A message from your President of Isle of Man Netball - November 2021

Hello everyone,

It’s great to see everyone back out on court and I hope that you are all enjoying your netball be it in the Newfield Senior League or Hansard International Junior League. I think we can all agree that we are incredibly lucky to be playing netball right now.

The volunteers who work extremely hard on your behalf have had a busy time since the AGM. Key projects include the very successful and enjoyable Junior and Senior Celebration of Netball events, getting this year’s netball leagues up and running, planning for Covid-19, and of course we have also got our new Board in place.

You may recall we outlined our rationale for moving from our Committee-based Management to a Board structure in the run up to the AGM. The growth of our sport meant that the small Committee structure was putting too much pressure on too few people. The Committee and Sub committee members contributed a huge amount of time, expertise and effort into running Isle of Man Netball, for which I am very grateful and wish to publicly thank them all again on behalf of all our members.

The new Board was appointed during August and since that time has been looking at a wide range of objectives, both short and long term, to take Isle of Man Netball forward in a robust, controlled and structured manner. This encompasses our local leagues, community development, CPD for coaches and umpires, as well as increasing our profile on the international stage.

Here are some of the objectives the various Board members and their team members have been working on:

Development (Claire Battye)
There are a number of key focus areas for Development:
Education: by using courses and Performance Academy days to give coaches and umpires continual development opportunities
Develop school relationships: by supporting coaching staff within the schools to ensure solid delivery of sessions.
Develop stronger relationships with clubs: making sure they know we are accessible and will help

The following courses and sessions are being organised, please share the events with anyone you feel would be interested:
Come and Try Sessions – 25 October, 1 November, 15 November, 22 November
Men’s Netball Sessions - Various and continuous
Beginner Umpiring Course - 18 and 25 November (evening)
Back to Netball - Starts Monday 4 January 2021 (7-8pm for 10 weeks at the NSC)
Back to Netball Again – April
Mixed Social Netball – April
Wheelchair Netball - TBC

Governance (Jess Hawkins)
Our department ensures that Isle of Man Netball is directed and controlled in a professional manner, in line with all relevant legal requirements and in accordance with the standards set by our governing bodies - Netball Europe and the International Netball Federation.

Our focus is looking at how the Board is being run and make suggestions for improvement. This will include a Board Charter which will include information on our vision and values, the board structure, the Board Code of Conduct, the roles and responsibilities of the Board members and how the performance of the Board will be monitored and managed. Once completed and approved by the Board, this document will be made available to our members.

We will also undertake a review of all published Isle of Man Netball rules, regulations, policies, procedures, guidance and forms, ensuring that this information is up to date, readily available, consistent and presented in a way that is easy to understand.

Also, we are reviewing and updating the risk assessments for all of the venues where Isle of Man Netball fixtures take place. Lastly, monitoring accident report forms as they come in to ensure that any safety issues at our venues are dealt with appropriately.

PR and Marketing (Anna McChesney)
As per the recent announcement, Anna McChesney has become our new Head of PR and Marketing. Objectives are still being developed though a review of our branding, website and social media will be high on the list, making sure we celebrate and share all of the achievements and successes on the right platforms and to the right audience. There will be plenty of opportunities to get involved in this exciting area of Isle of Man Netball. If you’re interested please reach out via marketing@netball.im

Competitions and Events (Louise Skelly)
The team will support and promote all areas of officiating and to create fair and equal leagues, striving for them to run efficiently and to be well organised with plenty of communication so that all are kept informed of anything league related. Objectives include ensuring all events run smoothly and to be enjoyable by all. As with the leagues, they will be striving for all events to be well organised and with plenty of communication. Additionally, we’re placing importance on Value Volunteers, so that all volunteers that perform a role within the Competitions and Events area are valued and treated with respect. There is a lot of organisation within this area and it cannot be done with the help of volunteers.

Operations (Hollie McGowan)
We are in the process of building a team in order to smooth out our membership experience, create a solid volunteer base and increase our efficiency across the board, again watch out for opportunities.

Performance (Robert McKee)
Our first objective is to obtain and maintain a Top 20 world ranking. To support this, a further objective is getting the right people in the right roles for both them and the program. Which then leads to a further objective of giving members life capabilities as well, through taking part in the program.

Finance (Debra Cooper)
We are assessing and amending our banking requirements, looking to appoint a finance officer to look after the Isle of Man Netball Performance banking and produce regular Management Accounts and Budgeting.

Management Group
The main objective of this group is to secure the future sustainability of Isle of Man Netball by securing the correct level of sponsorship for all our needs. This will require us working closely with PR and Marketing to review our branding and social media. We also want to look at how to ensure our work is visible to members, they all understand what the Board members are doing, and we communicate progress regularly.

So you can see, a lot going on! Whilst some of these have already been achieved, the process does not stop as a number of these goals have no specific end date as they will evolve as we move forward.

The Board structure does allow greater autonomy and also gives greater opportunities for all our members to get involved regardless of that amount of time they are able to give. There are still areas where you can get involved – please get in touch with the relevant Board member to discuss anything further.

We are looking forward to developing Isle of Man Netball for all our members. In the meantime enjoy being out on court and make sure you follow our social channels to keep up to date with all things Isle of Man Netball!

Pip