Club Together Report

Kilmarnock Harrier & AC – Club Together Report

Firstly, I would like to introduce Andy Kyle who is the other CTO for Kilmarnock. Andy’s role has been changed to suit the needs of the club. He will take on some admin responsibilities as well as co-ordinating the pool of co-ordinators that we currently have. He has started to work on a communication process and produced a leaflet for contact details. He will be ensuring that there is a flow of information between the co-ordinators and highlight any gaps that we have. To assist with this it would help if you make sure to include an E-Mail address when you renew your membership.  With a club of around 500 members this is by far the cheapest and easiest method of keeping in contact and assists in keeping membership cost down.  Without this form of contact you either become uninformed or the club has to embark on a written mail programme which would be incurring prohibitive expense.

Over the last year the club has continued to see positive improvements and is going from strength to strength. We have introduced a new Wednesday night session to overcome the waiting list and in preparation for a new influx of athletes due to the Commonwealth Games. This has also led to a new beginners group for the parents of the athletes who attend the Wednesday night.

Kilmarnock Harriers now have regular bookings within the AAA 5 nights a week, which breaks down as:

Monday: Circuits, open to all members aged 13 +

Tuesday and Thursday: Main training nights for 9+ – Adults

Wednesday: 9 – 12 year olds, with adult beginners group

Friday: Jumps/Pole Vault group

Some groups using the AAA on a Saturday morning as well.

We have recently put a new coaching structure in place. We now have 5 lead coaches covering a range of disciplines. They will help guide and mentor those coaches whom they are responsible for making sure that all the athletes within their section are getting the best training possible. We have more athletes competing and they are enjoying the experience resulting in the club having some very good successes. This is the start of a new era for the club and we will continue to develop and change over the next year.

During the last year the club membership has risen and we now have just less than 500 members. We have a great pool of volunteers and have over 30 people who volunteer on a regular basis carrying out a variety of roles, with another 50 who have helped out at one or more of the 22 events the club has been involved in either organising, or assisting with. We now have 38 qualified coaches, who are either, coaching assistants, Athletics coaches or Jog leaders and another 11 parent helpers who assist with the coaches. This gives us approximately 79 people who help to keep the club running on a daily basis. This doesn’t include our committee members whose work often goes unseen. As well as training and competing for the club, we have a number of young athletes who regularly volunteer and help out with registration. Three of these young athletes are also helping out with coaching on a Wednesday night and assisting at competitions with some of the younger athletes. All of these young volunteers are working towards the Saltire Awards and Scottish Athletics Young Volunteer Awards.

Members from the club have been recognised through various awards:

Hannah Bartl, Jim Higgins Young Personality of the Year – EA Sports Council

Jean Youden, Service to Sport – EA Sports Council

Partnership of the Year, EAAP – Scottish Athletics

Shortlisted, George Morton and Harald Bartl – Children’s Coach of the Year by Scottish Athletics

EAC/KKH – Partnership of the Year – Scottish Athletics

We will be continuing to promote Kilmarnock Harriers throughout the next year and encourage more people to become members and to compete. We are currently looking to start a disability section which would run on a Wednesday night, prior to the main club starting. To start this off, we are currently in talks with A.C.E Race Running Club, who have athletes training at the AAA and they would become members of Kilmarnock Harriers. This comes with a package of support and will be the start of the disability section. Through time we will promote and offer a variety of athletic disciplines as we would look to open this session up for other people with disabilities. We will continue to recruit and train volunteers since we will always need them, because without volunteers the club will not operate in the manner it is just now.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their help and support over the last year and to thank all the people who have volunteered throughout the year. Often this help goes unnoticed, but without it the club would not be as successful as it is.