Coaching – a necessity or unaffordable luxury?

The big issue facing the club at the moment is whether the club needs, or can afford, to invest in formal coaching of our players – both youths and seniors. Surely the more important question is can the club afford not to provide coaching for its players?

The constitution of the club (which is also a charity now of course) is very clear about this – the only stated objective in the constitution contains the unequivocal obligation for ‘the provision of …high class coaching facilities’. Perhaps the debate should end there but let’s look at the issues that are generating much angst amongst the great and good at the club.

To be honest it is unlikely that any club member is advocating, in an ideal world, that coaching shouldn’t be provided – it is more likely that real world constraints of money and personnel are the understandable concerns of those responsible for the management of the club – and no wonder given the almost financially ruinous season the club has just, barely, survived. When it comes to the playing side – and those all-important league results – the club did a whole lot better than just survive – it positively flourished. A promotion, a cup win, and good league placings for all sides, in spite of the cancellations due to poor weather, meant that the club’s record in Surrey saw another strong performance. However the danger is that these good playing results are papering over the cracks of concern regarding the club’s coaching provision.

The membership has not been ignored and has been asked for its views on a whole host of issues – a recent survey of youths’ parents identified poor coaching as the number one issue for the club to address and the seniors’ survey results also identify coaching as a big concern. So the management has got the message that it needs to do something about it – but what?

Money of course is the real issue, or rather the lack of it. The club is not cash rich and barely breaks even each season so to provide a paid coach of any kind the club needs to find additional money from somewhere – either by generating new funds or by making savings elsewhere. Let’s not be under any illusion - the club’s financial resources are stretched to the limit with the new facilities coming on stream at Woodlands Lane. The ground staff more than rose to the challenge as the main Woodlands facilities finished top of Surrey Championship’s pitch and ground criteria – but that came at a cost and understandably last season the club management felt the need to prioritise funds in this direction. And that in a nutshell is the issue facing them for next season – priority of funding.

It is easy to pretend that the club can somehow provide adequate coaching for ‘free’. There are after all qualified coaches who are members of the club – surely they can provide the coaching the club needs? Well perhaps, but these guys have their own understandably different personal priorities and unless they are prepared to commit to lots of time to oversee, run and organise a coaching programme then any part time coaching will be just that – only provided part of the time. So probably the club must look externally for such coaching resources.

The ‘overseas’ player is an obvious place to start. The club could take on an overseas player who can add playing strength to the first team and provide coaching as well. Other clubs do this but for our club this option is not so straightforward.  There are two reasons – first, other clubs pay their overseas player a reasonable wage whereas we take overseas players who see it more as experience and almost a gap year project – so we can get these players on the cheap (with, it must be said, significant financial support from some members that provide the player’s accommodation and much more), and that usually means that these players have little or no coaching experience or ability. Second, the club uses the overseas player as additional ground staff. The club’s head grounds man readily admits that preparing the wickets and the grounds at both Woodlands and the old ground would be an impossible task without the work done by the overseas player. So again money and priority are the issues.

Is doing nothing an option? After all the playing results continue to be good so it is understandable that the club management, faced with financial restraints, feels it has other more pressing priorities for funding. But there can be no doubt the club is teetering on the edge of the slippery slope of player and parental disaffection with its lack of proper coaching and player development. The signs are there for all to see: youth membership numbers have fallen for the first time in years; and, at the moment at least, the club does not appear to bringing on many players with the quality of the Youngs, Durandt, Peploe, Nevin and Kingsnorth. So the question remains: can the club afford not to prioritise its funds to improve the provision of coaching and if so what has to give?
The club’s General meeting on 21^st November is your chance to join in the big debate – and influence the future of your club.