2006 Head Coach's Report

Head Coach's Report 2005-06

Club sessions

The challenge for a small club with limited space and time (one court for 2 hours a week, including matches) is to cater for everyone's needs: 

	New members
	Players with varying experience and ability (from beginner to NVL standard)
	Individual development
	Team cohesion and development (especially when a match is approaching).

I have tried to balance these needs fairly, and also to bring some variety and new ideas to sessions. I am very pleased to receive feedback and suggestions about how we can maintain and improve this balance.

I am very grateful to Irwin, Cliff and everyone else who helped to lead warm-ups, training and beginner introductions during the season. This teamwork among coaches and players is essential to maintain variety and to ease the load on me (I like to play sometimes!).

To remain healthy and sustainable as a club we must always be friendly and welcoming to new players. Richard's efforts with the website have been rewarded with a wonderful influx of new faces, and we must do our best to keep them! I am especially pleased to see so many women, and I hope we have enough players to enter a women's team next season.

Next season will bring even more opportunities and challenges. We may have three competitive teams to develop, and some of the men will enjoy extra training and playing with the SW squad. This brings greater opportunities for players but may stretch people's commitment and availability to our club and teams.

Perhaps it's time for us to think about growing our club - so that we have more space and time for more members: beginners, recreational players, Wilts league players and SW league players?

B-Team

In recent years the B-team was highly dependent on A-team players for numbers and ability. This year they didn't win a game but, importantly, learned to play without A-team props. The improvement of the players and team during the season has been wonderful to watch - Irwin and the team have worked hard and should be congratulated. Naturally it's frustrating to keep losing, but an active and self-sufficient B-team is healthier and more sustainable. Next season should see the benefits from this year of re-building and transition.

A-Team

Winning the league and cup has been justified reward for a hard-working and talented team. I can't claim much credit as it was essentially the same team as last year, building on many years of excellent foundations laid by Cliff. My main aims were to maintain settled playing positions and selection, and to improve the serving. Now we need to improve our reception and maintain the psychological edge against improving opponents.

Phil Heads, 9th June 2006