RichardHowells posted on April 25, 2025 18:05
Chair’s Report 2024-25
Health of the club
Our junior section is thriving. This season we saw high attendance, great enthusiasm and exceptional performance in regional and nationally organised competitions (see Club Coach’s report). Our junior development pathway is producing very able players who are being selected for SW region squads (congratulations this season to Michael Okereke) and progressing rapidly into our adult teams. Plus we see and hear great feedback about the benefits of volleyball for the personal development and confidence of young people. For all this we thank our amazing team of junior coaches and helpers (including a number of older teenagers) together with all those parents who supported and transported young players around the south of England.
Our adult teams suffered from the leisure centre equipment failure that disrupted their training and matches between October and December, together with higher than usual absence and turnover of players during the season (for a variety of reasons). These factors clearly impacted negatively on our enjoyment and performances, however our women and men bounced back strongly towards the end of the season to improve their league positions and avoid automatic relegation. With an influx of young players from our junior section plus new adults from our waiting list we can look forward to next season with confidence. Huge thanks to our various team coaches and helpers, who invested so much time, effort and skill into developing our players and teams – the improvement is clearly visible. And lastly a very special thanks to Cliff, our esteemed founder and life member, who is taking a break after his latest stint of eight seasons coaching our SW League women’s squad – yet another magnificent contribution to this club!
Next challenges for the club
The main volleyball posts and floor fittings provided by the leisure centre are at end of life, with risk of further failure, however Wiltshire Council financial constraints are preventing their replacement in the near future. As a club we may have to consider some kind of cost-sharing with the Council to get them replaced. In the face of these challenges we thank the leisure centre staff for their support and for going the extra mile for us this season.
In recent years we planned to redevelop our out-of-date and neglected club website to make it more usable and informative for current and potential members and supporters. Several volunteers with web skills got involved for a while, however all have now moved on so this remains a challenge.
Wiltshire Volleyball may establish a collective women’s team to bring together top players from Wiltshire clubs to compete at higher levels. This could change the landscape for recruiting, developing and retaining female players to represent our club in the SW League. We’ll discuss this later in today’s AGM agenda (planning for season 2025-26).
Changing faces
I’m standing down as Chair after 6 years, plus 2 years in an earlier stint. During this time we’ve survived and thrived despite the Covid pandemic and equipment failures and we’ve invested in new equipment to expand our junior provision. I’m especially proud that our wonderful team of volunteers have created and sustained a continuous player development pathway: from age 9 to adult; from beginner to local league to regional league and beyond. No other club in Wiltshire can match the range of ages and development opportunities our club offers.
I carried a heavy administrative load off court, at least 4 hours per week, which will now be shared by a new Chair and a new Secretary. The Chair’s role is to provide vision and leadership so the club keeps moving forward; to make sure all sections of the club are healthy and connected; to make sure we have good governance and management in place; and to represent the club externally. The Secretary’s role is to administer, coordinate and support much of our club’s activity, and enable good communications internally and externally. I wish them both an enjoyable and successful stint, and like everyone else in the club I’ll do my best to support them.
A number of our young players are planning to go to university this autumn, so we wish you many happy adventures with your academic and life journeys: Ada, Alicja, Faye, Kaiden, Bryn, Ced and Monty.
Our busy and active club relies entirely on unpaid volunteers to make it all happen, and we thank you all. Now we really do need additional (and younger!) people to help run and coach our club. A parent has recently volunteered to help next season and it would be great if more people, whether players or family, could step forward. Please talk with us about how you can help, even in small ways.
Phil Heads, April 2025