FUTURE PLANS: INTER-COUNTY SCENE

GENERAL COMMENT REGARDING 'OUR PROPOSALS': Please rest assured that we have no wish to intrude upon our decision making bodies. However, we do have some proposals, which we trust will be seen as constructive, as they are purely intended to be helpful, by putting some alternative options on the table. We hope this will have the effect of clearing heads and or concentrating minds on the vital task ahead for junior's and bowls. Therefore may we please put these forward for due consideration 'by the powers that be'.

The views expressed are not attributable to any one person or club, but rather to people who have spent a lifetime in sport, AS PLAYERS, MANAGERS AND ADMINISTRATORS and who have also had great experience of working with junior's. As these are important and involved issues, they have been dealt with in some detail. (23.06.2004)

We are 100% committed to Warwickshire in taking part in any Inter- County or any Warwickshire Junior County Matches or initiatives, but it is fair to say that Inter County Leagues in our area, other than U25s, are not even 'on the table' at the moment. Even the much acclaimed U25s Inter-County league, is not coming 'on stream' as quickly as it should be...(2005-6)...and we just have to hope that when it does, it will cater sufficiently for all of the bowlers who wish to play inter-County. There are a lot of excellent young bowler's out there, and frankly many worthy bowlers will not catch the eye of the selectors...because in the main selectors will be looking at older players -with the exception of the odd 'star' player, who has been fortunate enough to catch the selectors eye. Maybe the "left out" players are not superstars (maybe they are) but in any case we should not fail them, as they also have needs and deserve our attention.

We at Stirchley Juniors have no interest in simply creating an 'elite'at the expense of all the other girls and boys. We will however promote our top bowlers onwards and upwards -ALWAYS PROVIDING that the 'left over' players are treated properley and with respect. Therefore, in this section, we wish to tackle this issue 'head on' and talk in detail about our proposals outlining 'opportunities for all' via Inter-county leagues.

Regarding Inter-County Leagues, as a starting point, we would like to put something forward for consideration which would give us 6 rink matches for season 2004-5. We favour, say, 3 rinks of U25s (there are plenty of them)and 3 rinks of U16's (there are plenty of them also) for season 2004/5...maybe with no return fixture for the first season. We also suggest that this could be counted as an Inter-county six rink match. This could be done by using an aggregate score of the two matches together. There would certainly be plenty to play for...A new top event and a good day out for all.

This is achievable but would obviously depend on speedy positive, decisions, county commitments, rink space etc. We would also suggest allowing Counties (who may have a LOT of junior's, and of course, providing they wish to do so) to be able able to enter more than one team...particularly so, if there is a shortage of teams in that first season.

Surely, that would be a superb prospect -and straight forward project for a first season 'Inaugural League'.

With goodwill, it could so easily happen. Basically, our leaders just need to lead and Counties and Clubs will certainly give their support, and do the rest. If it went wrong (and this is very unlikely) the worst that can happen is that we have gone through a useful, initial learning curve. On the plus side, parents, junior's and clubs will see that something is happening -at last. Certainly there cannot be really valid excuse for further delays, surely. Can anyone help? (23.06.2004)

At the moment IN OUR IMMEDIATE AREA other than the U25 Inter County 'double rink' (which is too strong for all but one of us at the moment...and in fact too strong for the County itself... and of course this competition only satisfies eight U25s from right across the County anyway). It is unacceptable that there seems little else, competitive wise, for our youngster's to aspire to, except for the U25s Singles (which again involves playing very stong 20/25 year olds...and, we have heard, travelling to away venues at their convenience as they are often working). So! We all should be addressing that.

On the friendly side we have tried to play Notts and Leics (twice) and none of those three fixture's happened, with all three being cancelled a matter of days beforehand. We are not apportioning blame to anyone, but both our youngsters and parents (who went to some expense to kit the junior's out properly) were hit very hard with this triple wammy...however, had it been a LEAGUE fixture, we think the matches WOULD have taken place.

We are very keen in Warwickshire to participate in any Inter County Junior League -but guess what...even now, even though clubs are pushing hard for any Midland Inter County League, there is not any real urgency to start one for any age group for next season. (U25s excepted -and we are now informed that this will not happen until 2005-6! Why is this delay incurred? Is it really unavoidable? Insurmountable? It is very disappointing that it cannot be done quicker. We should propogate our seedcorn better than that.

Connected with the foregoing, we feel it is time to go a little further and we have approached our County with a proposal. "That consideration should be given to whether we should be moving towards what football has done for youngsters, so very, very successfully (for over forty years now) and introduce some trial 'age based' leagues, but a bit more ambitious than simply U25s. Hence we came up with the above 'starter proposal' for 2004-5 which is for a joint U25s and U16s format as above.

Hopefully, we can achieve this first step before too long and if we can, it would provide a pretty good base to move on from. A quick look into the future with a simple 'roadmap' might indicate it would also perhaps be prudent to try for an U14 'feeder' squad... (feeder squad = in this case, is simply a name to describe a scratch squad to play a couple of friendlies over the next one or two seasons). This squad would be a feeder team to provide the backbone of the next U16's team. In the meantime the U16s have become U18s and or U21s and or U25s and so on. Basically, very soon, it becomes self perpetuating.

Please everyone, try to be positive on this. The age of miracles is upon us. If, as anticipated, we continue to make the rapid recruiting progress with junior's as in recent times, surely, leagues such as being contemplated here, will have to happen. There must be zero tolerance to 'blockers' on committee's.

Another thought for you which would favour more Inter County bowling. We all know that bowler's develop along different time scales, often due to personal circumstances etc. These young bowler's, who have not caught the eye of the selector, will want to be playing at Inter County Level and hopefully to gain some sort of recognition. This will not happen if we do not have enough 'showcase leagues (or competitions). Without these leagues, we will continue to concentrate on fast tracking certain clubs and / or players -an infamous procedure that will inevitably see those players classed as 'an elite', at the expense of others within our counties. We've all seen it, and it is a source of discontent. We now have the opportunity to break out and to leave all that behind by testing everyone out in age based leagues. The kids want this and it is encumbent on us to provide it.

Three leagues with low travel costs for the price of one! For next season! Can't be bad. Surely that is the much sought after 'win win' and win again, for all connected with the 'wonderful world of junior bowls'.

Regarding team management, in such a league/match arrangement as we have proposed, there is bound to be be a lot of positive 'cross fertilisation' between players, committees, managers, and supporters -to the advantage of all involved and of course, to the game of bowls itself. Amongst other things, you may find your next manager here! Ideally, as tried and tested in football (we use the comparison advisedly) a separate manager for each age group should be considered. Because 3 rinks would be more easily manageable than 6, we would expect this 'more easily manageable' number to have a wider appeal to experienced people of known quality and would therefore encourage them to come forward, simply because of the lesser task. To a new manager wishing to try their hand, smaller is better, and would give him/her a greater chance of coping ... especially with regard to their valuable time, which has to be spent watching, discussing, selecting and in making arrangements for rink space, transport etc. etc. Obviously managers would liase on various matters where necessary.

As stated earlier, a certain amount of cross fertilisation in those areas would be very useful. For example, one important area could be the very young, extra talented bowler. We are fortunate in bowls, because unlike football, bowls is a non contact sport, and therefore managers at matches such as this, will readily be able to play the really talented younger player in any older age group -as is thought appropriate...so no problems in bowler's being held back there. Nor would we want to...bearing in mind that in the 2004 U25s fours final (which several of our junior section, and parents, watched at Melton Mowbray) there were two very young lads -11 and 14 years of age- and both played extremely well.

NOTE: By the way, we took a few of our junior's to this event and they were thrilled to see what they have to aspire to. We are going again next year and we can thoroughly recommend you take some of your junior's too -a tremendous day out for parents as well.

We believe that good press coverage will increase interest in the game and increase club membership's. We also believe that the above proposals for age based leagues, or something like them, will need to be in place (within county and inter county) BEFORE the press will come on board.

We also feel that regular (or occasional) national press conferences and regular press releases should be a feature of everyday life at HQ. On checking our NGB's web site and the list of officers on our executive, we cannot see a 'Press Officer' listed. Presumably therefore, we do not have a Press Officer who can do this. Either way, it appears that we need to get a little more 'press friendly' in pursuit of publicising our sport, but if we are in fact having problems getting this vital coverage...maybe we should consider appointing an EXPERIENCED professional person or consultant or agency on a short term basis, to assist our Press Officer -assuming we have one. If that scenario cannot be 'taken on board' is it possible that another alternative could be considered...maybe try and find someone of suitable standing and experience from within our own ranks, who would have just one job...to get our sport back in the press and other media.

We therefore earnestly request our leaders to give our proposals their early consideration -for the 2004/5 season, as we believe there is a desperate need to get something 'marketable for the media' in place now -as a matter of urgency.

Age based Leagues would attract the interest of all our local press -much more so with a visible, competitive, progressive and easily understandable league or cup structure. Certainly, (with respect to all concerned) a regular programme along the lines mentioned, would be far more marketable than the sometimes mismatched, luke warm, occasional fixtures that we have on offer at the moment. Unfortunately, what we have now does not lend itself as 'a regular product' which the press can market...it is too occasional and (to the press) seems to have little shape or purpose.

On the positive side we have shown above how three leagues could be got off the ground and act as a catalyst for future development. If we could achieve such leagues now, while we have a sufficient amount of junior's...and leagues will have to happen eventually,so why not try it sooner rather than later...then I think that regular press reporting would surely follow. This would give us a footing and good expectations that (at last) maybe we can reverse the slide in membership's and that recruitment would take a more encouraging upward trend. The one fear is that we leave it too late. Maybe it could even be fatal if we leave it too much longer -and maybe lose this present clutch of superb youngsters, and disasterously, some of our older stalwarts. Time waits for no man (or woman). Remember, there are not too many members beween juniors and seniors. The senior's hold the key. If we truly want to secure the future, we should be acting with great urgency in all areas.

Agreed, it is a big problem to get the press 'on side' and they only want to print the story as they see it, but we must try to approach it from their point of view if we are to achieve anything with them. Our object should be to get our sport into the sports pages. This could perhaps be led with the introduction of competitive leagues and the various spin offs from that. If and when that happens we will know that we have something marketable...and make no mistake, at that point, we certainly will have something to market and clubs could look forward to improving membership's once again. It would seem prudent to grasp the nettle now or risk missing the boat, because our present crop of junior's, may well have moved on because our sport did not offer what they wanted. It would be a pity to lose these youngsters because they could be our greatest recruiter in bringing in yet more youngsters. This must be the time to act!

Our basic organisation REALLY is excellent and 'almost brilliant' if operated to its full potential...but something needs to happen soon. We feel a press initiative -either with junior's or (for arguments sake) say ex sports people -giving up their chosen 'physical' games...and yes, retired people who are keen to "GIVE BOWLS A TRY".

OUR SPORT HAS SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY...and we should be able to sell it ok. But are we doing enough? What exactly is holding us back? Where are we on 'unification? Is this a help or a problem? Or, would 'unification' in fact help? Is money the problem? What is happening on lottery funding? These are all issues that members are interested in hearing about. For example, as an immediate measure, we have some good people involved with 'Woods and Jacks'and perhaps a start could be made there?

In any event (at the moment) we do not seem to be getting too much information on anything and certainly no financial help at the grass roots regarding the subjects herein? We are all out of pocket down here!

We are sure that our officers at the various HQ(s) fully realise that club committee's are looking for something, a catalyst if you like, to enthuse them to try and turn our game around? But, unless something happens soon, perhaps the "U" word (unification) is the way forward after all? Anyway, thats really for our elected officers to give us guidance... but coming back to the kids, they certainly need something, more meaningful, and happening much quicker, than a possible future U25s league for 2005-6. If we can just get something going for the JUNIORS and the press...anything 'leaguewise' that is additional to the U25s set up...surely this must be good.

We have offered a few thoughts to start the ball rolling, so lets see what happens?

If anyone would like to develop these ideas further or comment constructively, please get in touch with your Club or your County Committee with your views or you can contact us with any 'pro's or con's' -and we will see where it takes us.

Please think hard about how Counties could be encouraged to try an inaugural 3 rink U14/U15 friendly in 2004-5. This is very important as it is essential preparation for the future U16s league remember. Do you think your County might be interested in doing this? Please get in touch and approach your County direct...every little helps. Ask your County to take it forward to appropriate persons/Committees. We believe that at the moment there is keen and gathering interest from Counties for Inter-County (stemming from their youngster's) and this is encouraging, but we desperately need leagues of all sorts for our many younger players. If we fail them, a lot will melt away.
Please try and help your County to bring the junior's forward in any way possible.

Let us try and achieve something the youngsters can be proud to be part of...can 'brag' to their mates about at school...and parents can talk about at work etc. In the meantime, with apologies to those on committee's who wish to move forward more quickly than 'allowed'by the unsatisfactory operation of committee procedures, please keep trying, because we would all be lost without you. Please do not give up!