Developing Under Water Hockey
The British Octopush Association (BOA) has 3 Primary Functions:
- To act as the National Governing Body for Underwater Hockey
- To support its members in developing Underwater Hockey
- To promote Underwater Hockey
The BOA will develop objectives and a strategy at each level, so the group has direction and progress can be measured.
It is important that what ever we develop as a group is: Sustainable, Consistent and Reliable.
The BOA Overall Aims and Objectives
- To be recognised as the National Governing Body of Underwater Hockey in the UK.
- To continue to develop a structured youth and coaching development programme.
- To continue to develop a large active and competitive membership.
- To continue to develop reliable and consistent services, to support its members in developing Underwater Hockey.
- To continue to support the development of pools being built to include Underwater Hockey specifications.
- To be within Sport England's national investment as a development sport.
Strategy
The British Octopush Association is split up in to two parts:
- Governing body
- Delivering UWH services
1. Governing Body
As a governing body the BOA will provide the governance for its members to operate and play Underwater Hockey.
As a governing body the BOA will develop and provide a structured development program at all levels to support its members in Underwater Hockey.
1.1. Roles and Responsibilities
The BOA committee manages and controls the processes by which the BOA functions.
It is the responsibility of the committee to ensure that the constitution is followed, the procedures are democratic, and all development is carried out with the consensus of its members.
It is the responsibility of BOA members through directives from the committee to provide all development of Underwater Hockey within the BOA. The commitment of members volunteering is crucial to this development.
2. Delivering Underwater Hockey Services
The British Octopush Association will develop a set of core services for its members. These services will be developed by members, but in order that the BOA can guarantee a certain level of service the volunteers will ultimately be supported by professional services. To facilitate this the BOA has an offical affiliation agreement with the SAA who provide our DBS checks and CMAS athlete Licenses.
Core Services
- Membership
- Insurance
- The BOA website
- The BOA Shop
- Awards Scheme
- Coaching
- Competitions
- National Squads management
1. Membership
The overall aim is to administrate membership efficiently and to provide membership support throughout the year.
The membership joining and renewal process will be web based and automated wherever possible. This is the most cost effective way the BOA can process and maintain the details of its growing number of members efficiently.
2. Insurance
Provide comprehensive insurance to play and coach Underwater Hockey. This includes 3rd party indemnity and personal accident insurance.
3. The BOA Website
This service provides the following:
- A web presence which will provide comprehensive information and promote underwater hockey and it's sponsors
- To allow the easy maintenance of its web pages by its members to ensure data can be updated anytime
- Provide individual BOA Club home pages allowing club details to be easily accessible and help to promote these clubs
- Provide forums to facilitate debate and the flow of information in the Underwater Hockey community
- Provide a document repository storing all controlling documents and making them readily accessible to members
- Provide the platform for web based administration, i.e. membership joining and renewal, team registration, competition registration and the publication of results
- Provide a communication system which can communicate directly to members depending on category, ie club officer, BOA committee member, all members and other such categories
- Provide a voting system to ensure the BOA functions democratically and this is recorded
4. The BOA Shop
This service is provided as a one stop shop for Underwater Hockey equipment and to make Underwater Hockey equipment more accessible. The shop will be used to promote all British Octopush Association products and services.
5. Awards Scheme
To provide a structured program for Underwater Hockey and refereeing for all members at all levels.
6. Coaching
To provide a complete and comprehensive coaching and refereeing program to allow all levels of training to be delivered. This will be developed using the bronze, silver and gold awards scheme.
It is important that this service is supported professionally to ensure courses run as advertised.
7. Competitions
The development of competitions, accessible to all members. The British Octopush Association supports many competitions: The Nautilus, the National Competition, Home Internationals and Junior Nationals at various levels and in various categories. It is hoped to expand the number of competitions the BOA supports to include Student Nationals, regional competitions and others. The BOA also supports clubs which run their own events. It is planned to automate the administration using web based processes. This will help reduce the work load on volunteers enabling them to focus more on developing competitions.
8. National Squads Management
The development and training of the National Squads. The coaches and managers developing this service need to be supported by professional services, whether for coaching or administration. This will help to provide a consistent level of training and coaching to ensure the full potential of players are reached.