Dear Sports Club Volunteer,

As valued and integral part of sport in Northern Ireland we would like to invite you to attend a focus group that will concentrate on the development and implementation of a new Club Development programme for Northern Ireland entitled ‘Club Leaders’. The focus group will be held at The Linen Green in Dungannon on Wednesday 6th of November starting at 7.00pm (full details summarised below).
The Club Leaders programme will be a free training and support initiative designed to assist club volunteers in the day-today operation of sports clubs, helping to create robust, economically sustainable and enterprising sports clubs. In doing so the programme will help to address the challenges facing sports clubs in the current climate and a current gap in the club support system. Clubs will be supported to improve the effectiveness of their club management and governance, raise their profile and to maximise their clubs business potential (e.g. managing finance etc). This will be done through the provision of a dedicated web-resource, E-Learning modules, seminars and club mentoring.
One of our first tasks is a programme of research designed to understand how Club Leaders could be of greatest benefit to clubs across the province. As part of this research, we are keen to understand the needs of sports club leaders in Northern Ireland and how the programme could be of greatest benefit.
We would be keen to meet you to understand your views on several key issues:

· The key challenges facing your sports club now and in the future;

· The need for support in the business of club management which exists within your club;

· Ways in which Club Leaders could help you to achieve your clubs goals; and

· How we can encourage clubs in make use of the programme when it is launched.

The information which we gather during this focus group will be used to inform the on-going development of materials for the Club Leaders programme. Both Sport Northern Ireland and PwC would very much value your input at the focus group which will provide an opportunity to provide you with more detail on the programme and to involve you in influencing programme direction.

To confirm you attendance at this event please contact Noleen Lennon ([email protected] / 028 9038 3856) stating your intention to attend, name, club and any special access requirements.