City of York Hockey Club New Beginnings
Where are we now? With a history of over 100 yrs we: Are the largest north of England club with nearly 900 members, inc. players, 30+ active umpires, 20+ coaches, plus officials/volunteers and supporters Are amalgamated with York St. John s & University of York, catering for nearly 50 Students; Are running 10 Mens, 7 Ladies and 19 Junior teams (U/10-18 boys & girls), that s approximately 600 Adults & Juniors playing & training every week through the winter season; Are the foremost club in North Yorkshire; Have our own clubhouse at Elmpark Way and have access to 6 sand-based hockey pitches around the City, and currently using 4 of them; Offer a coaching and match programme catering for those aged 4yrs to 70+ yrs, supporting hockey development from beginners through to elite.
But? What's the trend over the past few years? Player membership is growing, albeit slowly. We would benefit from more umpires and coaches. Engaging other volunteers continues to be a challenge. Relationships with the two local universities need to be strengthened; Our hockey family is disjointed; Team growth is nearing capacity; Our men's and ladies first teams are dropping down the leagues; Our clubhouse is ageing and it can take up to 30 minutes to get back to it from our home matches; It s getting harder to develop our coaching and match programme as it s reliant on availability of the pitches, which are not necessarily in our control; our hockey development programmes aren t taking on new ways of playing and accessing hockey in line with England Hockey s strategies; Plus: Costs of hiring pitches keeps going up; Pitches are being lost to football (changing surface from sand-based to 3G); We have had various future plans before but haven t moved forward
So what are we now doing? We have: Engaged some external guidance to help us develop and achieve our future plans; Received 5K funding from City of York Council to undertake a feasibility study; Started to review where we are, where we want to be and how to get there?; Started to reform the Facilities Development Group to become a more project focussed team using & bringing in club and supporter expertise in the key areas; Recognised that before we go further we need to engage with the whole club to: appraise you of this work and our progress to date; help us to start to shape a new vision and plans for the future; get your buy in and commitment to this project; ask for your help as without it won t happen!
What are the key issues and decisions? 1. Firstly, confirming our future vision 2. Finding the right project to achieve the vision and making the case to get the club s, key stakeholder and funder s support; 3. Recognising that leaving Elmpark Way may be the best way of achieving it; Devising a realistic and achievable plan; Collectively agreeing the next steps to take the initiative forward The big one! Funding it?
So, what could completion look and feel like? Research indicates the feasibility for: A two-pitch facility with changing and social facilities all on one site This will achieve: A more inclusive club and membership that reunites our hockey family And support the club to: Improve individual and team performance on the pitch Create a more diverse hockey development programme Create a new home that is permanent and caters for growth Be financially secure and create clear direction
So what's the plan? The current front-runner is to build a new pitch and create a clubhouse at Huntington School Use the feasibility study to confirm that our vision is achievable and Huntington School is the place for us Demonstrate that the club members want it We need to put our skills and money where our mouths are! Support the project team to make it happen it will be hard and will take time but if it s what we want, then let s go for it!
Actions! Agree the Vision Commit to the Project Commit Club funds Start a fundraising campaign Let s reunite the hockey family..
Actions! Agree the Vision Commit to the Project Commit Club funds Start a fundraising campaign Let s reunite the hockey family..