Club Development, Team KTH and Upcoming Events

Club Development, Team KTH and Upcoming Events

Dear Member/Parent,

We’ve been making progress over the last few months in refreshing the club, shaping the team and preparing for the future.

This week I’ve sent the application form for funding to England Athletics for our floodlighting. We’ll let you know when we have confirmation but all being well; we hope to have a floodlit track by the time the clocks go back in October. Thanks to Dan & Jon Thompson for supporting the application process.

A requirement of the application is to submit a development plan. England Athletics are understandably keen for us as a club to improve accessibility and increase participation in return for their investment.

Having looked at other clubs, both within the region and beyond, we believe there are many opportunities to grow our club and indeed the development plan submitted indicates an opportunity to double the membership over the four years the of the development period.

We can see growth in all areas, but particularly for junior athletes (U11/U13) and adults (both in road running/jogging as well as athletic disciplines).

As you know, our club is entirely reliant on volunteers and we are fortunate to have a great team of committee members (22 in total) and a significant number of existing volunteers that help with a wide variety of activities: from dealing with membership enquiries and applications; to running the shop; to officiating, organising and administrating at events; to catering; to ensuring our equipment and facilities are safe and fit for purpose; to ensuring we meet our financial and regulatory obligations; and of course our coaching team who work tirelessly, above and beyond, to help athletes of all ages reach their potential.

Our first event as a new team/committee was the Kettering Open on the 18th April and we had no less than 45 volunteers on the day. I’m proud to say that all but one of those volunteers were from Kettering Town Harriers – Team KTH. Whilst it was a big learning curve for many (not least myself) and we didn’t get everything right (Power of 10 results in particular), we worked really hard as a team, had some fun and supported 86 of our own athletes and a further 166 from other clubs (252 total) to compete.

We created a great atmosphere and an enjoyable day for both athletes and their families and received many messages of encouragement and support a couple of which are as follows:

“Our impressions on the day were of an entertaining meeting, run by an enthusiastic and friendly club with a great set up. Very best wishes for the future, which from what we saw, will be hugely successful.” Phil Brown

“…I also wanted to thank you & the club at Kettering for a fantastic meeting on Saturday - it was very well organised & the organisers were very friendly & welcoming. My son Calum is quite new to Athletics, so we are still finding our feet - but your open meeting was great - it helped that Calum got some impressive times on the day too.” Ann Mac

Despite having 45 volunteers at the event, we could have done with more. And as we develop and grow as a club, we need to grow our network of volunteers. Without volunteers we can’t host events, support our athletes effectively in the leagues we compete in, or indeed operate effectively on a day to day basis as a club.

I’d like to take the opportunity to say a BIG THANK YOU!! Firstly, to all those who contributed to making the Open Event as successful as it was, secondly to the wider committee for their commitment and support to date. I’d also like to thank those who help at the club on a day to day basis and the members of the coaching staff who continually work selflessly to support our athletes and the club.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to reach out to you as members and parents to join Team KTH and play an active role in helping the club operate on a day to day basis, as well as improving our ability to host events and develop.

Volunteering at the club is a great way of supporting the community and ‘giving back’, it can also be rewarding and fun - we do try to have fun! J But rather than hearing it from me, speak to those who currently volunteer if you’d like to know what you can get from volunteering, suffice for me to say – Your Club Needs You!

No specific experience is required to volunteer and training and support will be provided. We are looking for support in all of the following areas:

· Coaching Assistants – assisting coaches to run training sessions

· First Aid – helping us to increase our first aid provision on club nights (Tue/Thu)

· Shop cover – particularly 5.45 – 7pm on club nights

· Athletic event planning & preparation support – helping to get everything in place for events

· Officiating at events – timekeeping, track & field judges, starter, marksman

· Helping at events – announcing, catering, results runners, meet & greet, car parking, setting up and clearing down

· Co-ordinating team and social events

· General administration

If you are interested in volunteering please speak to our Volunteer Co-ordinator Rosie Williams (or Louise Healy - who is supporting Rosie) or email .

We have a number of upcoming events at the club that I’d like to bring to your attention, all of which require support from volunteers:

Thursday 11th June – Yr 7 Athletics friendly – 4pm

Saturday 20th June – 1 day First Aid course at the club (places available)

Thursday 25th June – Yr 8 Athletics friendly – 4pm

Friday 3rd July – Multi Event Special 10am – 2pm – for young athletes with special needs

Sunday 12th July – Chairman’s Cup and County Mile – County Event for U11/U13 and Open event for milers of all ages

Sat/Sun 1st/2nd August – KTH Land’s End to John O’Groats Charity Challenge – All Welcome

Mon 3rd – Fri 7th August – Kettering Borough Council Summer Athletics Programme – 1-4pm tbc

Saturday 15th August – Quadkids (details to follow)

Saturday 22nd August – Kettering Town Harriers Open Event

Further details and all events are detailed on our website or by emailing

Of course another way of supporting the club is participating - as an athlete or road runner. We now offer running groups for all abilities on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s check the website for further details.

I look forward to seeing you at the club soon and thanks again for your support.

Best Regards

Matt

Matt Brown

Chairman

Kettering Town Harriers

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