Update from Strategic Delivery Group

Hi All,

As part of our Strategic Plan implementation the Board met with the Strategic Delivery Group (SDG) for the first time on Sunday 22^nd May, with some of the key outcomes as follows:

1 The club survey has now been completed and it shows that including Universities that we have just over 4,000 players in 53 affiliated clubs which indicates a reasonable recovery after covid and a cautious but positive outlook. This also clearly sets the focus for the coming season as one of recovery to be then positioned for growth the following season.

Survey breakdown in numbers as follows:   

Ireland overall           Membership              Men                 Women            Juniors             Courts            Clubs

3837                           2299 (60%)      716 (19%)        822 (21%)             120                  53

By Province

Ulster                           465 (12%)                   284 (61%)         61 (13%)          120 (26%)             30                    14

Leinster                       1689 (44%)                  990 (59%)        359 (21%)        340 (20%)             40                    16

Munster                      1137 (30%)                  726 (64%)        202 (18%)        209 (18%)             32                    15

Connacht                    546 (14%)                    299 (55%)        94 (17%)          153 (28%)             18                    8

Note 28% of our clubs are 1 court facilities

By University            Membership              Men                Women

Queens                       50                               35                    15

Trinity                        50                               44                    6

UCD                           60                               35                    25

UCC                           40                               30                    10

Totals                        200                             144                  56

Key notes from the club survey as follows:

• Trend tentative but generally positive
• Facilities need improvements to make squash more attractive (heating , courts, social areas, painting etc)
• Can be hard to get volunteers : Clubs generally run by a small group of people
• Need for support from Irish Squash with “coaching the coaches” and with “coaching juniors”
• Need for development of existing coaches in their clubs (help with the type of programmes that work best etc)
• Clubs need support with capital funding i.e. where to go, and how to make successful applications  
• Circa 51% of clubs have schools within 10 minute walking distance.
• Leinster only: cost of entering teams in leagues expensive

2 The Board agreed to look at a targeted local coaching programme to be delivered through the provinces to their clubs.
Details of this programme (how, who, when) are being worked out and the Board will then review the Provincial plans for funding approval.

3 The Board approved the formation of the following working groups to look at targeted areas, and make suggestions of how we can grow sustainably to improve the delivery of squash to our community. The groups will be supported by and report through the SDG to the Board, if you are interested to help on a specific topic please contact me at –[email protected]  
The more members that engage with the working groups the better the outcomes will be. Most of this work will take place over Zoom calls so even if you feel you have limited time all engagement is welcomed.

Working groups

• School / Third Level
• Funding
• Women in Sport
• Coaching
• Competitions
• High Performance

4 As part of the need to improve visibility of squash in our local communities the Board has agreed to fund a club social media training course. The main aim of this programme is to help clubs improve their social media presence on platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tik-Tok etc., with a view to attracting more members especially in reaching out to a younger cohort. Details of this course will be announced shortly.

Your in sport

John

Head Strategic Delivery

00-353-872407387

https://www.irishsquash.com