Octopush E-News Bulletin 225
BOA News
The AGM and NSM 2013 will be held in meeting room 2 at Ponds Forge Sheffield on Sunday 14th July at 10.00 am
This is the day after the National Finals at Ponds Forge.
Every -one is welcome but voting is restricted to one representative of each BOA registered club at the AGM. Voting at the NSM is restricted to BOA Committee, National Squad Coaches, Managers and Captains at the NSM.
Any motions for discussion at the AGM must be sent to me at least 14 days before the AGM.
I will allow any subject to be discussed at Any Other Business.
All Committee posts are elected at the AGM. If you wish to stand for any Committee position please let me know.
We have spent some time negotiating an affiliation agreement with the British Sub Aqua Club.
The British Sub Aqua club are recognised as the National Governing Body for underwater activities.
Although the British Octopush Association are the governing body for underwater hockey we are not recognised as such by official departments.
Therefore the affiliation agreement will allow BSAC as a recognised body to represent us.
Under the agreement BSAC will (and currently do) manage our CRB checks (which in future will be DBS - Disclosure and Barring Service).
We will be obliged to adopt their safeguarding policies.
BSAC will oversee our clubmark applications and will help clubs to get accredited.
We will be allowed space in their monthly magazine for 2 articles per year.
We will agree to pay BSAC £3 per member (all classes of membership) per year for the services provided.
I see this as a very important step forward.
This will allow our athletes to apply for local grants as they will be able to quote BSAC as the RNGB.
Clubmark and Safeguarding are also very important and BSAC will help us to keep up with ever changing rules and procedures.
The affiliation fee will be paid from BOA funds and will not be in addition to your membership fee.
Therefore at the AGM I will be asking for approval for the BOA Chairman to sign the agreement.
I will happily discuss any questions before the AGM if any-one has any.
A BOA Coaching course is being run in York on 22nd and 23rd June 2013.
The course will introduce you to coaching techniques and provide you with your first coaching qualification.
There are still a few spaces remaining so if you are interested contact coaching(at)gbuwh.co.uk
All teams entering BOA competitions next year will be required to provide a qualified referee.
This could be a player but could ideally be a non playing referee allocated to the team.
Therefore it is essential that as many people as possible are qualified to referee.
This is to improve the standard of our refereeing, it will also improve players ability with a more thorough knowledge of the rules.
Referee courses are free to BOA members and £30 to non members. All costs for the course will be paid by the BOA.
To run a referee course we need you to organise about 12 people in your area and a room with pc projection facilities for a whole day.
We will then arrange a suitable date for a referee course tutor to come along.
The Referee course runs in a classroom from 09.00 in the morning to about 5pm and includes one hour for an exam.
You then need 5 hours in water experience shadowing a qualiufied referee in tournament game conditions and to pass an assessment to qualify for level 1.
If you are qualified as level 1 referee and have about 25 hours experience, or you feel you have a good knowledge of the rules and wish to progress then you may be eligible for level 2.
Level 2 courses are similar to level 1 but with more emphasis on interpretation of the rules rather than learning the signals.
As members ready for level 2 come from a wide range of areas it is more difficult to arrange a level 2 course.
If you are interested in either running or attending a level 1 or 2 course then please contact me or referee(at)gbuwh.co.uk.
Competition dates
2/3 November 2013 – Nautilus – Sheffield
22 February 2014 – BOA Prelims – TBC
22 March 2014 – Ladies Nationals – TBC
26/27 April 2014 – BOA Qualifiers – Leeds
28 June 2014 – BOA Finals - Sheffield
Ken Kirby
Chairman
British Octopush Association