“It may be said that there are things of more importance than striking a ball against a wall - there are things indeed which make more noise and do as little good, such as making war and peace; making speeches and answering them; making money and throwing it away. But the game of Fives is what no one despises who has ever played at it. He who takes to playing at Fives is twice young. He feels ‘in the instant’ neither the past nor future. Debts, taxes, domestic treason, foreign policies, nothing can touch him further. It is the finest exercise for the body, and the best relaxation for the mind!” (William Hazlitt)
Thus one of our greatest writers on our greatest court game! I never fail to get a ‘buzz’ from reading these words, and I reflect on what a privilege it is to be Chairman of a game which can be described in terms like that! This year is my fourth as Chairman of the EFA. The job is rather like the famous moment in “Yes, Minister” when the Minister turns to his Assistant and says “Bernard, where will you really be when the chips are down?” and Bernard replies “Minister, my job is always to make sure that the chips stay up!”
The Six ‘Cs’
I can sum the position up under an agenda of Six C’s.
Coaching
Every player remembers the influence of good coaching – the skill to make things fun, instructive and inspiring from the very start. We are making a tremendous effort in the EFA to train, encourage and officially to qualify Fives Coaches and Masters-in-Charge, for on the quality of coaching depends the whole future of the game at every school present in these Championships. We shall be holding another series of week-end coaching sessions for M-i-Cs in September at Mill Hill and Wolverhampton Grammar School. If you would take pride in the game at your school, please invest in coaching and come to one of these. Wolverhampton Grammar School lost their school coach in the nineties and in a trice the game virtually disappeared from the school for some fifteen years – until this year, when the school and the EFA have together arranged for a new coach, Mark Yates, to resurrect the game, and he is already inspiring a new generation of fives players there to come through. In a few years WGS will surely take its place again among the premier fives-playing schools in the country. It’s all in the coaching.
Co-education
The game of Eton Fives is a marvellous game for girls, relying as it does on court craft, accuracy and placement rather than on mere strength and stamina. Girls bring skill, variety, pride and beauty to our game. This year, there were over 50 girls playing in our National Schools’ Championships, and it is a major objective to increase this number in the future. We have appointed one of our EFA Directors, Sian Evans, to drive our agenda for Girls’ Fives. The EFA is supporting Highgate School to grow the game significantly among the girls there; and we hope to introduce it later in the year for the first time to King Edward’s High School for Girls in Birmingham.
Courts
Given the cost of building a new court these days, the Fives court complexes at our schools are almost literally assets beyond price. They could never be replaced. Schools should use them, cosset them, maintain them, care for them. The speed with which courts deteriorate if not used, or if the annual maintenance is not spent on them, can be ruinous. And if the all-seeing eye of Governor or the Head looks away for a moment, Fives courts can vanish in a trice (as at Wellington College) or be changed into climbing walls (as at the Leys School, Cambridge) or into a weight-lifting centre (as at Marlborough). The price of good Fives courts is eternal vigilance – and constant use.
Clubs
I wrote last year about the importance of maintaining the strength of Club Fives, and Club Fives and School Fives are absolutely interdependent. I was recently in discussion with the Youth Sports Trust of Great Britain to seek support from them for our game, and they said that they had two criteria in judging the commitment of schools to particular games:
• first that the game should be embedded in the culture and curriculum of the school;
• second “that playing it should lead somewhere after school.”
The first of these points is pretty secure at most of our schools; but the second is very fragile. It must surely be one of the key aims of all schools to nurture the aspirations of pupils beyond school and university to a wider life beyond – and playing Fives should be no exception to this. It depends crucially on all schools routinely informing their Clubs who the fives-playing leavers are, so that they can be welcomed immediately into the adult game and so keep our Clubs refreshed and vigorous. In this way Fives at school and the strength of the Clubs will be mutually reinforcing. I am delighted that the Old Cholmeleian Fives Club, which has been going through a tricky period in recent years, has now decided on some radical measures which will hopefully return it to among the very best clubs in the land – and I am discussing with those in charge of many other Clubs too how the EFA might help to support and strengthen their activities.
Communication
Communication is the lifeblood of every organisation; where communication thrives, organisations come alive. So the biggest investment the EFA has made this year has been in communication, through Fives Online, the first interactive link the game has ever seen, and undoubtedly among the most advanced facilities of any amateur sports club in the country.
FivesOnline is an especially powerful tool for ensuring that boys and girls on leaving school are not lost contact with, that communication with them continues when they’re at University and that they can then naturally fold back into the adult game on moving into their careers. It is a facility for all players - at school and in clubs, old and young, competent and incompetent, past and present, male and female - to be in touch with each other together as a community of Fives players. I hope every reader of this report who has not already done so will register on FivesOnline (www.fivesonline.com). We are tremendously excited by its potential.
Culture
I have visited the Headmasters and Principals of 31 Eton Fives playing schools in the last 18 months, and the first thing I have looked for at every school is a ‘culture’, an atmosphere, of energy and endeavour. Culture is a difficult thing to define, but you know it when you see it. It’s driven by the support of the Head, the bounce of the players, the enthusiasm of the staff, the commitment of the coaches and the record of achievement. It is the invisible hand than reinforces everything else. The culture of Fives at most schools today is excellent – witness the 700 boys and girls who took part in our National Schools’ Championships this year – and of course it needs constant nurturing by everyone involved.
Since I became Chairman, I – and the whole of the EFA – have been fortunate to have been able to count on the continuity of service of those people who hold the key positions in the Association, especially the Hon. Secretary, the Hon. Treasurer and the Chairman of the Competitions Committee; and the service of dedicated and committed Board members.
The willingness of such people to continue in office has so far avoided the need for the Board to identify potential successors. But this should not be taken for granted. They are not evergreen, however much the Association may wish them to be! The Board has a duty to consider possible future successors; forward thinking about people is both prudent and necessary.
The Board believes that we should therefore focus more than ever on changes in Officers, Directors and key tasks, anticipating vacancies, planning succession, consulting widely to identify potential talent, and identifying the key skills needed by the Association and Board to drive the Strategy forward. This is not something that the Board as a whole is able to well, with its full agendas and time constraints.
We have therefore formed a Nominations Committee, composed of Michael Constantinidi, Sian Evans, Mike Fenn, Gareth Hoskins, Mark Williams and myself with the following remit:
To plan succession for the Officers and Directors of the Association;
To identify additional people from among EFA members as a supportive resource to help drive different aspects of the Eton Fives Strategy;
And to report back to the Board with recommendations”
We always need new people to come forward to help the game in every way possible, and I would appeal to anyone reading this who believes that he or she can contribute to our activities to get in touch with me.
I also extend my sincere thanks to those Directors whose terms of office come to an end this year: Ken Hughes, James Toop and Mark Williams. They have all been tireless in formulating and driving our Strategy. James Toop’s article on the remarkable innovation of One Wall Fives appears on a separate page of this report.
Laugh and battle and work till the lilt of the music ends;
Laugh while the game is played; and be you merry, my friends !
R.P.F.B. – June 2007
Chairman's Report 2006-2007 by Richard Barber
Created 19th January 2008 : Mike Fenn
efa@etonfives.co.uk