Bringing club sport and recreation into focus - Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti's "stock-take tool"
Overview
In late 2008, Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti began a project to develop a new ‘Stock-take tool’ that involved the region’s sport and recreation clubs. As work has progressed, the potential has become clear – the Regional Sports Trust (RST) has steadily expanded the Stock-take tool’s capability.
The Stock-take tool reveals core regional data, for example numbers competing in a particular sport, including junior/senior membership. The next step, planned for completion by late-2009, will enable detailed profiling of each club and their needs. Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti’s vision is that the tool supports everything from club networking to helping children to get the right start in sport, active recreation and physical activity.
As Daniel Gerrard, Chief Executive of Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti, observes: “It’s a tool to open a wide range of targeted opportunities.”
Background & partners
“It all stemmed from a fairly public discussion I had in early 2008,” recalls Daniel. “I was asked how many junior netballers do we have in our region? It seemed like the kind of thing I should know but I had no idea whatsoever. Neither did the Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti office. We had no idea of this basic baseline information.”
At the time, Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti’s only club tool was a database which consisted of a list of contact names, phone numbers and emails – “which was about 80% accurate,” Daniel estimates. For an organisation committed to supporting clubs and sport activity, that clearly wasn’t enough. The RST decided to do a stock-take, contacting all the region’s sport and recreation clubs, and requesting a range of data.
They employed two students over the 2008-2009 summer break, to undertake data collection and input. The project was run in partnership with Gisborne District Council, which recognised the potential of gathering information such as facilities usage.
The initiative
Initial contact was made using the free online tool Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com): about a third of the clubs responded. The next step was phone contact: gaining information from another third. Finally, clubs that had not completed the survey were visited in-person. Within five months, Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti had achieved a 98% response. Following the survey, 145 sport and recreation clubs were identified as currently active.
Data gathered included: type of sport or recreation; whether the club is social and/or competitive; grades; where the club sources revenue; access to athletes with a disability; level of coaching ; and the legal structure of the club. “This information gives us more focus on issues. It helps us know what clubs need,” says Daniel. As an example, it’s now easy to identify which clubs could benefit from coaching support.
Contact information helped develop a database, which included four people in each club: a key contact, head coach, chairperson and financial controller/club secretary. This enables club representatives to be contacted directly, for example to offer training in governance.
Of course, it’s imperative to keep data current. The RST has committed to doing quarterly reviews, with full data stock-takes on an annual basis. It is the intention of Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti to attend the AGM of each of the 145 clubs.
The next step is to make data more accessible, enhancing use of the Stock-take tool. At the time of writing (June 2009) Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti is in the process of developing a new website, which will have the data embedded, rather than presented in an Excel spreadsheet. As Daniel says: “It’s about showing the data so that it is useful. It needs to be represented in the best ways.”
Key benefits
- Identifying club needs. “There’s now some really useful data identifying where clubs need support and targeted assistance,” says Daniel. He cites coaching again. “We now know exactly where we need to start. In this region, the vast majority of coaches are unqualified. There are many parents coaching, who need basic coaching guidance and support. There are a lot of elite coaches who have said they would like a refresher course.” Other key areas where the Stock-take tool clarifies club needs include financial control, and governance, facility usage, volunteer development, membership recruitment and fundraising.
- Benchmarking and tracking. The Stock-take tool provides a current and accurate view of sport and recreation across the region. Key data breakdowns include sport/recreation, participant numbers/age/ability, coaching needs/ability, club income streams. That enables a more proactive approach to tackling regional and local community needs and opportunities.
- Networking. As the Stock-take tool evolves, it will support more effective networking between clubs. For example, a club could identify other clubs with similar needs in a particular area, then coordinate development programmes and support. Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti aims to support periodic meetings for club executive members.
- Local community contact. Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti decided to include hunting, fishing and diving clubs on the Stock-take tool – even though in their region, these occupations are often primarily about food gathering. “Kaimoana is often a hub of activity in local communities. It’s a point of contact,” explains Daniel.
- Developing school/club links. The RST is aspiring towards linking schools and early childhood centre data into the club Stock-take tool. This will for example enable schools to identify nearby clubs and what expertise and facilities they offer; and enable clubs to identify nearby schools and whether they have children who could be keen on getting involved. “It’s about giving kids choice. If we can help children get into activities and sports that they are confident playing, they are more likely to play for enjoyment - and therefore much more likely to develop a lifetime involvement in sport and activity,” says Daniel.
- Privacy. The Stock-take tool is categorically not a commercial tool. A big reason for the buy-in from clubs around the region is that they know it’s for information and support, not for selling. Only agreed information is openly accessible.
Looking ahead
Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti is keen to share their learnings with other regions. “We’re not sitting on information,” emphasises Daniel. “This is a great area to run this kind of initiative - the isolation of the Gisborne/East Coast region means the population is relatively stable. I’m sure other RSTs are waiting to see what parts of the tool they can utilize locally, it could lead to some interesting trend establishment.”
Contacts and links
To know more about Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti visit their website www.sportgisborne.org.nz
To know more about the Stock-take tool, email Daniel Gerrard on danielg@sportgisborne.org.nz or call 06 868 9943.
Updated | 17 Jul 2009.
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