Croquet England Officers, Executive and Committees

The Board has overall responsibility for the affairs of the Organisation, with a focus on high-level policy, strategic initiatives, scrutiny and transparency.

Delegated authority from the Trustees for the day-to-day management of Croquet England, including its finances and the implementation of its policies and procedures. Responsibilities include:

• Recommending to the Trustees an annual budget and overall long-term financial and budgetary policy, and monitoring financial performance.
• Membership matters, including entitlements and subscriptions.
• Recommending to the Trustees any changes to policies or function.
• Communicating with other committees and co-ordinating their work.
• Appointing Chairs and members of Standing Committees and other posts such as Development Squad Managers.
• Approving amendments to the Tournament Regulations.
• Managing matters not covered by the terms of reference of other committees.

• Recommending to the Trustees candidates for Major Council Awards.
• Advising the Executive on Diploma nominations.

• Strategic planning and implementation of national and regional coaching for GC, AC and short croquet.
• Working with the Development Squad Managers to identify talent and potential for further development.
• Croquet England standard coaching material from grass roots to higher levels.
• Coaching standards, training, examining and appointing coaches, and awards for coaches.
• Communicating good coaching practice.
• Merit Award Scheme for AC and the Steel Award.

Administering the Croquet England Complaints and Volunteer Grievance Procedures.

• Managing the development of talented players capable of representing England in international competitions.
• Creating and managing a pathway for talented players.
• Delivering a structured programme including written material, live coaching and online media.
• Working with the Coaching Committee and others to ensure that a flow of talented players is achieved every year and the best are identified for further development.

• Setting standards for playing equipment, including mallets, balls, hoops and other court equipment.
• Development of testing methods, including ball and hoop gauges, and other ball-testing methods and testing equipment.
• Development of testing methods for speed of grass courts, and speed and other criteria for approving courts made from artificial surfaces.
• Research and development of playing equipment, including mallets, balls, hoops, and court surfaces.

• Administering grants and loans to member clubs, bursaries to individuals and other disbursements.
• Proposing a strategy for disbursement, determining terms and conditions, and publicising criteria.
• Supporting Federation Development Officers for their support to clubs in applications for funding.

• The handicapping system including procedure and recording.
• Training and appointment of Club, Federation and National handicappers and monitoring their activity.
• Where necessary, approval of handicaps and changes to handicaps.
• The relationship between handicaps and the Grading System.
• The selection of Most Improved Players.

• IT strategy including business continuity and disaster recovery.
• Technical arrangements for the processing, storage and publication of data.
• Design authority for new IT and communications including hardware, software, systems and services.
• Sourcing of IT services.
• Software technology of the websites.
• Support and training.

• International matters (other than team selection) including arrangements for international championships organised by Croquet England and Croquet England representation at international events.
• Representing Croquet England in the World Croquet Federation (WCF) Council.
• Proposing Croquet England representatives to serve as officials and on committees of the WCF and other associations.
• Proposals for obtaining funds for international events from third parties.
• Liaising with the Tournaments Committees over venues and dates for international events.
• Custody and maintenance of international trophies when England or Great Britain are the holders.

• Responsibility for England's performance at international singles and team events.
• Formulating and implementing a strategy to improve international performance.
• Working with all parts of Croquet England necessary to ensure the support of improved international performance.

• Marketing, merchandising, commercial and sales targets.
• Increasing income including sponsorship and advertising revenue.
• Publicising Croquet England and its activities and public relations generally.
• Croquet England's branding and public image, and legal issues such as copyright, defamation and data protection.
• Objectives, editorial policy, design and promotion of all publishing media, including The Croquet Gazette, newsletters, the website, social media, leaflets and posters.
• Advice to other committees and working parties about the function and purpose of communications.
• Providing marketing and publicity support to the Sport Development Committee for recruitment.
• Responsibility, with the Operations Manager, for commercial events.

Leads on the effective implementation of the Child Safeguarding and Adult Safeguarding policies and their associated procedures and guidance.

• Acts as Croquet England's contact person on matters relating to child and adult safeguarding.
• Responding appropriately to incidents or concerns which relate to child or adult safeguarding.
• Where required, liaising with statutory agencies and ensuring they have access to all necessary information.
• Ensuring a register of all subscribers holding DBS Enhanced Certificates is maintained, along with details of those who are registered with the DBS Update Service.
• Advising on training opportunities for club welfare/safeguarding officers, coaches and other volunteers.
• Refer to the Welfare section of the Croquet England website for further details.

• Addressing questions of interpretation and proposed amendment of the Laws, the Rules and the Regulations for Refereeing (in collaboration with the WCF Laws and Rules Committees).
• Training, appointment and examination of Referees and Examining Referees.

• Selecting players for invitation and representative events.
• Selecting players for high level coaching programmes and squads.

Responsible for Croquet England tournaments and competitions, and any questions relating to other tournaments. This includes:

• Promoting a tournament structure to encourage and enable all those wishing to play competitive croquet.
• Organising and promoting Croquet England tournaments and international tournaments held in England, including liaison with hosting clubs, rates for court and equipment hire, appointment of officials and entry fees.
• Maintaining and updating the provisional forward tournament schedule.
• Proposing amendments to the Tournament Regulations in liaison with other relevant committees.
• Training tournament managers.
• Managing trophies including engraving, maintenance of records, and allocation of trophies to specific tournaments.
• Sponsorship opportunities.
• Review of tournament incidents and recommending misconduct complaints where appropriate.