Club and School Coaching Purchase Policy A NZCricket and Otago Cricket Community Cricket initiative
Through the Club Assist and School Support programmes developed by NZCricket (NZC), funding is available from Otago Cricket to clubs and secondary schools involved in the Community Cricket initiatives. This funding can be accessed through Community Development Co-ordinators (CDC) who will make recommendations to the Development Manager at Otago Cricket for it to be released. There are clear accountabilities in place for the spending of this money.
It is not intended that the funding will cover an entity’s entire coaching programme; rather it is to assist with and/or enable the expansion of current programmes. Otago Cricket is required to provide additional funding for its development programme to that which is provided by NZC. Districts are required to do likewise. Similarly, clubs (and schools if possible) are expected to partially fund their coaching and development initiatives.
Before a CDC makes a recommendation, he should to be satisfied that the club or school is utilising a suitably qualified coach and that an acceptable coaching plan is in place.
The minimum qualification for a coach of a junior secondary (year 9 and 10) team is the NZC, “Coaching a Cricket Team” qualification or equivalent. The minimum qualification for a coach of a school 1st XI or a club side is the NZC Level 1 qualification or equivalent.
Ideally the minimum qualification for a person coaching a senior club side or acting in a coaching director role within a club is the NZC Level 2 qualification or equivalent.
In the cases above, it is acceptable for the coach to still be working his/her way through the required number of contact hours.
A coaching plan will clearly state answers to the; “what, who, where and when” questions. More importantly it will outline how the coaching will occur. The plan must go well beyond providing for supervised net sessions. A detailed session-by-session break-down is not required for the whole season but some samples of early sessions should be developed with an indication of the direction to be followed after that. Ideally the club or school will fund membership of the NZ coaches association for its coaches.
The coaching plan is to be submitted to a club or school’s CDC by October 31. Plans can be submitted much earlier than that, especially if funding is needed to assist with winter training. Entities may wish to submit plans just for the first half of the season initially then modify them for the second half later.
Clubs and schools are not required to submit a report to their CDC at the end of the season other than if they deviate significantly from the plan.
A simplified scale of payments has been developed. It more clearly recognises larger entities without significantly disadvantaging smaller ones. Every club or school which qualifies will receive a base grant of $200. There is an additional grant of $300 per club team and $200 per school team that is covered by the coaching plan. Where schools enter what is substantially the same team in more than one competition, this is to be counted as one team.
A couple of examples to illustrate the allocation of funds; a three-team club will receive $1100 and a school with two teams will receive $600. (All amounts are plus GST for GST registered entities.)
A new initiative for 2006-07 is to recognise clubs and schools who put forward coaches who are successful in improving their qualifications as follows: Level 1 – $100 per person, Level 2 - $200 per person and Level 3 - $300 per person. It is hoped that clubs and schools will use some of this money to pay for the course costs of the coaches to be trained.
Women’s cricket initiatives are funded separately so the above provisions do not apply to women’s teams but the school teams referred to above can be for girls and/or boys. The major funding support at junior level is through various MILO Cricket initiatives.
Possible options are:
It is the responsibility of clubs and schools to hire coaches. In some cases Otago Cricket or the district association may be able to provide coaching on the basis that the cost comes out of the allocation of funding. CDCs may be able to assist in finding coaches if the club or school is unable to.
If coaches volunteer their time and clubs and schools meet the eligibility criteria then funding can be used for other coaching related purposes such as purchasing catching practice devices, bi-coloured balls, cones, catching mitts, manuals or any other coaching resources. If clubs or schools feel that they are adequately resourced in this area then it is permissible (after consulting their CDC) to use the funding for any appropriate cricket development purpose.
In the medium-to-long term, this programme is seen as providing genuine incentives for players and club members to become qualified coaches and for existing coaches to up-skill. More importantly, it is an integral part of the programme to develop schools, clubs and existing cricketers as well as recruiting new players to the sport. Having attracted them, it is intended to retain them in the sport through skills improvement, more meaningful training and a more enjoyable playing experience.
For the maximum benefit of clubs and schools, payments are made “up front” i.e. upon the recommendation of the CDCs once they have agreed to the coaching plan and verified that the coaches have the requisite qualifications. This leaves open the possibility that the promises may not be delivered upon however in future seasons, past performance will be taken into account in distributing funds.
It is not intended that this funding be retrospective and it is to be operated by the CDC working with a club or school. There are many lessons we will learn from our experiences and we will be able to adapt the policy in the light of them. This policy will be reviewed again by the end of May 2007 with a view to improvements for the following season.
There will be only one funding round in 2009-10. It is anticipated that more clubs and schools will avail themselves of this opportunity. It cannot be assumed that special grants will be made at the end of the season as has occurred in the past. The ideal would be for all the available funds to be distributed in the manner outlined above.
Certain parts of this policy are, of necessity, arbitrary but it is desirable to reach an outcome that is not only effective and equitable but is relatively easy to understand and administer. Effectiveness is seen as the main criterion as NZC and Otago Cricket wish to see results from the use of this funding. It is acknowledged that access to qualified coaching may be a problem for some clubs and schools in the short term. This policy supports Otago Cricket’s efforts to train more coaches and help existing coaches gain and/or upgrade their qualifications.
Nathan King
Development Manager
Otago Cricket
nathan@otagocricket.co.nz
