At the beginning of any new year, it tends to be a period of low activity quickly followed by initial and other ongoing commencements of actions.
Multi-Tiered Membership
The MTM working party, formed of regional Presidents and lead by SCPA President Stephen Lombard, has started to gather the various views on the principal proposals from the regions. To date they are still awaiting responses from some of our regions. However, a framework of suggested levels of PE membership has been constructed and was duly presented at recent a Zoom meeting to those regional Presidents who attended.
The next step being for the presentation with its membership proposals to be passed on to all the regional presidents for further comment.
The MTM working party plan to hold another zoom meeting in late April to possibly reach a conclusion prior to making a recommendation to the PE Board.
National Junior Multi Regional structure
The new national junior group held its first zoom meeting during January 2023 ,which was attended by a number of YDO and regional coaches. This was to discuss the principle objectives of the new plan and future development for our national juniors.
Included within the meeting was the proposal of holding, on the same day, junior coaching days at various regional venues, thus allowing for the junior players and parents a shorter time in travelling.
The first junior coaching days are due to take place on the Saturday 11th March 2023 with further dates and opportunities being proposed during the year.
Amongst other topics discussed was a proposal of a dedicated Petanque England Junior Facebook Page, which has since been set up and can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/petjunu18
Whilst it is early days, it is genuinely hoped that all our regions will offer their support and encouragement in club and regional junior development.
International Women`s Day
The regional IWD competitions have become a regular attraction for our ladies and growing with increasing numbers who wish to participate.
Many regional IWD doubles events will take place on Sunday the 12th March, and there are two national IWD events at Oxshott on the weekend of 22nd and 23rd July, comprising the National IWD Doubles final (for qualifying teams) and a Triples event that is open to all women.
The Umpires Commission
An announcement by the Umpires Commission is being relayed to all regions, that they are preparing to programme a schedule for encouraging additional PE members to become qualified new Umpires. They are also developing `Rule Awareness` courses for those of interest. More detail to follow.
The Coaching Commission
As expected, there was a slow- down in overall commission coaching activities during 2022, though still with Club Coach (category1 and 2) courses taking place. However, It is the intentions of the commission to see further increase in both these courses to arranged during this year. More details to follow.
The next Coaching Commission meeting, for the regional coaching coordinators, is due to be held on Saturday the 25th March at Hemel Hempstead, Herts.
Inter-regional at Pakefield Holiday Centre
As previously stated, following on from the previous meeting, members of the PE Executive and Events group will be meeting during March 2023, with both Isle of Wight Tours and venue hosts Pontins, to further discuss the issues that arose from the 2022 tournament weekend and, to ensure that 2023 will be a more enjoyable experience.
Colin Roper
President, Petanque England