Q3 Bisha Board update

BISHA Members,

It has been another busy quarter for the BISHA Board and Sports Management Committee. The headline for this quarter is undoubtably the announcement of the IISHF u/19 European Championship coming back to our shores after a gap of over 16 years, we are extremely proud to have committed to this event and we hope many of you will support us making this a success to benefit British Roller Sports.

We have been overwhelmed with offers of help already, a massive thank you to the IISHF and the BISHA members involved with forming the proposal. The other notable successes are the recruitment of 4 key individuals keen to take forward the new era for our sport. Over the previous three months we have recruited a new National TD, Head of Health & Safety, Safeguarding Protection Officer and a new Team GB Men’s Assistant Coach. All new volunteers within this role are already making a significant impact.

Despite the wave of positivity above we cannot overlook the current Covid crisis, we are doing what we can for our members to return to playing once again within safe environments. We are ensuring that our venues are aligned to the ever-changing government policy as the impact of the virus is being understood and contained. Paul Cooper our new Head of Health & Safety has been extremely active to ensure member safety is paramount and communication of guidelines are transparent to clubs/teams.

Highlights for BISHA Q3 include:

• Finance
  
  
• Clubs impacted by the postponed European Cup received a IISHF refund of 50%, BISHA Board paid the other 50% as a gesture of goodwill
• BISHA was able to secure and upgrade the liability insurance at a cost of £150. The insurance policy for club/team training now includes puck as well as ball
• Quarter 3 Financials made available to the board for review
• HR/Recruitment
  
  
• Four new vacancies filled
• Current vacancies:
• Head of BISHA Marketing
• Head of Sports Development
• Chief Technology Officer
• Disciplinary Manager
  
  
• National TD Update
• Review of post covid rule changes prior to implementation in 2021
• Assessment of existing Referee & Timekeeper Training, potential to split the assessments
• Recruitment of Disciplinary Manager in progress
• IISHF
• Generation of official application for u/19 European Championship 2021
• IISHF Approval of BISHA u/19 European Championship 2021 Application
• BISHA u/19 European Championship 2021 Working Group Formed
• IISHF/BISHA Introduction Meeting scheduled for Q4
• Shortlist of IISHF Liaison Officers being formed

• Health & Safety
  
  
• Covid (Return to Rink)
• Continued alignment with Sport England, BRSF & IISHF
• Ongoing Covid communications to stakeholders & membership
• Bordon Rink Covid Plan implemented
  
  
• Team GB
• Team GB u/19 trained in September with an attendance of over 30 players who trained in accordance to BRSF protocol – an attendance of this size for u/19 training not seen for 10 years
• Appointment Team GB Men’s Assistant Coach
• Team GB Training dates already scheduled for Q4
  
  
• Marketing
• u/19 European Championship 2021 Launch Communication formed and published
• Ongoing publishing of regular promotion of BISHA roles/vacancies
• Generation of return to rink fitness videos recorded by F4L – to be published in coming months
• BISHA Survey Results have been digested, this is ready for member playback and the forming of a survey action plan
• Closer social media partnership with Old Skool Hockey Facebook Group agreed

One of the areas we really need support with is Marketing, as mentioned above we have plenty of content to share with members, but we need an individual to own and calendarise the cascade of information and also someone with Social Media skills available to load, manage and analyse the data.

Lastly, we would like to recognise the fantastic work at London Knightz and some of the recent content released to promote their club. Barry James is certainly an ambassador for BISHA and his dedication to uniting the local community and inline hockey is very apparent upon social media streams. As a board we are very much aware that our sport has a rich history which evolved from the streets of London and other inner cities. The work Barry and the club are doing is attempting to grow that membership segment once again and provide BISHA with the diversity of cultures it was built upon in the 1980’s – well done Knightz!

Stay Safe BISHA Members

The BISHA Board