What Makes a Great Club
A great club can be characterised in various forms however a clubs sustainabillity is likely to be the biggest characteristic, as a sustainable club exemplifies a healthy, well managed organisation with good support from its membership.
This section has been designed to support all wheelchair rugby clubs to become thriving clubs in their community. Here we’ll provide clubs with everything they need to run effectively – from guidance towards completing affiliation and ‘how to‘ guides to support clubs with recruiting new players, delivering taster sessions, and more! We have a section which encapsulates all that Sport England Club Matters has to offer and how best to utilise this valuable resource.
Finally, we’ve provided resources and guidance on supporting your members’ mental health during and away from club activites.
Check out the content below to make your club, a great club.
Club Affiliation & Health Checks
In order to support our growing club network, GBWR has introduced the Club Affiliation programme, by which wheelchair rugby clubs meeting our minimum standards (in governance, finance, safeguarding and other areas) can earn the prestige of being a GBWR Affiliated Club. In meeting these standards for affiliation, clubs will become more efficient and robust, making them more sustainable for the future. Club Affiliation provides an invaluable opportunity to create a professional foundation, with support from their Club Development Manager, to strengthen the club and its processes.
Clubs meeting these criteria have demonstrated a commitment to providing a safe, fun environment for people to enjoy wheelchair rugby in and are instrumental in helping GBWR to achieve its mission to “… lead, promote, and grow vibrant and inclusive wheelchair rugby communities …”, and demonstrate GBWR’s core values of enjoyment, excellence, trust, respect, inclusiveness and teamwork.
Find out more about Club Affiliation, or contact your Club Development Manager.
Health Checks
In order to ensure all Affiliated Clubs continue to meet standards, CDMs will work with clubs to complete an annual health check, which will monitor any significant changes in the club and verify that the club is continuing to be well run.
Sport England Club Matters
To support all our existing wheelchair rugby clubs, we are looking to sign post clubs to the free Sport England Club Matters resource. Club Matters is Sport England’s one stop shop for clubs, groups and organisations involved in the delivery of physical activity and sport. Club Matters provides free, convenient, practical resources to help organisations to develop, grow and become more sustainable and successful.
The Club Improvement Tool is an online health check for clubs of all shapes and sizes. Find out how you are performing and get a tailored development plan identifying recommended resources to help you build the club you want.
Club Matters gives you access to free innovative tools to help develop your club. Registration is simple and free.
Get started with Club Matters today and build a brighter future for your club!
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Who is Club Matters For?
Club Matters resources are here to help clubs, groups and organisations who are involved in the delivery of physical activity and sport. This includes groups of people who do any of the following things:
- run an existing club, group or organisation, whether large or small, formal or informal;
- are thinking about setting up a new club, group or organisation;
- support, are undertaking or considering the Clubmark accreditation scheme; or
- are actively supporting the development of organisations who deliver physical activity and sportwork in the physical activity and sport sector and want to develop their knowledge and access to resources in particular areas
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What Are the Benefits?
The Club Matters convenient and flexible resources:
- will help you attract and retain members;
- provide practical tips and guidance;
- offer tools to help you understand your club and members; and
- will improve and develop your skills
How to...
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Run an Event / Club Taster Session
The following is guidance and support for existing clubs to organise and run their own taster sessions. These sessions can be used to help support clubs to create recruitment opportunities for additional players and volunteers.
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Recruit Volunteers
Whether they give up a few hours a month to lend a hand, or travel up and down the country to coach a team at matches, volunteers are the life and soul of community sport.
This means that if you are a club that relies on volunteers, it’s important you know how to inspire, manage and support them, recognise their hard work and make sure they know how valued they are.
You need to provide them with an amazing experience from the minute they first engage with your club, and you can find guidance on this here:
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Run Social Media
Sport England have created the following resource to support sports clubs in how to use social media as a platform to promote in their local area. GBWR have recently created their own guide which is more specific to our sport, this can be found in the Club Foundations section of the Club Hub.
Social media allows conversations to happen between your club and the people important to your club, whether that’s your members, volunteers, players, supporters, parents or sponsors and it is now one of the main communication streams used by clubs and organisations.
Supporting Members' Mental Health
A great club is one which supports its members’ mental, as well as physical, health! Here you will find resources and suggestions to help your club can help look after members, on and off-court.
If you’re struggling with your mental health, the Mental Health Foundation provides a wealth of contacts and guidance to get you help.
Club Mental Health Lead
Having a designated Mental Health Lead / Wellbeing Officer, provides a club’s members with a point of contact, highlighted as the go-to person for any member experiencing mental health issues.
Undertaking this role may seem daunting, so please take a look at the resources below to find out more about the role:
UK Coaching: a range of online courses (many of which are free) which can train the club’s designated Mental Health Lead so they feel more equipped to undertake the role.
Case Study: Kira Philpott, the ex-Regional Development Officer for Wales writes for the Mental Health Foundation about her experience as the Wellbeing Lead for Llandaff North RFC.
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Ways to Look Out for Each Other in the Team
- Make time for a coffee / chat before or after training
- Call people who don’t turn up and ask them why
- Noticing changes in behaviour
- Make time for conversation
- Well being check-ups
- Team socials
- One-to-one meetings with the mental health lead
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Case Study: Lyndon at Dragons Wheelchair Rugby
“I was unable to play until last year when the Dragons Wheelchair Rugby team, started in Cwmbran, as part of the Princes Gate Foundation – WRU initiative to have a wheelchair rugby team in every region of Wales. I have lately had some difficult health and especially mental health issues, depression keeping me in the safe haven of the house, getting up with little purpose, except on a Tuesday. Tuesday is wheelchair rugby day at the Dragons in Cwmbran. This team of wheelchair rugby players give me a focus and drive to get out and do something useful. The social aspect of being part of a group lightens my day and gives me a purpose and also involves my wife as a volunteer. Wheelchair rugby has given me a new drive, a new focus and a purpose to do well for myself.”
Lyndon was qualified in 2019 to become a Level 1 Wheelchair Rugby Activator to help him in his role as a coach within the Dragons Wheelchair Rugby team. Lyndon is a full time wheelchair user whose passion for rugby is second to none and is a credit to his team. Without the 10 Princes Gate Foundation donated wheelchairs, running a Level 1 course would be impossible. This gave the WRU the opportunity to qualify 40 people across Wales, giving us the resource and expertise to deliver the sport in schools, colleges and events across Wales to sustain and grow our club offering and attract many disabled children to take part in sport.
