2007-8 has been another successful year for the CFA but in a different way from previous years. Previous seasons have been dominated by a focus on the CFA plan introducing the sport to inner city London schools and applying for funding to make this happen. However, the Board decided that there were two things that would hamper future growth going forward; firstly, a lack of internal systems, structures and resources, and secondly, a dependency on funding to continue growing. Therefore, this year, we have focused on laying the foundations so that from September 2008 all schools, clubs and adults will be able to access the resources to play and coach 1-Wall Fives, without being dependent on CFA coaching to do so. In the future, this will mean that schools that do not fall under our inner city remit can also play 1-Wall. In addition, it will allow other sports centres, such as Westway, to take on and roll-out 1-Wall as a new sport.
In January we received Company Status and set upon the task of putting in place all the formal and legal structures for growing the Association. Marcus Bate and Alex Smith have led fantastically well on this to ensure that our membership documents, risk assessments, equity statements, child protection policies are all in place and ready to go. We have also acquired public liability insurance. Peter White has organised our financial systems through preparing bank accounts and invoicing. Our application for Charitable Status was submitted at the end of the summer.
For schools, we will be offering a variety of membership packages aimed at meeting the needs of schools. Andy Pringle has produced marketing documents that will inform schools about the benefits of 1-Wall Fives, what the CFA can offer and how schools can join the Association. Lesson plans have been produced and will be printed for the new academic year. None of this will happen without committed teachers though and Steve Korris is working with the Fives Federation team to develop coaching structures and accreditation with Sports Coach UK. We expect our initial coaching plans to be ready by December.
Linking all of this will be the launch of our new website for players and coaches, www.playfives.co.uk which Sanjaya Ranasinghe has been developing. This will incorporate news and information about playing, as well as lesson plans, resources, and application forms. Kerry White’s design sense has also been instrumental in designing tournament documents, letterheads and business cards.
The one area where we have experienced a growth in participation has been in the adult game. Led by Peter Cohen and following on from last summer’s British Open, we sent two teams to the Italian Open and Basque Open at the end of 2007. This was our first experience of international team competition and the was a great learning curve from all involved to see the Americans, undoubtedly the best in the world, and Basques, our nearest rivals in Europe, perform. Over the summer, a club night has also started at Westway on Tuesday evenings which regularly attracts 10 players. Westway will be our base for competitions and training for the 2008-9 season. Thanks to Ady Lee, the CFA team have a great kit and look the pick of the international circuit.
Moving forward, our focus is the 2008 International calendar and the 2009 World Championships in Portland, Oregon. This season an international circuit of tournaments involving 15 countries will begin, organised primarily by our colleagues in Italy. As part of this, we will be holding an England qualifier as well as a number of adult 1-Wall competitions, and offering a tour to the World Championships. We also intend to hold our first Schools Championships at the start of the new academic year to allow us to select a team which can train for those championships. Details of this will be available on the CFA website. If you are interested in getting involved or coming on one of the CFA tours then please do get in touch or visit our website.
J.P.T.
City Fives Association Report 2007-2008 by James Toop
Created 27 January 2009 : Mike Fenn
efa@etonfives.co.uk