The Rounders England Journey
The National Rounders Association was formed by a small group of teachers in 1943, with the primary aim of standardising the rules. The Association continued in an entirely volunteer capacity to develop standardised rules, competitions, adult clubs, and to support school Rounders development. In the mid 1970's an England Adult team was selected, and matches were played against Wales.
How the Development of The Rounders England Infrastructure Has Led to Effective Sports Delivery
Rounders England are proud that over a period of just twelve year’s, the delivery and expectations of our sport has gone from being perceived as a school activity with the occasional ad hoc and informal team playing for fun in local parks’ and an England team that many were unaware of, to a sport with clear and defined playing pathways and ever increasing playing opportunities.
Likewise the number of recorded sustainable play continues to increase year on year with the development of a membership database, which has also enabled better and more effective communications.
As with any developing organisation, growth cannot be achieved overnight and we strongly believe that it is the development of our infrastructure that has supported the growth in Rounders play and delivery.
Here is how we did it…
1999
Formerly recognised as The National Rounders Association (NRA) we received a small grant to pay a part time member of staff, which enabled the organisation to take the first small step in moving away from being volunteer-led to a more formal and structured organisation.
2005
Following an increase in funding, Rounders was able to employ two full time members of staff working from home.
2007
A Building Capacity Grant enabled the governing body to make another full time appointment to the role of National Office Manager, one of whose responsibilities it was to find suitable office accommodation, as formerly all employees had worked form home. Following discussions with Westfield Sports College in Sheffield, an incentive agreement was reached and a very small office space was secured.
2008
A Business Administrator was employed and a further grant was received to support The UK Coaching Framework which enabled the organisation to make a further full time appointment.
In December 2008, Rounders secured £2.2 million from Sport England for its Whole Sport Plan 2009 – 2013. At the same time the NRA was rebranded as Rounders England, with the new logo and name helping to project a more professional, modern organisation with a broader appeal.
2009
A move to new, bigger premises in April 2009 meant core staff could work from the same office. The summer of 2009 was challenging, purchasing office furniture, tendering for and then installing new IT, a new telephone system as well as many
other contracts and operational requirements.
During this period, we also advertised and recruited to six new staff positions and with the sudden growth we had to put new policies, procedures and guidelines in place very quickly. The tendering process in some cases was quite time consuming, however to ensure best value this was an essential part of the Rounders England ‘start up’ process. The new appointments increased the total number of staff to twelve – these were a mixture of both full and part time positions. Rounders England also started the process of putting together a new Board structure to reflect the sports development priorities of its whole sport plan.
Following the appointments, a significant amount of time was spent in supporting the new staff, especially the three Regional Rounders Officers (RROs) that were based in London, the South East and the East of England. Progress within sporting delivery initially appeared to be slow whilst the RROs networked and created their working development plans.
The new UKCC level 1 Rounders qualification was endorsed and delivery of the qualification commenced in October 2009.
Rounders England was keen to make the sport more accessible all year round and, with this in mind, the indoor game was developed and piloted during the winter of 2009 by the South Yorkshire league and the Hull Works Sports Association and plans were afoot to roll this out across the Country.
2010
In 2010 the results of the growing Infrastructure and increased investment started to show extremely positive effects on Rounders delivery. There was an increase across all membership categories, increases in the number of courses, festivals, taster days, and corporate events. Two new membership categories were introduced to include SSP’s and STAR Centres and a new range of more user friendly and modern resources were developed which were very well received, evident in the increased number of sales.
Even the significant increase in the number of phone calls received in the central office was an indication that more and more people were playing the sport in a structured and more formal way. The office received 202 phone calls in April 2009 compared with 364 calls received in April 2010.
A new working partnership and kit sponsor was agreed with Rounders England working alongside Kukri to launch a New England playing kit, which was very well received with positive feedback from both players and spectators alike.
During May of this year Rounders England launched a new website which we believe continues to service the needs of our customers more readily than the previous website and the collection of monthly website statistics is evidence of a significant increase in website hits. Later in the year the development of an online payment facility allowed our resources to be purchased online and again we have seen a considerable increase in sales due to this.
Digital communication was also enhanced with the introduction of a facebook page, which again has been well supported by Rounders players across the country.
Later in the year a 4th RRO was employed to work in and concentrate on the development of Rounders in the West Midlands.
The winter also saw more indoor Rounders being played across the country, supported heavily by taster sessions and indoor leagues endorsed by the Regional Rounders Officers.
2011
With a stable and strategic staffing structure in place and a solid infrastructure, the beginning of 2011 has really maximised on the benefits of this support and continues to see the sport of Rounders develop and grow in terms of participation.
A university membership category has been added to the membership database and plans are in place to introduce a newsletter only category so that we are also able to communicate with our more occasional and informal players.
The RROs are currently revising and developing strategies for working with universities, volunteers, developing accessible options for disabled players and reviewing the current Star Centre (Satellite training academies for Rounders) model, all of which should result in even more playing opportunities.
Where Indoor Rounders has made the sport even more accessible, recently students from St Francis Special School in Lincoln have taken part in a game of wheelchair Rounders to launch the Lincolnshire Wheelchair Rounders Project.
The initiative, managed by Lincolnshire Sports Partnership, and supported by Rounders England was the first of its kind in the country and will eventually be rolled out to eight schools in the county.
Rounders England are also developing links with RFU clubs across England who have expressed an interest in hosting Rounders during their out of season period over the summer. Targeted at a mixed audience of rugby players looking to keep involved with the club during the off season, and their wives and friends, this initiative introduces more women to the rugby clubs, increases footfall commercially and gives Rounders players good quality facilities.
Although the amount of international competition continues to be a struggle, the England Rounders teams continue to go from strength to strength. The U14 team even went to Dubai in February of this year where they won all of their matches against school and league sides.
Events and competitions continue to be successful and we are looking forward to the forthcoming National School Championships, Charity Rounders In the Park and the Ladies Club National Competition to name but a few.
Supporting the increased play requires an increase in qualified coaches and umpires and as the number of Rounders England courses completed grows from month to month, the demand for higher level coaches has also increased and so the UKCC Level 2 course was launched in April 2011.
Likewise, we are currently looking to increase our pool of Coach Educators (Tutors and Assessors), particularly in the West Midlands and South of the country, to compliment our existing coach educator workforce.
And finally….
We are receiving lots of positive feedback both formally and informally.
A number of candidates interviewed as part of a staff recruitment process commented on how professional Rounders England was in managing their recruitment.
A more professional image and an open and transparent approach has enabled us to network with other sports body’s/providers and we have naturally raised our profile, made ourselves more accessible and this in turn has resulted in more effective partnership working.
Planning was key to Rounders England being in a position to achieve so much in a very short space of time, however there were still some things which did creep up on us and prioritising was essential.