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DEVELOPMENT DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE SYNOPSIS - posted 23 January 2012 British Cycling has today released details of Sunday's national Development Conference held at the Eaton Hotel in Birmingham which was attended by 23 delegates, including BC Board members George Gilbert and Colin Docker. The following is a brief synopsis of the conference and the principal points discussed. Back To Basics Grant Applications Calendar Promotion and Publicity Coaching Referees and Match Day Officials SPORT PLANS FOR THE FUTURE - posted 23 January 2012 Cycle speedway's movers and shakers met at the Eaton Hotel in Birmingham yesterday to plan the sport's future. The main theme running through the well attended meeting was the development of 'fat' clubs and a move away from the traditional eight plus six team formula to more club-based competitions catering for all ages and abilities, along similar lines to the successful Youth and Junior League. The over-riding objective is for exisiting clubs to build their membership base by introducing club nights, involving schools to create a community spirit within clubs - and to provide weekend racing for all, irrespective of age and ability. Introducing the far-reaching proposals, Commissioner Ian Brown made a convincing case for change, a new and modern strategy which seemed to attract widespread support from delegates. The Commission will provide more support for struggling clubs like Colchester and Sandwell, in the hope that these clubs can be stabilised and ultimately grow. The sport's governing body will also assist clubs in making grant applications to improve facilities. Key to development is a rationalisation of the traditional racing calendar. The Development Plan will advocate what is being termed a "Back to Basics' clean-sheet approach to "Create a sustainable and meaningful competition structure". The Plan will concentrate on four key areas, governance, racing, coaching (including volunteers, academies and referees and development aides.British Cycling is expected to produce a statement setting out the aims and objectives of the Plan which will cover many of the objectives in more detail. DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE PLANS SPORT'S FUTURE - posted 19 January 2012 One of the most important meetings for years takes place in Birmingham on Sunday when delegates from all over the country gather at the Eaton Hotel to discuss the sport's future and agree a Cycle Speedway Development Plan. A long and varied agenda, led by newly appointed chairman George Gilbert, will look at all aspects of the sport from governance to coaching, competition to club development, women's racing to publicity as well as funding. Individual session will be headed by Ian Brown, Mike Hack, Rob Mace and Paul West. Among those expected to attend the conference are Rob Absalom, Ian Brown, Dave Flemming, Geoff Gamage, Martin Gamble, Simon Gamble, George Gilbert (Chair), Mike Hack, Ben Higham, Julie Higham, Neil Howarth, Simon Howarth, Bernie Kemp, Rob Mace, Tim Metcalfe, Ivan Pike, Bob Prince, Andy Schofield, Adam Stephenson, Following the conference, it is expected British Cycling will publish the long-awaited Cycle Speedway Development Plan. Ian Brown, the Commissioner charged with developing the sport over the next few years, has taken the first steps in putting together the pieces of the Development Plan by announcing sub-committees to oversee three key competitions, the Premier League, the Youth and Junior League and the Women's League. It is expected the new committees will bring more transparency to an otherwise previously autocratic process, generate new ideas and encourage more open debate especially with the cycle speedway membership. Ian Brown is particularly keen to hear from anyone who has ideas on how to develop the sport and is even encouraging open debate through the pages of spokesman-online. The new committees are: One of the Premier League sub-committee's priorities will be to agree the league composition for 2012 including the emerging debate whether or not to introduce a second tier and have relegation and promotion. Combination racing is also likely to come in for close scrutiny. Another idea being discussed is the possibility of introducing a Premier League rider's licence which would allow a rider to race for their regional club in all competitions but to race for another club in the PL only. It is hoped that this would encourage riders to stay with their regional clubs on a first registration. FUNDING AND SPONSORSHIP SHOULD BE A PRIORITY - posted 21 June 2011 The public consultation on the future of cycle speedway only attracted responses from 48 people but gives an insight into what the rank-and-file see as the way forward for the sport. The questions covered a wide range of subject matter from the amount of racing, length of season and secondary registrations through to the number of regions, the future of competitions and where clubs should go for advice. As expected the survey illicited a wide range of responses and one of two surprises. Virtually everyone agreed (96%) that identifying sponsorship and funding opportunities should be a priority for the Commission and British Cycling headquarters. There was also wide consensus (94%) that cycle speedway should have a publicity programme tied into the 2012 Olympics. On the subject of the racing season, membership and secondary registration, 69% felt there was enough racing at the required level while 73% thought the length of the season was just about right. The vexed question of secondary registrations, always an emotive subject, split respondees, 60% believing that they should only be used to register upwards (ie regional riders secondarying to Premier League teams) while 35% though secondaries should only be used to support struggling clubs. 69% thought that the Commission should introduce an international panel, with representation on the Commission, to select and coach international performers. 54% said that British Cycling's Regional Development Officer would be their first port of call when seeking advice on Recruitment, Go-Ride, Clubmark, Dealing with Local Authorities, Applying for Grant Aid and General Advice which suggests that links with local BC officials are stronger than many people anticipated. 69% felt that the current number of four regions was about right. The question should the British Individual Championships be run on the same lines as the Youth and Junior League (in effect a series of regional and national grand prixs) brought mixed responses, the majority, 54%, thinking this was not a good idea. Another tight call came when 52% of voters thought that racing calendar is biased towards the Premier League. Whether or not the Premier League should raced on Saturdays only also received a mixed response 46% saying it shouldn't but 41% feeling it should, leaving the remaining 13% either having no opinion or making alternative suggestions. There was some support (54%) that a second tier national league would have positive impact on the sport? 54% thought that entry to the British team championship should be complusory for Premier and Regional league clubs while 10% thought it should be abolished with many shades of hue in between. There was significant support (73%) for the BYJL having six regional rounds, with the winners going on to a National Final run over a weekend at one top class facility to encourage more local clubs to enter riders that at present. Respondees were not convinced that changing from the existing BY&JL formula to the top five riders only from each region and in each age category was a good idea. 50% thought it was a good idea but a corresponding 50% disagreed or had no opinion. 69% were in favour of staging the British Club Championship finals over one bank holiday weekend, with regional pre-qualifying, and with a social event on the Saturday and or Sunday night. 81% thought clubs can benefit from knowledge acquired during the running of Coaching Academies. The questions were supported by a substantial raft of additional comments, too many to detail here. Clearly when the new Development sub-committee has been set up, there will be lots to consider and assimilate. We'll keep you advised of developments. Cycle speedway's Development Group met at the Eaton Hotel in Birmingham last weekend. Formal minutes of the meeting will be issued next week. In the meantime the man charged with developing the sport was upbeat about the game's future. "The meeting was extremely helpful in moving the sport forward" said Commissioner Ian Brown. "The different committees were not formed as incredibly there are 39 people who want to get involved, so it will need some thought on how to best use that many people. "I anticipate that review of the sport will begin immediately but most * Drop the Project 2015 label and rename the project CS Development to enable it to become an ongoing permanent project.
"The support will be used to create a blue print for every club to follow should they choose to and will be reviewed constantly to keep upto date and relevant as a practical document. The whole purpose of this part of the project is to generate new members to the sport" added Brown. Ian was also keen to recognise the progress the sport has made in the past five years under the Project 2010 banner. "There is much more to do including generic promoting and brand building, which is why it is important to involve more people than the eight members of the Commission." In an unprecedented move, the newly formed Development team have made the results of the public consultation on the future of cycle speedway available to Spokesman-Online. Keen to immediately deliver one of its principal objectives, to create a better level of communication to ensure that progression is visible, the findings will take some time for the Spokesman editorial team to analyse and report on. "Releasing this information to Spokesman-Online is a welcomed and significant progression" said editor Rod Witham. "Unfortunately because of space limitations we are unable to publish the full report in its present format but we hope to bring you more news of the report's findings in the next day or so, once we have had time to analyse replies to the 19 principal questions" he added. In total 48 questionnaires were returned representing 76% of clubs. While there was a fair ranges of ages, the majority fell in the 40 to 60 profile and came mainly from officials and riders. “Project 2015” is to get underway with a meeting planned for 11 June at the Eaton Hotel in Birmingham, with a start time of 10.30am. The purpose of the meeting is to simply kick start the project and implement Tim’s development plan. It is envisaged that a series of sub-committees or work groups be set up to review and develop individual areas of our sport. These sub-committees will then work on their designated areas of our sport before reporting back at a review meeting in the summer – earmarked for the British finals weekend in August. It is planned that the sub-committees will meet via the internet and/or conference calls to save expense and ensure that the projects run smoothly. It is the intention of the Commission that everything should be looked at from the international set up, racing structure, club activity, the academy, coaching and many other aspects of cycle speedway including the promotion of the sport to the outside world. “However to ensure the success of the project we require individuals to come forward and get involved.” said Ian Brown. If you are interested in getting involved in developing our sport please contact Paul West, Tim Metcalfe or Ian Brown even if you are unable to attend the meeting on the 11th of June. “We know that the meeting has been arranged at short notice and it clashes with the under-13 British championships but looking at the fixtures this was the most suitable date for the next few weeks and it is important that the project is started sooner rather than later” commented Ian. “However, anybody who wants to get involved but cannot get to the meeting should still come forward and we will ensure they are included in one of the different work groups”. Ian added “This is a huge project but as the old saying goes – many hands make light work.” Contacts –
British Cycling's Cycle Speedway Commission has unveiled its plans for the sport's future. Following on from the achievements of its previous development plans, Project 2000 and Project 2010, the Commission has launched Project 2015, primarily designed to increase participation at all levels of the sport. Plans are at an early stage but a full Project Initiation Document is being worked on with a view to launching the project early in 2010. It is expected that Project 2015 will see a cycle speedway programme for schools, inclusion of cycle speedway in the UK Corporate Games and UK Schools Games, develop opportunities to introduce the sport to Scout and Guide groups, stage a Festival of Cycle Speedway in 2012 to coincide with the Olympics, explore other promotional opportunities such as including the sport in cycle shows, Pro Tour events, Cardiff Speedway Grand Prix and so on. Each of the four geographical regions will be expected to play a pro-active part by developing one new local league and two new clubs over the next five years. There will be more emphasis on coaching including setting up an annual coaches conference, club development and funding, including attracting sponsorship for major events. Architect behind the ambitious programme, Tim Metcalfe, plans to hold a launch meeting early in the New Year and is looking to British Cycling for support in chairing the meeting and appointing a project manager to communicate progress and flag up any issues with British Cycling's Board of Directors. We hope to bring you more news of Project 2015 as this exciting initiative develops. |
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