Basket Case Clubs

Understanding the Value Proposition of Community Sports Clubs

In this episode Juanita Paton, then President of BMX Queensland, joins us to talk all things BMX both on and off the track.

How big picture thinking motivates big picture change.

Michael Fisher joins us to discuss some of the challenges faced by club volunteers, from the perspective of a state sporting organisation employee. During his time at Queensland Cricket, Fish developed some great personal relationships with people throughout the sport. He also gained insight into the value of building a positive, inclusive organisational culture and collaborating to achieve success from the local to national levels.

If you drop into a supermarket to buy a loaf of bread, do you hold a meeting with the family before you pop out? Of course you don’t. But if you can stretch out this, admittedly, simple analogy, this basic principle is how many clubs are still run when committees are involved.

Committees are, of course, generally well meaning. They are volunteers who are passionate about their club. But passion and pragmatism are two different things. In a modern business, emotion needs to be left at the door. There must be clarity of purpose and a long-term, well-structured plan to drive that entity forward.

In the episode, Underwood Park Netball Association (UPNA) President, Rachael McCurdy chats with Michael about the efficiencies created at UPNA by moving the club from a committee structure to a board.

In this episode Michael is joined by Rodney Gaunt, a baseball stalwart and the President of Western Districts Baseball Club in Brisbane.

Rodney takes us through some of the challenges he has faced as President and how good communication can help create a welcoming club and positive culture, where members are informed, understand club values and expected behaviour and everyone feels safe, treated fairly and included. 

We have all heard it - and said it ourselves, or thought of it at different moments in our life. Time is money. Regardless of sector or industry, to thrive on today's commercial battlefield, embracing the emerging technologies, trends and cultural shifts is crucial.

If your club is looking to secure a sustainable commercial future, investing ample time, money and energy into your digital transformation strategy is a wise move.

In this episode Steve and Michael discuss how your club can use technology to help make better decisions and improve operations.

We welcome the update on Friday 8th May from National Cabinet on the three-step plan to ease the current restrictions in place as a result of COVID-19 and in this episode Michael and Steve discuss COVID-Safe Plans for clubs and how we will continue to work with sport to assist in implementing a safer return to training and competition activities in alignment with State and Territory advice.

“This is how we’ve always done it”

We know that past success is no guarantee for the future, especially when the only constant is change; but that doesn’t stop many clubs from being completely resistant to new ideas. If you’re currently stuck in this sort of culture, you know how frustrating it can be. 

In this episode Michael and Steve discuss some steps that can help you effectively present your thoughts and (hopefully) get the gears in motion.

Steve and Michael generously share their lived experience and deep insights into club mergers and amalgamations and discuss the risks, barriers and opportunities.. as well as the big issues like - what will the new uniform look like??