Royal Wootton Bassett Volleyball Club
Notes of 39th Annual General Meeting : 24th April 2023
Present: (via video conference)
Male players (Yr11+): Taylor Davis, Bradley Whitefield, Sven Kalinda, Josh Blackman, Josh Ducie, Jimmy Daniell, Hayden Daniell, Ed Benham, Ryan Shackleford, Monty Rose, Ollie Abbott. [11]
Female players (Yr 11+): Donna Cunningham, Kat Grote, Zuzana Pritchard, Lissa Pitts, Kaiden Kerrigan, Ada Sojkowska. [6]
Junior players (up to Yr 10): Robyn Cuthbert, CJ Notman, Darcey Bannon. [3]
Others: Phil Heads (Chair, Head Coach), Cliff Ball (Ladies Coach), Julie Daniell (CWO), Claire Cummings (parent). [4]
Apologies were received from: Debbie Hanna, Marketa Chrabatinova, Maddison Smart.
Minutes of 2022 AGM
Notes of the 2022 AGM were confirmed and accepted.
Review of season 2022/23
- Chair’s Report: (see full report on club website)
- This season we expanded our junior and women’s capacity, leading to a record number of members and players (c80).
- Phil thanked everyone who volunteered and worked hard to make our club welcoming, safe and successful (see report for list).
- The report was accepted by members.
- Head Coach Report: (see full report on club website)
- This season we provided more training for more players than ever, and fielded 14 competitive teams across adult and junior age groups. Strong performances were achieved by our women’s and junior teams, while our youthful and inexperienced men’s teams continue to develop well.
- Cliff (our women’s SW League coach) highlighted their achievement, with a lovely atmosphere and winning mentality despite the loss of some strong players since the previous season.
- James (our men’s coach) said how proud he was with the club and players as we develop our own players from youth, rather than importing star players from elsewhere.
- Phil highlighted exceptional performances of our junior U12-U15 teams playing 3v3 in the SW Region Junior Volleyball Tour.
- The report was accepted by members.
- Treasurers Report: (see full report on club website)
- Taking account of some expected expenses yet to be charged/incurred, we expect to break even in 2022/23 with income and expenditure balanced.
- We continue to hold a reserve of c£4k (representing around half our annual running costs) for emergencies and to invest in new equipment as needed.
- To encourage participation across a range of age groups and member types, we aim to keep our prices as low as possible and to provide exceptional value for all our members. We plan to hold 2023/24 prices at the current level, so long as hall hire and inflation don’t bite to hard.
- Phil thanked Donna for all her hard work as Treasurer – it takes a lot of time to keep track of multiple monthly transactions for 80 members.
- The report was accepted by members.
Planning season 2023/24 (see planning paper on club website)
- Our outdoor summer season will commence on Tuesday 16th May.
- We may run one or two taster sessions for new (and existing) juniors over the summer, but we don’t have sufficient coaches willing/able to run weekly junior sessions during the summer.
- Our indoor winter season will commence on Sunday 3rd September, with similar arrangements to the 2022/23 season (subject to hall availability and confirmation). Some existing members will leave for college, work, etc, so we will invite new players from our waiting lists if there is spare capacity.
- Members made suggestions for improvements:
- Can men’s indoor training finish at 7:45pm instead of 7:30pm? Action Phil to investigate.
- Can we improve tensioning of the adult indoor net? Action Phil to investigate.
- Can we arrange minibus transport to junior events? Action Kat to investigate.
- Zuzana is a friend of the new manager at Lime Kiln LC, and will help facilitate introductions for Phil.
- Members agreed we should organise social and playing event(s) to celebrate our club’s 40th anniversary during the year to summer 2024 (the club was first established in May 1984). It was suggested we set up an organising group including representatives from all sections/teams in the club. Volunteers so far include Zuzana and Ed: Action Phil to seek more volunteers.
Election of committee officers for 2023/24
Chair – Phil was re-elected.
Treasurer – Donna was re-elected.
Welfare Officer – Julie was re-elected.
Head Coach – Phil was re-elected.
Secretary – Debbie stood down and was thanked for her service. No volunteers came forward at the meeting and the position remained vacant. However Dawn Davis (Taylor’s mum) volunteered after the meeting and the committee agreed to co-opt her onto the committee as Secretary until the next AGM.
Volunteers to be appointed by the committee
Members supported the committee’s intention to appoint a number of volunteers to various important roles, including:
Coach (Women) = Cliff Ball, assisted by Phil and senior players.
Coach (Men/Mixed) = James Daniell, assisted by Phil and senior players.
Coach (Junior) = Phil Heads and a team of volunteer coaches/helpers.
Team Contact (Women SW League) = Helen Morten + Zuzana Pritchard.
Team Contact (Junior SW & Wilts Competitions) = Phil Heads and Donna Cunningham.
Team Contact (Men/Mixed A Wilts League) = Hayden Daniell.
Team Contact (Men/Mixed B Wilts League) = Ed Benham.
Team Contact (U18/U16) = Phil Heads.
Team Contact (JuVoTo) = Phil Heads.
WVA Meeting Rep = James Daniell, Phil Heads + Committee members.
Web Administrator = Richard Howells.
Brad Whitefield and Ed Benham continue to help with development of web/marketing.
Club awards 2022/23
After a ballot of all members and coaches, the following club award winners were announced and congratulated (awards to be presented at club training/events):
Kevan Hobbis Award for outstanding contribution to the club and its spirit:
Best/Most Improved Player Awards:
- U12 Girls – Maisie Burt
- U12 Boys – Oliver Gardner
- U13/U14 Girls – Kiyana Pachabhaiya
- U13 Boys – David Smith-Evans
- U15 Girls – India Thacker
- U15 Boys – Charlie Hawkins
- U18 Women – Hannah Kachika
- U18 Men – Rory Bryant
- Wilts/Ladies Juniors – Faye Hanna
- Womens SW League – Madison Smart
- Men Mixed A Team – Sven Kalinda
- Men Mixed B Team – Ryan Shackleford