Volleyball Taunton Extraordinary General Meeting
27th January 2009 at the Perkin Warbeck
Minutes
Present: Alan Coles, Cath Shellswell, Clare Pinney, Dawn Atfield, Ian Sidwell, Jon Pitman, Kennedy Child, Mark
Jeffery, Olivier Certain, Phil Payne, Rachel Sidwell, Raf Pieczynski, Rich Alvey, Sarah Cooper, Simon
Lipscombe, Swantja Glindermann, Tony Sanders, Victor Ambrosini.
1. Meeting was opened at 21:30
2. There was a long discussion that most about time for teams to practise as teams.
2.1 Most people at some point added their opinion, so a good debate ensued.
2.2 The problem with differing players’ abilities was discussed. In a nutshell:
2.2.1 Better players got bored with basic skill drills
2.2.2 Newer players could not do more complicated drills, so also lost interest and sat out.
2.3 There was a perceived lack of commitment, with players arriving late, for instance.
2.3.1 Clare mentioned that it is not always possible to arrive on time, and it did not necessarily
reflect lack of commitment.
2.3.2 There seemed some misunderstanding of start time of the session, which was resolved.
2.4 The “teams only” session was discussed:
2.4.1 Mark apologised for the short notice of the session happening
2.4.2 Most people who had attended the special “teams only” session found it to be very good.
2.4.3 However, Phil thought that you could not achieve a high enough standard as there was too
much of a gulf between first and second teams.
2.4.4 The Club had always had a “Club for all” philosophy, and there was a danger that having these
sessions was contrary to this.
2.4.5 However, it was argued that at the moment, it was not really a club for the better players.
2.4.6 It was argued that “teams only” sessions may discourage new people from joining.
2.4.7 If we are in league then we should be competitive.
2.5 The online poll was discussed.
2.5.1 The most popular choice was for two coaches taking different abilities in the one session.
2.5.1.1 This would take the strain off Mark.
2.5.1.2 It would also aid coach development.
2.5.1.3 It would allow specific drills suitable for players’ abilities.
2.5.2 The results for extra sessions were difficult to interpret, as they were last choice for a fair few
people, but first and second choice for others.
2.5.2.1 There was capacity for this at Huish, between 19:00 and 21:00 on Friday.
2.5.2.2 Realistically, there was no capacity elsewhere in Taunton that could be planned
reliably ahead.
2.5.2.3 SCAT may be a possibility in the future.
2.5.2.4 There was a reluctance to make this self-funding.
2.5.3 Not many people liked the idea of splitting the Tuesday session into two.
2.6 A consensus was reached:
2.6.1 Tuesday sessions would have more than one coach depending on numbers and abilities.
2.6.1.1 There would be “sub-coaches”, but the session would be planned in discussion with
Mark.
2.6.2 Every second month on Tuesday there would be a combined team session similar to the last,
but the date would be planned well ahead, possibly in relation to matches coming up.
2.6.3 Friday sessions could be used for important pending matches – this could be team one, team
two or both depending on numbers and need.
2.7 Jon also mentioned tournaments, and felt for “serious” tournaments, it was also time to ditch our
mixing teams up with different abilities. This was agreed in principle.
3. Constitution – the new constitution was adopted without opposition.
3.1 This resulted in the creation of new (up to now co-opted) posts, which were passed unanimously:
3.1.1 Club Welfare Officer (Dawn).
3.1.2 Junior Development Officer (Jurek).
3.1.3 Volunteer Coordinator (Ian).
3.2 There was no time to discuss the need for a Publicity Officer.
4. There were some changes to the Executive that were also passed unanimously:
4.1 Mark resigned as Secretary – his dual role as Secretary and Head Coach gave the executive less width.
4.2 Alan was voted in as Secretary.
5. Volleyball England’s Child Protection Policy was adopted unopposed.
6. The Equity Policy was also adopted unopposed
7. The mission statement was also passed unanimously.
8. A.O.B. – none
9. Meeting was closed.