SBOC Club Development Officer report
Credit: SBOC
Earlier this year we co-funded a club development officer for Swansea Bay Orienteering Club (SBOC) - see the original award here. We are excited to present their report, six months into the new CDO role.
SBOC appointed Kerina Lake as their new club development officer. Activities in the first 6 months have included:
- A series of 5 Park-O events for newcomers in various country parks across the region. These were well received, with lots of learning about what to build on with future activites, and what to learn from and do differently next time.
- Various activities aimed at the whole club:
- Holding 6 Step-Up sessions where people can re-run a course they had previously done or try the next course up, without the pressure of competition
- Putting on a series of UsynligO events (virtual orienteering app)
- Developing a series of MapNav virtual night events
- Starting club nights in November
- Collecting and distributing second hand kit for resale
- Establishing volunteer rewards policies
- Adding more social events to the diary
- Lots of partner engagements including:
- training sessions or other activities with Run4All Neath, Canolfan Maerdy Youth Group, Outdoor Partnership & Pobl Housing, and Beat the Street
- showcasing the sport at Disability Sports Wales
- setting up permanent courses at Llyn Llech Owain, Pembrey Country Park, and Penllergare Woodland Park
- filming with Hungry Bear Media Opportunity
- schools projects with Swansea Council
- Creation of a Welsh Orienteering Association award booklet for new juniors
Kerina has plenty of plans for the next 6 months, including
- organising club nights
- promoting winter league and MapNav events
- staging a series of six trail events with basic navigation
- acting as point of contact for club enquiries
- putting on a spring coaching series
- developing Welsh junior talent
SBOC club chair Niall Reynolds comments:
I have been amazed what a difference having someone dedicated to this has made to the profile of the sport/club in our area and the number of contacts and relationships she is now building with Local Authorities and other partners. People are really starting to notice..
Its early days re the metrics of the new recruits etc, but to have 4 new families including 7 new SBOC juniors run in a Welsh League event last weekend is something that has not been seen in our area for a very long time and it was so good to see.
We will be continuing to work on all the things identified in the report and be ready for a hopefully even more success in year 2.
As you can see there is a LOT going on! You can read more in Kerina's 6-month report here.
Note, this is a historical news article. For the latest information, and links to any more recent news articles, see our Club Development page.