AGM Minutes and Events

Hello Everyone!

Please see below the AGM Minutes and information on upcoming events:

1) Finances & membership numbers (Andrew & Ed) loss of £2040 in 2020-21 very little bar takings, £7,000 in savings, comfortable at the moment, coaching has been expensive – loss from Junior section £1471 – costs include coaches training, Miles J costs, 166 members in total as at today’s date – 50 emails to previous members to encourage more participation. 200 members is the target.

2) Team Squash over the summer and winter leagues (Max) interclub matches. Several matches arranged, new recruits. 6 teams in Shropshire leagues for 2021-2022. Anyone who wants to be involved should speak to Max. Squash X starting before Xmas.

3) Academy (Dan) coaching for many to develop the young players. Div 2 academy team. Ambition of having 3 academy in divs 1, 2 & 3. Jayden, Georgina, Finlay coming through. Focus on “developing” players. 4 clusters, Shrewsbury, Brookside, Wrekin, BC, Lilleshall – primary schools – future

4) Junior squash - all players are also Junior members, girls' participation (Ben & Rob) 48 juniors pre-Covid on Saturday sessions, last summer coaching was free, mid-20’s since September 2021, Miles has been used over the past but will not continue from September 2021. Price increase has had an effect – possibly. Coaching fees are the same, membership has increased. Girls drop off from organised sport. Girls often just play once a week. Juniors used to be more – more likely to become adult members if they continue to play now. Future is the juniors. Maybe now have a Saturday only tariff? Addition of £50 is quite a lot to contribute. What price is a barrier to participation. Juniors do not make profit. Why is the School taking this viewpoint? Payment schedule? Commitment to work with the club to improve the junior sessions. Long term strategy. Questions of costing. How can we make the club the most attractive it can be for juniors. Joint school/club ideas. Work with the club to improve the facilities. Increase adult fees to cover junior fees. Ideas from Committee to Ed for consideration on how to improve. Ed Confirmed his/the schools desire to sustainably support junior provision and apologised for any frustration caused to those in attendance. He concluded the Junior membership was not a new cost and the original agreement was juniors would have the option to attend and trial the junior coaching session prior to becoming a member. Support has been given by allowing continued / free usage since January 2021 alongside the option to have a reduced non member fee. The current tariff was designed to aid junior uptake and offer value, he looks forward to committee member proposals and effective communication.

5) New scoring system for internal league tables to encourage more attacking play (Rob) motion carried as a trial for November & December

6) Different balls for different leagues (Andy) we should offer single yellow for players under the premiership. More enjoyment. Lower players should use red or single dot. Single dot for leagues 4 downwards? Could we put in a trial? November & December? Motion carried.

7) Ladies squash (Tracy) some girls just want to play or swim once per week. Figures pre-Covid – women often don’t think squash is for them. 2 events for intl womens squash week – 2 new members who joined together. Women have been invited. They just don’t know about it. Feedback very positive – pizza and proscecco monthly. It’s quite intimidating. Dedicated sessions for intermediates. Beginners’ course. Saturday 5-6 possibly Sunday mornings for training. More mixing of juniors and seniors. Racketball? Girls’ league? 2 new members joined to play each other. Non-member play option.

1. Continue with regular female only events (Friday Pizza & Prosecco nights will continue monthly).

2. Group coaching sessions for beginners.

3. Dedicated sessions/coaching to get beginners/intermediate players more confident to join club leagues.

4. Session times would be difficult weeknights with other club priorities. Consider 5pm Saturday and Sunday mornings (2 courts for 1.5/2 hours).

5. More mentoring/mixing of girls and women players. (Young junior Jessica was an absolute star at the coffee event and helped with coaching.)

6. Have a go at racketball (mixed event).

7. Women’s league/competition. Many of these ideas wouldn’t be too hard at all to make happen and I anticipate that we’ll have a very different women’s report next year! We are heading in the right direction and there are many more women out there coming forward who are suddenly interested or rekindling their interest in squash. We just need to shake things up a bit to offer what’s needed to keep this interest alight.

8) Working parameters document (Carl) - postponed

9) Sport Facility Manager items - floor upstairs, male changing rooms (Ed) Thanked all for their attendance, updated on new staff starting with us with key contacts being Kelly, Ben, Fizz, Tom, Caitlin. There are currently no sizeable capital/maintenance plans at the squash centre, the departments current focus is on strategic planning with changing school demands. Ed confirmed that when opportunities allow the priority is the male changing rooms. Ben was very helpful with Richard Ewels.

10) Re-election of Committee members and new nominations Rebecca Wright & committee re-elected

11) AOB Ed confirmed the check in screen downstairs will be repaired. Can Miles start earlier on a Friday? No. Can the venue be used for social events? Request must be sent/approved via Sport@shrewsbury.org,uk Sat evenings – with a committee member, car parking issues during the daytime. Reserve car parking for squash members? School decision to make the school car-free. Teachers are parking in the car park – Ed will look at the request for 3 reserved squash spaces. Coffee machine for the bar. How nice it is to be back in the facility. Ed thanked all for adhering to the covid procedures. AGM concluded at 19:35 – thanks to the School for the catering and to the Club for the free drink!

New trial scoring system for internal leagues from November 2021

All matches should be played using a standard single yellow dot ball.

Below you will find minutes of Tracy's Women's Report. Additional to Tracy’s Women’s report. I was noted that Tracy found it disappointing that women were number 7 on the AGM agenda (under items such as balls and scoring) when agenda item number 1 identified that women and girls continue to be underrepresented at our club, at just 11% of all members. It’s not difficult to get 25 women to a pizza and prosecco ladies night, what’s difficult is that as a club we are not offering what is needed to attract them to join and play regularly. This echos what Ben is reporting in his juniors report, that girls/women may not always want what we’re offering or be motivated in the same way. I.e. some just want to play once a week, some don’t want to play in leagues, some want to play for fitness or social reasons mainly. Tracy read through the suggestions listed in her report to better cater for women and girls.

Women’s Report

Right so let’s just ignore the big “C” word (Covid) and get straight down to women and women’s squash.

For International Women’s Squash Week Our club celebrated by hosting not one but two female only events - a Coffee & Cake morning Sunday 19th September and Pizza & Prosecco evening Friday 24th. We had 15 attend the coffee morning with 6 coming along for the first time with no or very limited squash experience. 25 attended the Friday evening again with another 6 complete beginners. Feedback from both events was very positive and constructive with lots of ideas flowing as to what more we as a club can do to better cater for both girls and women playing squash.

Here’s a taste of some of the ideas shared:

1. Continue with regular female only events (Friday Pizza & Prosecco nights will continue monthly).
2. Group coaching sessions for beginners.
3. Dedicated sessions/coaching to get beginners/intermediate players more confident to join club leagues.
4. Session times would be difficult weeknights with other club priorities. Consider 5pm Saturday and Sunday mornings (2 courts for 1.5/2 hours).
5. More mentoring/mixing of girls and women players. (Young junior Jessica was an absolute star at the coffee event and helped with coaching.)
6. Have a go at racketball (mixed event).
7. Women’s league/competition.

Many of these ideas wouldn’t be too hard at all to make happen and I anticipate that we’ll have a very different women’s report next year! We are heading in the right direction and there are many more women out there coming forward who are suddenly interested or rekindling their interest in squash. We just need to shake things up a bit to offer what’s needed to keep this interest alight.

I would like to thank all the club, committee members and coaches for their ongoing support.

Kind regards and happy squashing, Tracy WP

Women's Pizza and Prosecco Evening:

Neil Jackson Memorial Event

There will be a memorial event on behalf of Neil Jackson and all proceeds to charity. You can enjoy an afternoon of 40's music and a mini Sunday lunch.

Please see flyer below for details:

Bar Reminder

Members are reminded that the bar is an "honesty-no-cash" bar and that all drinks should be paid for on the Sumup terminal at the time of purchase. If there is a problem with getting a signal on the Sumup terminal, as very occasionally happens, then please make a note of the amount you owe and leave a note on one of the petty cash slips by the safe behind the door and please pay for it, on the Sumup terminal, next time you are at the Club.

If you have any problems with Sumup terminal, there are instructions on how to use it on the A4 perspex display frame on the bar.

There is also a last resort payment method (sometimes used by juniors, who only have cash and do not have a debit card) of putting cash in the safe behind the door of the bar - there is a post box opening on top of the safe that will take cash, if all else fails.

Finally, as a last, last resort, give Andrew Black a call on 07889 494786.

Many thanks.

My Courts Top Tips

With the reintroduction of the check in terminal we thought it might be helpful to share some My Courts top tips.

For those of you who have forgotten your pins, you can find these by going to https://shropshiresquashclub.mycourts.co.uk , logging in and the clicking on change password or pin. This will then show you your existing Pin number. If you wish to change it you can by following the steps outlined.

Also:

Did you know that ........ if you name your opponent on Mycourts, your opponent can, by logging in to Mycourts when he/she arrives to play, register that the court has been used (even if you forget) and no fine would be payable for a "No Show"?
See the Information Point, by the door of the bar, for other guidance on how you can make best use of Mycourts.

Did you know that ....... you can be alerted to courts that are cancelled by other members allowing you to book those courts yourself. By clicking on the "Cancelled Court Alert" option on the left hand side of the Mycourts screen (below the "Your Booking" option) you will be given a set of parameters to choose, defining which day and/or time you are interested in being alerted to; you can even have a blanket request to be alerted to all cancelled courts. Try it out ... you can always cancel it at any time you want, by deselecting the option.
See the Information Point by the door of the bar, for other guidance on how you can make best use of Mycourts.

Hopefully these tips helps as you get used to navigating the terminal again.

Thanks for taking the time to go through the notes and updates.

Have a great week

Scott

13/10/2021