Club roles and responsibilities
In order for our Club to operate successfully, a wide variety of roles and responsibilities have to be covered by our members. With very few exceptions these positions are entirely voluntary and unpaid.
In order to give members a flavour of what is involved in running our Club, and to encourage greater participation, we feel that it is appropriate to give a snapshot of who does what and the types of tasks available for those who would like to get more involved in Club activities.
The Club is administered by a General Committee which is made up of 8 Officers and 8 others all elected at the Annual General Meeting however, many jobs don’t require Committee membership. The Committee meets on the first Thursday every month to receive Officers’ reports and deal with Club business.
President
Honorary position. Robin Mitchell. Robin was elected President at the 128th AGM held on Tuesday 14th May 2024. The President is a Club Officer but not a Committee member unless elected.
Chairman
Club Officer. Colin Mockford. Responsible for chairing and leading all General Committee, Annual and Special General meetings.
Honorary Secretary
Club Officer. Jonny Linter. The formal contact for the Club. Responsible for all club correspondence, calling Club meetings, keeping minutes of meetings for approval at the next meeting and presentation of an annual report at the AGM.
Ladies Honorary Secretary
Club Officer. Maxine Taylor. The formal contact for the ladies. Responsible for all ladies’ correspondence and presentation of an annual report at the AGM.
Honorary Treasurer
Club Officer. Kathryn Rogers. Responsible for all income and expenditure, maintenance and control of the Club bank account, presentation of monthly accounts and presentation of the annual audited accounts at the AGM. The Treasurer also presents the appropriate selection committees with a list of those members whose subscriptions are unpaid at 31 October.
Club Development Officer
Club Officer. Kirsty McCrory. Responsible for ensuring that the Club complies with standards set by SportNI and Ulster Hockey such as Clubmark and to report on progress in meeting ongoing targets for the Club’s five year development plan. Kirsty is assisted by Stephen Dalzell.
Fundraising Officer
Club Officer. Cara McConnell. Responsible for overseeing and reporting on all aspects of the Club’s fundraising activities. Cara is assisted by a sub-committee to deliver a range of fundraising events including the Easter Tournament, Golf Event, Casino Night and Quiz Night.
Communications & Social Media Officer
Club Officer. Anna Rogers. Responsible for maintenance and timely update of the website, compilation of match reports etc for the local press and maintenance of the photographic and statistical archive.
Child Protection Officer
Alan McMaster alhoc16@hotmail.com. The Child Protection Officer is a Club Officer but is completely independent of day to day Club operations and not therefore a Committee member. Alan’s role is to resolve issues arising under the Club’s Safeguarding Policy where resolution has not been possible in the first instance at Club level and, if that is not possible, then to escalate to the next level.
Ladies Club Captain
Maxine Taylor. As well as representing the ladies’ membership when required, this role includes Ladies Members’ Officer where Maxine is available to assist with resolving ladies members’ Club related issues.
Men’s Members Officer
Stephen Magee. Stephen is available to assist with resolving men’s members’ Club related issues, he is also chairman of the men’s selection committee.
Men’s 1st XI Representative
Ross Linter. This role is to ensure that the men’s 1st XI have an input to the Committee.
Ladies’ 1st XI Representative
Rachael Murphy. This role is to ensure that the ladies 1st XI have an input to the Committee.
Coaches Representatives
Andrea Mockford and Sam Pyper. These roles are to ensure that there is a channel of information to and from all of the Club’s coaching staff.
Youth Development Officer
Keri Portinga. Responsible for the development and adminstration of the Youth Section.
Youth Welfare Officer
Vacant. Responsible for managing and reporting concerns about children and young people and for the implementation of safeguarding procedures.
Grants Officer
Claire Smyth. Responsible for sourcing the availability of funding from grants and dealing with their applications.
Other Non General Committee Roles and Responsibilities
Ladies’ and Men’s Match Secretaries
Judith Orr and Peter Gray. Responsible for planning and co-ordinating all home fixtures and the point of contact for communication with their counterparts in other clubs for both home and away fixtures. Input of results to the Ulster Hockey Fixtures Live system.
Management of Pitch Usage
Robin Mitchell. Has the sole responsibility for all pitch bookings then the verification and approval for payment by the Hon Treasurer to suppliers on receipt of invoices. Robin is also men’s 1st XI manager.
Men’s Head Coach
Paul Ritchie. Responsible for coaching the men’s 1st XI squad and with an input into youth coaching.
Ladies Head Coach
TBC. Responsible for coaching the ladies’ 1st XI squad.
Ladies’ and Men’s Registrations Secretaries
Judith Orr. Responsible for the registration of players and any monthly changes to Ulster Hockey. Also updates to the Hockey Ireland Membership databases.
Umpires – Panel and Club
Panel
The Club is required to provide qualified umpires to serve on the Ulster Hockey umpires panel which may also lead to Hockey Ireland appointments. The present requirement is one umpire per 1st XI however this is likely to increase as the number of panel umpires continues to fall. Current panel members are: Paddy Wright, Amy Jones , Julie Fisher and Aaron Saunders.
Club
There are not enough non playing members to cover 2nds – 5ths men’s and ladies’ games which means that the gaps have to be filled by players. The Club is keen that interested members attend one of the regular umpires courses to boost our Panel and Club numbers and this could lead to a different hockey career path. You may realistically feel that you aren’t going to make a representative team whilst playing but if you take umpiring seriously and have a talent for it you could be at the Olympics in a few years. Worth thinking about!
Ladies’ and Men’s Junior Coach
Ben Palmer. Responsible for conducting junior ladies’ and junior men’s coaching.
Youth Coaches
The Club is dependant on the support of members to provide quality coaching for the children in our youth section and for individuals to take responsibility for specific under age teams on blitz days and fixtures with other clubs. The Club is keen that as many members as possible obtain coaching qualifications and will bear the cost of coaching courses. There is a budget for each of the 7 categories of youth membership and coaches will receive appropriate reductions in their annual subscriptions in line with the budgets.
Team Captains
Team captains for 2nds – 5ths teams are responsible for team selection, team tactics, notification of players, game day arrangements and team management and prompt notification of the result to the Club’s Facebook page. A summary match report for the Club’s Facebook page should also be provided for each team. In addition, team captains should be aware and remind team members of the subscription deadlines.
Summary
What is involved in running our Club continues to evolve and change as sports governing bodies continue to think of new ways to make club admin more difficult. The main aim of the presentation above is to let everyone know what running our Club entails and that we are always looking for increased participation from members ie YOU! How can you help our Club move forward?
Now that you are on the website, go to the Downloads link, take another 60 seconds to read the Club Charter where the key message is: ‘the Club is you and you are the Club’. If you are feeling really adventurous, take another 5 minutes and read the Club Constitution – you’ll feel the better for it!
Jonny Linter
Hon Secretary