which offer some good volleyball and are also great fun. Wiltshire ladies volleyball is envied by other county associations!
It was again good to see the Wiltshire Mavericks name branded across a range of leagues beyond Wiltshire. South West representation came from Royal Wootton Bassett Ladies’ and the Wiltshire Mavericks Men’s teams, both teams providing a great opportunity to play at a relatively high standard. In the NVL the Wiltshire Mavericks Men's team achieved 3rd place from a team of experienced senior players and thankfully’ some energetic younger players. Bath Mavericks also produced some very good volleyball in Ladies NVL Division 2.
On the 'Junior' front, Wiltshire has a keen interest with Calne, Devizes, Salisbury and Royal Wootton Bassett producing some aspiring junior boys and girls. However, it has been difficult to produce teams for the South West Junior Grand Prix series this season, and I would like to encourage all clubs to look at entering teams into this regional series of events to expand their volleyball experience in a competitive yet friendly environment.
The beach and outdoor season is now beckoning and a series of tournaments has been organised for the county and locally. Salisbury is once again hosting its very popular ‘open’ outdoor tournament on the weekend of 9th & 10th August with camping and entertainment.
It is pleasing for me to see the WVA is in a fairly good place at present, and I would like to thank all the volunteers who have helped make this possible this season. However, in order for the WVA to run smoothly and efficiently the Executive Committee have to try and operate within the WVA Rules and Constitution, and apply these fairly and without prejudice.
The league and competition rules are visited frequently to ensure they are in line with the current thinking and wishes of the majority of the WVA members. Sometimes decisions are not to everyone’s liking and there can be a perception of preferential treatment or unfair decisions. I will state that I have full confidence in all the Executive Officers in carrying out their roles without bias even if it affects their own club.
I do feel it is necessary to ensure that all clubs are represented in administering the WVA. Presently we have an imbalance with Calne Comets holding 4 positions, Devizes 3 and Olympiad, Royal Wootton Bassett and Salisbury 1 position each. All positions are open for re-election at the AGM with all existing officers having to retire at the AGM in accordance with the WVA Constitution, and stand for re-election if they so wish and are nominated.
I would ask all clubs, particularly Royal Wootton Bassett, Salisbury and Olympiad, to urgently look into volunteering for at least one additional position on the WVA Executive for this coming season. This would be very much appreciated as some of the existing officers have been in position now for several years and would not take offence at not being re-elected (including Chair!). This will ensure the WVA administration and decision making is evenly spread through all WVA clubs. Thank you for your co-operation.
Cliff Ball
Chair - Wiltshire Volleyball Association
Appendix B
Treasurer’s Report
