Over sixteen years of regular club Fives I've kept an interested eye on the health and structure of our game - with a particular concern for its long term future. How can we protect this niche amateur sport in such demanding times? The game is its players and we must protect the strength, depth and competitive balance of our clubs to secure a future filled with enjoyable inter-club matches and well-used courts.
I have witnessed considerable changes in my own club, the Old Salopians, since first arriving in London aged eighteen. At the time The Salopians had an exceptionally healthy pool of players, more than enough to fulfil all our commitments. However, we saw many of the 'old guard' steadily retire through the 90s and it became swiftly apparent that we had no regular strategy for finding and developing new players...something we have since endeavoured to put right. Times continue to change - established players come and go from season to season more often than ever before (e.g. as work takes them abroad), players are also less predictable in their availability and it's never been more important to have a sizeable squad to ensure a full side at each fixture. I would love to return to a time when a place in the Barber, or League 1 side is truly hard won...rather than a case of desperately trying to find a 6th man!
New Recruits....Who are they? Where are they? Who's going to track them down? And lastly, what are you going to do with them once you've found them? Overcoming the inertia of solving these questions has dogged the game for decades. A pitifully small percentage of keen players make it across the university gap simply because they are rarely pushed from one end or pulled from the other. It seems those that make it arrive through dumb luck, or a family connection. With a little structure we could vastly improve this pull-through and transform the depth of our clubs in but a handful of years.We are ripe to do so as the game now has the tools and structure in place better to manage our numbers and provide regular, challenging and sociable Fives for players of all standards. The Ladder means that the 'bread and butter' Fives through the season is no longer solely the league, which, in the past has proved counter– productive to team building as it tends to call on the same 6 or 7 players., giving new blood little opportunity to take part or improve.
Finding those young players? How did we, the Salopians, go about it? As it happens the task was far easier than we imagined, a list of ex-school players and contact details was easily acquired with the help of the school's Old Boy club and Master in Charge.We divided the list at our AGM, made some calls and with a little detective work we soon tracked down a number of players who have lived in London for years whilst knowing nothing of club Fives. All those in a position to play were exceptionally keen to get back on court, often bringing friends from their schooldays with them. Facebook too offers a way to track people down. Once you find new recruits, please invite them to register with FivesOnline (the FivesOnline password is buttress5) as club players and perhaps invite them to take part in the Ladder, which is designed to get new players back on court and up-to-speed with ease.
If you have any queries about how to use www.fiveson line.co.uk, how to register or participate in the Ladder, please do get in touch with me.
E.O.T.
Recharging by Ed Taylor
Created 30th January 2009 by Mike Fenn
efa@etonfives.co.uk