Martin Reed
Running an Octopush Club: Roles and Responsibilities
Also see "Starting Up An Octopush Club" and
""How to set up an Octopush club web site".
When playing this sport, no player - no matter how good - can hold their breath
forever. Therefore it is essential to work as a team. As it is in the water, so is it out
of the water.
Now that you have your club up and running, there are certain roles that must be
undertaken and functions that must be performed in order for the club to keep running and
expand. The following is a basic guideline to "who does what", and any
contributions will be gratefully received.
Some example roles are:
- Perform day-to-day running of the club, and also coordinate the other roles
- The club's primary point of contact, and central point of contact for external
organsations, such as national governing bodies
- Arrange with the pool hosting the club for notice board space. Notice board is then kept
up to date by the Publicity Manager
- With the Publicity Manager, coordinate the selection of a club identity, club emblem,
club colours, club costume, etc.
- Devise club constitution, updating as necessary
- Arrange Annual General Meeting, devise Agenda, etc.
- Arrange Referees Courses, etc.
- The club's point of contact with the owner of the pool, normally local council or
university
- Ensure that bills for pool hire are received and paid promptly
- Ensure that pool fees / membership fees are collected from all club members and visitors
- It is better for the stability of a club for club members to pay membership fees by
quarterly or yearly fees, or via direct debit
- Responsible for payment of membership subscription to national governing body, in order
to allow entry to regional league competitions, national competitions, etc.
(assuming that the club has the luxury of having one player more experienced than the
others...)
- Devise training schedules
- In-water warm-ups
- Puck-skills sessions
- Land/gym sessions
- "Carpet hockey"
- Advise on the resolution of injuries
- Responsible for promoting the club and the sport in the public eye, both in the
geographical area covered by the club and nationally
- Devise poster to attract new players - simple & eyecatching, with colour if
possible. Also see the B.O.A.'s range of club posters.
- Put up poster in leisure centres, sports clubs, youth clubs, schools / colleges /
universities, community centres, libraries, local companies, the windows of local shops,
the notice boards of local sports shops and local supermarkets
- Submit advance notices to local newspapers prior to any major club events, such as home
tournaments and novice nights ("have-a-go" sessions).
- Submit reports to local newspapers after all league games and tournaments in which the
club has competed. Get people used to the idea of seeing Octopush featured in the
newspaper
- The ideal newspaper is one that specifically covers the geographical area surrounding
the pool and the club, and also one that is published weekly. If the article remains in
the public eye for a week it is likely to have a larger target audience than if it were to
appear in a daily newspaper. However, target the daily newspapers as well!
- Ensure that club notice board at pool is kept up to date, and that supplies of any
take-away flyers are always maintained
- Arrange with the pool for a permanent emblem of the club to be displayed on the poolside
wall ("Home of xyz Octopush Club", etc)
- Obtain presentation media - videos, etc - and hold presentations at local schools /
colleges / universities
- On a regular basis - say once a year, or once every eighteen months - in addition to
submitting match reports to local newspapers, invite local newspapers and magazines to
come and watch club training sessions. This will generate general reports in the main body
of the newspaper/magazine, not just in the sports section
- The club's point of contact with other clubs for home and away matches
- Responsible for organising the team to compete in matches, both home and away
- Home matches: ensure that gulleys and pucks are of a required standard to comply with
the rules of the governing body under whose auspices the game is to be played
- Responsible for submitting match reports of home league matches to regional competitions
manager
- In conjunction with the Manager/Secretary, organise home tournament
- In conjunction with the Competitions Manager, responsible for organising the team for
home and away matches
- In conjunction with the Coach, responsible for organising the structure of training
sessions
- Solely responsible for the organisation of the team in the water during matches: playing
formation, organisation of substitutions and so on
- Primary point of contact from the team to the in-water referees and Chief Referee during
a game
- The only other point of contact to the in-water referees and Chief Referee is the
Vice-Captain appointed for the game, tournament or season, who will act on behalf of the
Captain if the the Captain is substituted out at the time of the incident
Over the part two years, the Internet has become a part of our everyday lives. Having a
Web Site gives a club a presence on the Web, a noticeboard for its members and a source of
reference for visitors and potential new recruits.
However, it is very important that the web site - once created - is kept up to date, as
a web site that is out of date is worse than not having a web site at all
- Responsible for the running and updating of the club's Internet web site
- Liaise with other members of the club organising committee and add news of future events
- Update the site to reflect events that have happened and are now in the past
- Also see the B.O.A. page "How to set up a club web site".