New Zealand Underwater Hockey Four Year Management Plan 1996-2000

Introduction

The first Management Plan for Underwater Hockey was drawn up in 1991. It detailed targets and goals for Coaching, Treasurer, Publicity, Schools, Kiwisport, Research, Technical Aids, Women, Referees, Veterans, Administration, and Elite/Development. Since then the environment and participation for Underwater Hockey has evolved. The plan was updated and restructured in 1994. There have been incremental changes each year since.

Targets set in the 1995/1996 plan, and their achievement.

Finance.

Competition levies collected at the five main tournaments.

National levies collected from about 600 players, including some who have not attended tournaments.

Trust fund for elite teams established. Approximately $3000 held in trust for 1996 teams.

Coaching and Participation.

A small resurgence due to the position of National Director being filled again. Targets only partially reached.

Women.

Women only tournament held for the third year running.

The base of active players with international experience is in excess of 20.

Referees.

Many Level 1 courses run. No Level 2 course run in the last 12 months, due to conflicts with major tournaments. One will be run at the end of March. Junior referee courses run.

Administration.

Administration manual half completed. If necessary, extracts from it can be used to define a constitution.

Part-time National Director worked from March 1995 to December 1995. She resigned to go to full time work. The National Director's position was then combined with other NZU activities to make up a single full-time job. The new position was filled at the end of February 1996.

Elite & International Profile.

Highly successful Southern Hemisphere tournament held in May 1995. NZ teams included Masters, Open, Under 18.

Two NZ members on the World Governing Committee.

The Environment for Underwater Hockey in 1996.

Participation

There has been little growth in the last year. Growth in some centres has been matched by decline in others. Overall the number of adult players has remained fairly static. The average age of players is dropping, as adults retire, and young players come through from school level. The lack of growth is attributed to several factors:

The economic climate led many adults (especially students) to reduce spending on sport, and especially on travel to tournaments.
The original players tended to be adults, drawn from dive clubs. As the dive club scene has changed over recent years, there has been little further recruitment of adults from that source. This is something that the sport needs to look at.
The National Director had a focus on extending the skill level of existing players, rather than promoting growth. That focus will change with the new National Director.

Elite

The economic climate has made it much harder for elite players to travel to overseas tournaments. Sponsorship has been harder to come by, and there has been little money available from NZU.

There has been a trend to increasing participation of Veterans and Juniors in international events. This has dramatically increased the number of players involved in elite Underwater Hockey. It has also increased the load on coaches and funding.

It is still extremely difficult to find coaches for elite events. Normally the coaches would prefer to participate. This has been an especial problem with coaches for women's teams. Presently we have an extremely capable and committed coach for the women's team, and a coaching team for the men's team.

Organisation

A National Director for Underwater Hockey has now been appointed, thanks to a grant from the Hillary Commission. That part-time administrative position has freed the committee members to concentrate on new programmes, rather than day-to-day work. There has been a high retention of officers from the 1994 and 1995 committees.

The reorganisation of NZU has resulted in a much smoother relationship between Underwater Hockey and NZU. Duplication of effort has been reduced.

1996 Revision of the Management Plan.

Mission

To co-ordinate major national and international tournaments.
To increase the overall skill level of all players nationwide.
To increase the base of elite players.
To increase participation at all levels nationwide.

Strategic Goals

To be financially secure.
To send Masters, Adult and Junior male and female teams to at least one international event each year.
To run our affairs in a professional manner.
To be seen within New Zealand as a serious sport.
To have adult numbers approaching that of Water Polo in the major centres.
To be recognised by other countries as a leader in Underwater Hockey, both competitively and technically.

1996/97	1997/98	1998/99	1998/2000
Finance
Collect levies from all competitors at major tournaments, to fund organisation and elite events.
Build a trust fund for elite teams, to $5000	Trust fund to $7000	Trust fund to $10000	Trust fund to $12000
Collect national levies from all participants at major tournaments, plus at least 40% of the social players who never attend tournaments.	Increase social take to 50%	Maintain social take at 50%	Maintain social take at 50%
Coaching and Participation
Increase number of qualified coaches by at least 10 per year. 48 level 1, 8 level 2.	56 level 1, 10 level 2	64 level 1, 12 level 2	70 level 1, 14 level 2
Extend the library of articles from around the world on coaching Underwater Hockey and on related research.	Extend library	Extend library	Extend library
Sponsor at least one research project per year on Underwater Hockey	Research project	Research project	Research project
Establish a network of regional coaches. based on four major centres. Regional coaches to co-ordinate handling of recruits, and raising overall playing standards.	Extend the network to six centres	Extend the network to eight centres	Extend the network to ten centres
Continue distribution of coaching manuals, posters, introductory brochures.
Produce skill-specific coaching video	Produce tactics coaching video	Produce referee training video
Target dive shops for new adult recruits
Establish Associate membership for $10 levy. Members receive newsletters.	Associate membership to 40	Associate membership to 60	Associate membership to 70
Women
Run a women only tournament each year, or a women only division at Nationals.	At least 6 team participating	At least 8 team participating	At least 8 team participating
Build the base of active players with international experience to 24.	26	28	30
Increase internationally qualified and active referees to 4.	5
Referees
Run two Level 1 courses per region per year.	Extend qualified refs to at least one per centre	At least one Level 2 per centre
Run one Level 2 course per year.	Level 2 course	Level 2 course	Level 2 course
Run junior referee courses in each major centre each year.	Junior courses	Junior courses	Junior courses
Maintain register of referees.	Maintain	Maintain	Maintain
Provide a common set of refereeing equipment, including electronic signalling.	Extend	Extend	Extend
Establish disciplinary and interpretation committee to handle major infringements, and evolution of rules.
Admin and Organisation
Draw up a constitution for ratification at the AGM.
Produce administration manual for the national committee. Extend to managers and coaches of national teams.	Update	Update	Update
Hand over some admin functions to part-time National Director.
Elite/Development/International Profile
World Champs (South Africa)	SHC (Australia)	World Champs (USA)	SHC (South Africa)
Maintain contacts with other countries, particularly USA, Australia, South Africa.
Have at least one New Zealand representative on the World Governing Committee.
Establish an U21 grade to fill the gap between U18 and Elite Open grades.	U21 in SHC	NZ tour
Men bronze	Silver or Gold	Bronze or Silver	Silver or Gold
Women bronze	Silver or Gold	Silver or Gold	Silver or Gold
U18 Boys NZ tour	Gold	NZ tour	Gold
U18 Girls NZ tour	Gold	NZ tour	Gold

Created by John Stoke. Last updated 2 February 1997.