THE BATON – ASHFORD ATHLETIC CLUB – NOVEMBER 2009

VICKY SILK - CONGRATULATIONS to Vicky who has been included on the World Class Performance Programme (WCPP) list of athletes. This means she will now receive UKA funding for 2009-2012. AAC now have two WCPP athletes – Vicky and Lisa Dobriskey. Well done Vicky.

Sportswoman of the Year - Congratulations to Kara Gibbs who was awarded Thanet’s Sportswoman of the Year. Kara is ranked 17th in the Under 20s in the country after several times recording a personal best of 3m. Well done Kara.

Website - The latest update to the website are the coaches’ profiles. If you want to learn more about your coach, then click on the link under the coaches’ tag on the website www.ashfordac.org.uk

Coaches/Team Managers Meeting - The meeting on 21st October was very well attended. The meeting began by highlighting all the coaching/Club issues in the last six months – the changeover of Lease to the Council in March; new Chairman and Treasurer appointed; new Club laptops and printer purchased; training in the Dartfish programme; increase in membership; the new induction evenings are successful; we have a new coach – Barry Watson; the new AAC website has been launched and The Baton has also been launched; there are new nets for throws cages at the Stadium.

Items agreed at the meeting:
- The Club would hold Club Championships next summer to be held on Thursdays for different events every two weeks – details to be given out at the beginning of the year.
- Everyone was keen to hold two Open Meetings next year but we need to have someone who will coordinate it – if you would like to help start the open meetings at AAC, then please let Stella know.
- Bad weather plan – it was agreed that Stella would put together a bad weather plan should everyone suddenly need to train the chute because of thunder or icy conditions on the track. This will be displayed inside the chute.
- The Club’s Mission Statement would be rewritten
- Pete Le Rossignol and Claire Le Rossignol will set up some timing equipment to which athletes and coaches will be invited to take part in a 30m run competition in the chute. Dates and details to follow.
- Equipment – a list of equipment was put together to be requested from the Executive Committee. Safe storage of the equipment was also discussed.
- Leagues and competitions – At the moment there will be no changes to the Leagues that AAC currently enter in the summer competitions. However, these are under review, and will be discussed further at the next coaches’ meeting and this may well be modified before the end of the year. An athletes’ questionnaire will be distributed and all views will be taken into account before any decisions are made.

Need for Speed Timed Challenge - please see the posters regarding the challenge that AAC have set athletes, coaches and parents or anyone else that wishes to join in. On 1st December, 5th January, 2nd February and 2nd March, equipment will be set up in the chute for a timed 30 metre run. There is no charge to do this, it is a fun activity for everyone who wishes to take part. League tables will be put up on the website and there will be prizes for the winners in each category.

Fundraising Committee – Ashford Leisure Trust who are the agents for managing the Julie Rose Stadium, have generously offered AAC free hire of the Colin Jackson suite, the chute and cafe for two fundraising or social events each year. If you would like to have a say and help organise these events, could you please let Kate at the desk know.

Dartfish 2 training - A second evening of Dartfish training will take place at the Colin Jackson Suite, at 8pm on Thursday 26th November. All athletes and coaches are welcome.

Official’s Courses - AAC really need more officials to volunteer to be a field (throws, jumps etc.) or a track judge, a timekeeper or a starter. In order to qualify, you must attend an official’s course run by England Athletics. If you are interested in obtaining your Level 1 or 2 Licence, please follow the links below to book yourself onto a course. The next Level 1 courses in the South Area will be held at Lee Valley Athletics Centre, Picketts Lock on 7th December and on 8th February. The next Level 2 course will be held at the same venue in January and again in April. The course fee will be reimbursed to you from the Club.

How to book onto a course
Level 1 & 2
1. Fill out a Licence Application Form indicating which course you want to attend (please download from the England Athletics website www.englandathletics.org/officials)
2. Send the form to PO Box 179, Dereham, NR19 9DN with a cheque payable to England Athletics

Level 3
1. The application form can be found on the UKA website http://www.uka.org.uk/competitions/officials/

Vacancy Executive Committee - One of our long serving members of the Executive Committee, Mike Mein, has resigned his post. The Committee would like to thank Mike for all the work he has done on behalf of the Club, in particular putting together the Projects List. This leaves a vacancy on the Committee. If you would like to have a larger say in what happens at the Club, then please let Dominique Huxley know.

Vetting procedure - In order to comply with Part 1 of Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) which was mentioned in the last Baton, the club has to risk assess all personnel to identify who should apply for VBS membership. These are people involved a Regulated Activity such as coaches, officials, stewards, parent helpers, medical/first aiders, club welfare officers, catering staff, regular drivers, membership secretary, photographers and team managers. The new scheme is law and non-compliance could result in criminal action. (So anyone in these roles should apply for CRB checks then they will be on the list for contacting to apply for VBS). Our Membership Secretary, Kate Dickinson, will be distributing the sheet which explains how to begin the CRB check process. If you do not receive this sheet and you fall into one of the above categories, please let Kate know.

Athletes’ Questionnaire - The Executive Committee would like to find out what changes the athletes would like to make to the Club and also plan for the future. Please complete the questionnaire to have your say and give your opinion – it will make a difference. The Club is interested in hearing from parents too – please take a copy and complete one so that we have everyone’s views. Everyone who completes a questionnaire will be entered into a prize draw for some athletics kit which will take place after the deadline on 26th November.

England Athletics Coaching Conference -The AAC Executive has agreed to pay the £25 fee for any AAC coach who wishes to attend the England Athletics Coaching Conference on the 5th December 2009 at Lee Valley in London. If you are interested in attending please contact Stella.

Awards/Trophy Evening - AAC held their summer awards evening for the junior section of the club on Tuesday 17th November. A report and photos can be found on the website.

Sportshall – The first Sportshall competition took place on 1st November at Folkestone Sports Centre and AAC had a very successful day. Well done to all those who took part. Results can be seen on AAC’s website. The next competition will take place on 29th November 2009 at Astor Sports Centre in Maidstone. If you are U13, U15 and U17 and would like to take part in these winter competitions, please contact Pat Hanys.

Level 1 Coaching Courses - are you interested in becoming a Level 1 coach for the Club? If so, please speak to Stella who will discuss what you would like to coach and will advise you about coaching courses. The course fee is paid by the Club with an expectation that the newly qualified coach will assist with training at the Club for a minimum of a year.

Induction Evening - The next induction evening for new athletes will take place on Tuesday 1st December at 6pm at the Julie Rose Stadium. All new athletes and their parents are welcome.

Use of indoor chute at weekend - ALT have confirmed that the indoor chute will be available for athletics training as arranged with your coach at the following times: Saturday 0830 – 1145 and Sunday 0900 – 1145. These hours assume that there are party bookings at 1200, if there isn’t then the chute will be available for longer.

On the following dates the chute will not be available due to indoor boot fairs: 22nd November, 17 January, and 28 February. The outside track will be available.

Meeting with Ashford Borough Council and Ashford Leisure Trust - Simon Harris from ABC started off the meeting by addressing the Council’s future plans. He said that they were planning to develop the lakes by having small huts along the lake that can be hired and the money generated from that would go towards developing the lakes further and also to the JRS and future developments there.

Following a recent mugging of one of our AAC athletes, we discussed the possibility of a bus route to JRS, CCTV, lighting and cutting down hedges and Simon reported that although he had spoken to all the relevant agencies about this, there are no plans to provide any of these services due to lack of funds.

Emma Wood from ALT reported that she has sorted out the situation regarding the floodlights and they will be repaired in the next 2 days. She has applied for funding for electronic timing for JRS and the application is currently with Chris Metherell at KCC.

On several occasions, AAC have requested permission from the Council to build their own Clubhouse at JRS but this has always been refused. Another request was made to them this month and AAC asked for a Club HQ that would provide storage and access for our throws equipment and pole vaults, storage for the 10k equipment and a room to host the home meetings held at JRS. This was met with an agreement that they would consider this proposal. AAC are to put together a firm proposal at our next meeting with ABC and ALT. This is great news for the Club.

Kent Coach and Athlete Development Days (formerly County Squads). All coaches welcome to attend.

In Kent we are concentrating training and learning opportunities around the 4 Coach & Athlete Development Days The programme for the four days, which is still under development and will be added to, is set out below. To these events all coaches who want to take advantage of watching quality coaching sessions and workshops are invited to attend. There is no cost. The second day will take place on 6th December:

Day 2; 6th December 2009
Venue: Canterbury
Event specific strength & conditioning with Mark Chapman (Regional Throws Coach).
Coaches presentation/lecture – Sport Science overview

England Athletics – Check out the latest athletics magazine from England Athletics, Setting the Pace, on-line at www.englandathletics.org.

Tags: courses, Kara Gibbs, Lisa dobriskey, timed challenge, Vicky Silk