The AGENDA FOR THE MEETING OF THE SOMERSET COUNTY ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION 2016
Venue: PIPERS INN, ASHCOTT
Thursday, July 21st, 2016
8 pm start
1. Apologies
2. Approval of the previous minutes and action notes
3. Disability
4. SW Council
5. Road Running/Cross Country
6. Track and Field
Report on the 2016 T&F championships inc. clash with inter schools event
7. County network
8. Schools
9. Officials
10. Treasurer
11. Sportshall
12. Any Other Business
13. Date of next meeting
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE SOMERSET COUNTY
ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION 2016
Thursday, April 21st, 2016
at the Pipers Inn, Ashcott
1. Present
DELEGATES ATTENDING
13 delegates and one guest
David Cooke DC Secretary
Roger Lee RL Chairman
Richard Bowden RB Somerset Schools Association
Ian Humphreys IH Team Manager
Brian Mountjoy-Row BMR Yeovil Town RRC and Treasurer
Sally Higman SH Officials’ Secretary
Noel Frost NF President
Paul Chadwick PC Wells City Harriers
Debbie Stanfield DS YTRRC
Justin Worringham JW Frome RC
Simon Hall SHa Chard RC
Paul Guest PGu YOAC
Nick Higman attended as a guest
2. APOLOGIES
Richard Llewwllyn-Eaton
Julie Singleton JS Taunton AC
Peter Grosjean PG Mendip AC
3. Approval of the Minutes of the Previous Meeting
RL introduced SHa to the committee.
PC pointed out that he is not the XC secretary
The minutes were recognised as a true record of the meeting.
This was proposed by BMR and seconded by NF
4. Action Notes and Matters Arising
Matters arising from the previous minutes had been completed.
5. Disability
It was noted that there were four wheelchair athletes at the recent Yeovilton 5k road race
6. SW Council
DC described some details of the most recent meeting of the Council.
This Council meeting included discussion of standards for the forthcoming SW Inter County T&F championships. These had been circulated to team managers in the SW.
The minutes of the Council meeting are available via DC.
7.Road Running and Cross Country
The Somerset team came third in the SW 10 mile RR championship, held within the Melksham event. Results can be viewed by searching for the Wiltshire 10 Stampede.
IH to liaise with Georgie Starkie re the forthcoming SW event hosted by Frome RC.
IH invited suggestions for the 2017 SW RR championships (3 races)
The Somerset Series
PC described the setting up of the series in the early 90’s.
The Series accounts are organised through the SCAA accounts.
He pointed out that there was no stipulation, at that time, that clubs entering events into the Series had to be clubs affiliated to Somerset AA.
There was subsequent discussion in the committee about this point.
It was agreed that clubs entering events into the Series should be affiliated to the County AA.
Affiliation to the County AA
SHa had corresponded with DC about the merits and advantages for his club (Chard) conferred by affiliation to the County AA.
He reassured that the small affiliation fee was not the point of contention and that Chard had renewed their affiliation.
Several members of the committee pointed out the advantages of affiliation– namely, that affiliated clubs supported an organization that was a competition provider, selected and sent teams to regional and national events, offered governance advice etc.
8. Track and Field
DC discussed the May 2016 T&F championships.
Progress was satisfactory.
YOAC had kindly agreed to make the clubhouse available for the event.
SH to amend the guidance notes.
It was decided not to include tug of war.
The South of England U13 Inter county event
The SCAA would not be able to send a team this year
The SEAA u15/u20 event
This was still under consideration
9. Network
PC said that he had met with Andy Marriott and invitations had been sent to clubs to bid for items/events.
10. Schools
SOMERSET COUNTY AA – COMMITTEE MEETING
Thursday 21 April 2016 – The Piper’s Inn
SCHOOLS’ AA REPORT
Cross-Country – Ref: Website for full details and results – Another excellent season
Somerset Schools’ AA Cross-Country Championships – Saturday 23 January – Aldon Hill, Yeovil. An excellent course (for athletes and spectators) and dry conditions once again.
South-West Schools’ AA Cross-Country Championships – Saturday 6 February – Pittville Park, Cheltenham. Torrential rain. Somerset had 1 individual champion – Amelia Wills (Millfield School) – Junior Girls, and won 1 team title - Senior Boys (with 32 points thanks to scoring finishers in 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8). 10 Team Managers were on duty.
Somerset Schools’ AA Junior Cross-Country Championships – Tuesday 23 February – King’s College. Very good participation numbers.
English Schools’ AA Cross-Country Championships – Saturday 5 March – Wollaton Park, Nottingham. 2 athletes (Amelia Wills – Millfield School and Rory Nicholson – Queen’s College) achieving places in the England team for the SIAB Home International Championships in Scotland were the individual highlights. The Senior Boys finished 3rd overall – a superb result. 10 Team Managers were on duty. Many parents supported the team.
Congratulations to Adrian Palmer (Queen’s College) who was appointed as an England Team Manager for the SIAB Home International Championships in Falkirk.
Coaching
Our 4 SSAA Coaching Courses have now been held, with the following numbers taking part:
DATE / FOCUS / APPLICANTS / PARTICIPANTS / COACHESSunday 14 February / T & F - All Events / 71 / 69 = 97% / 12
Sunday 28 February / T & F - All Events / 74 / 59 = 80% / 10
Sunday 13 March / Combined Events / 66 / 53 = 80% / 8
Sunday 17 April / T & F - All Events / 100 / 82 = 82% / 12
The weather was warm and dry on all 4 dates and numbers were up in every session compared with 2015. A great deal of excellent work was evident from the coaches and athletes and a total of 19 coaches took part. Many thanks to Somerset County AA for assistance with funding. We displayed all our trophies at each session and a 2016 Somerset Schools’ AA Handbook was given to each athlete and coach. Somerset beanie hats were made available for purchase (£6.00). The power-point presentations are on the website and covered aspects such as: The ESAA Progression Pyramid, Photo-finish, Combined Events Scoring Tables, ESAA Standards and the promotion of Somerset clubs.
Combined Events and Race Walking
Somerset Combined Events Championships at Millfield School on Saturday/Sunday 23/24 April.
Information sent to all schools and clubs on Friday 19 February. Hard copies supported by email. Closing date – Thursday 24 March. Final details and the timetable were sent out on Friday 8 April.
38% of Somerset state schools and 53% of our independent schools have entered athletes. (28% and 76% in 2013; 40% and 55% in 2014; 33% and 59% in 2015). Dorset County AA will be holding their County Combined Events Championships within our meeting, as usual.
292 Combined Events entries (including guests). Under-18 Decathlon and Heptathlon incorporated in our own competitions (requested by UKA) to give elite athletes a chance to achieve qualifying scores for the inaugural European Youth Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia. Athletes competing from Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Enormous amount of preparatory work carried out by Nick and Sally Higman, Brian Baker, David Cooke and Alan Richardson (and the Millfield School ground-staff) – many thanks. Millfield School will provide the officials’ lunches.
The programme has been produced professionally again this year by Frome Printing Company.
South-West Regional Combined Events and Race Walkiing Championships (Saturday/Sunday 25/26 June – Exeter Arena).
English Schools’ AA Combined Events and Race Walkiing Championships - Saturday/Sunday 17/18 September – Exeter Arena.
Track and Field
Planning continues. The dates are on the website.
Important ESAA rule change – For Senior Boys and Senior Girls – an athlete will be disqualified on his/her first false start.
Yeovil Area Schools’ AA Track and Field Championships information has been emailed to schools by Andrew Holmes.
Somerset County AA Track and Field Championships – Entry details have been emailed to all the Somerset schools and colleges – and to all those athletes who attended the Coaching Courses.
Somerset Schools’ AA Track and Field Championships - Saturday 11 June – Millfield School. Information has been sent to Area Secretaries. Millfield School will provide the officials’ lunches.
South-West Schools’ AA Track and Field Championships - Saturday 18 June – Exeter Arena.
Somerset Schools’ AA Junior Track and Field Championships - Wednesday 29 June – Bill Whistlecroft Athletics Arena, Yeovil. Information was sent to all 49 schools on Friday 8 April. This has been emailed to the schools and our club contacts in order to encourage entries. The closing date is Friday 27 May.
English Schools’ AA Track and Field Championships – Friday/Saturday 8/9 July – Gateshead.
SSAA Team Manager invitations will be sent out in early-May.
2016 Somerset Schools’ AA Handbook. We have produced the 2016 edition of the Handbook (printed by Frome Printing Company). Two copies were sent to every Somerset (secondary) Head Teacher in mid-November.
The Handbook is available on the website.
THANKS To all those clubs and coaches who contributed to our Cross-Country individual and team success. Thanks in anticipation of our partnership continuing throughout the summer.
PLEASE Continue to refer to the Somerset Schools’ AA web-site - somersetschoolsathletics.org.uk frequently.
12. Officials
Conferences.
Since the last Meeting I have attended a number of Conferences including:-
South West Officials Conference.
Again held in Exeter on 19th March which unfortunately was attended by fewer than 30 officials.
The keynote speaker was Dean Hardman from England Athletics with an update on planning for the future.
National County Officials Secretary Conference.
Held in Kenilworth on 2nd of April covering issues such as the updating of the Secretary’s Portal and planning for the next four years.
There was also a brief insight in to the make up of future Level Courses, with the hope of less power point presentation. The plan also is to have the Health & Safety and Generic Courses online.
National Officials Conference.
Also held at Kenilworth on 3rd April with some 240 officials attending. The keynote speaker was Toni Minichiello who gave us an insight into his early days of coaching and taking on the young Jessica Ennis-Hill when she was 13 years old. He also stated that he thought that all coaches should attend a basic Rules Course!
The MC for the Conference was Katherine Merry who tried hard to run things to time. There were numerous workshops available and plenty of networking.
New Levels.
Officials should by now have received their new licences with new Levels.
New Rule Books.
These are now available from UKA and various Officials Associations. Please note that this edition incorporates the IAAF rules (in Black) with the UKA differentials shown in blue.
There are a number of adjustments from previous UKA rules which include stipulations of events where there are less than 8 competitors in any age group, False Start Rules and even replacing the old NT or NJ by a cross on a results card. I would strongly recommend that every official avails themself of this new rule book.
County Championships 14th & 15th May.
Over 100 emails have been sent a number of times but to date the response has been poor. Whilst I have over 80 officials on my Secretary’s Portal I have still sent out to Assistant/ Trainee officials as well. I have had to date only 25 replies which will make the running of the Championships a challenge if no further volunteers come forward.
Issues Local to Yeovil.
We have been requested by the Council that if there is obvious signs that a Meeting is going to run over would the organisers please contact the grounds man and let him know the likely finish time in order that he does not have a wasted journey or be pulled away from another job unnecessarily.
Secondly, would all coaches ensure that equipment is returned to the correct location in a tidy and acceptable condition.
13 Treasurer
Treasurers Report April 2016
Current state of accounts: - Current £431.63. Deposit £11204.86
The financial transactions since last meeting in January are:-
Expenditure
Piper Inn 21 Jan £ 30.00
EA Affiliation £ 100.00
Sub total £ 130.00
Income
2 clubs Affiliation fees £ 40.00
Wiltshire AA ( 3 counties XC) £ 125.00
T&F championship entries (by BACs) £ 24.00
Sub total £ 189.00
All clubs have re-affiliated and paid their dues
14. Sportshall
No report
15. Any Other Business
The meeting closed at 10:10 p.m.
16. Date, Time and Venue of Next Meeting
The next meeting will be at the Pipers Inn, Ashcott on Thursday, July 21st
8 p.m. start