Guernsey Sports Commission Review of the Year

2014

“A Voice for Sport”

Table of contentsMessage from our Chief Executive - Tim Newenham 3 Message from our Operations Director - Graham Chester 5 PE in Schools 6 Street Sports 9 Quids in Sports Programme 13 Brooks Macdonald High Performance Programme 14 Rising Stars 15 KGV Re-development 17 Bedell Volunteers’ Week 18 Workshops & Training Opportunities 19 Generali Get Active Fortnight 20 M&S Girls Convention 21 Healthy Hearts Day 22 Junior Sports Leaders Award 23 Funding 24 Sports Development Officers 25 Sporting Achievement Awards 30 Sports Sunday 31 Commonwealth Queen’s Baton Relay 32 10th Birthday Celebrations 33 Harbour Carnival 34 Parkour 35 Member Sports 36 Media Relations 37 Island FM Takeover 39 Website & Social Media Sites 40 Contact Us 44

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Message from our Chief Executive - Tim NewenhamYou will see, when reading through this review, just how wide ranging the activities of the Sports Commission are now and all these activities are in line with our mission:

'To promote and support a healthy, active and successful sporting community'

We deliver quality PE lessons in the primary schools because we passionately believe that the first experience of physical education and sport is so important to foster a life long love of physical activities. We know that the benefits of taking part in these activities can help academic achievement, develop self confidence and self esteem and help everyone remain healthy. Our ambition is to secure further funding to be able to offer more and help every child to become physically literate. We are working closely with other agencies, particularly Health and Education to better understand their strategies to combat the upward obesity trend on Guernsey as taking part in sport and physical activity is a vital part of the way forward and we have much to offer in these areas.

Community sport forms a big area of what we offer, with, for example, our 'Quids In' and  'Street Sports' programmes reaching out to young people who may not easily be able to access sports activities. There are so many sports to enjoy and try out and 2014 saw new activities, including Parkour, with taster sessions and instruction being organised by Commission staff. The Generali 'Get Active Fortnight' provides taster sessions for everyone in the community, with easy links to clubs and organisations to keep going with chosen activities from a wide range on offer. Disabilities need not be a barrier to participating in sports, and as we continued to help coaches understand different disabilities, we welcomed first paralympian Danny Nobbs, then 2012 paralympic gold medalist swimmer Jessica-Jane Applegate along with her coach, Alex Pinniger, to Guernsey in 2014 to share their inspirational and practical insights.

We help sports in other ways too, from advising on operations, to joint funding and managing Sports Development Officers with them. We help financially through distributing the Sports Development Fund, and give all 49 member sports the opportunity to meet individually, discuss their plans and allocate the funds to help them target support to their sportsmen and women and their coaches. For example we help bring experts to Guernsey to develop our Island coaches to a higher level and we help club volunteers to travel off Island to qualify as coaches - part of our 'more coaches, better coaches' aim.

The Sports Commission has led on the development of KGV, with Jo Wyatt leading the team there and the venue has progressed to become a fantastic sports and physical activity facility for the community. Work continues next year to create even more provision.

We were also responsible for organising the wonderful visit of the Queen’s Baton, celebrating the Commonwealth Games. Mark McKeary headed the team for this and ensured the baton, which travelled as part of the relay around the Commonwealth, was taken to all the Islands in the Bailiwick. The Queen’s Baton Relay team had great communications support from Oliver Tracey, who continued covering the build up to the Commonwealth Games for us and stayed in the Games Village to keep everyone well informed of the Guernsey Team's preparation and performances.

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The Brooks Macdonald High Performance Programme helps our aspiring young athletes progress towards their potential, with strength and conditioning sessions at the high performance gym, plus, for example, performance lifestyle, sports psychology and nutrition services.

We were delighted to be asked by the Guernsey Commonwealth Games Association to devise a programme to help Guernsey field a 'fit and well prepared team’ for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Group workshops and individual sessions for competitors, their coaches and sport managers, were devised and provided through the year, with support also available at the Games for everyone in the team. This was the first time a sustained support system has been put in place.

Sport, physical education and physical activity have an important part to play to make the Island a better place to live and we are proud to offer our combined expertise and effort to provide more opportunities for everyone on Island to take part, improve, gain benefit from, succeed and most importantly enjoy these activities. As ever, we are grateful to our sponsors and funders, without whom we would not be in a position to offer so many activities and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Commissioners, staff and volunteers at the Sports Commission who provide their time and expertise to such great effect. It is appreciated.

Further details can be found on our website www.guernseysports.com and you can follow us on Twitter, where our reach broke all records, exceeding 19 million people in 2014.

Tim Newenham CEO Guernsey Sports Commission

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Message from our Operations Director - Graham ChesterIn a year when the Sports Commission celebrated its 10th birthday, there were many memories to reflect on and also, hopefully, they have sown the seeds for even more and better sporting highlights, not necessarily in 2015 but in to the future of Guernsey sport.

So rather than the traditional look back over the past year, lets have a look back over the past decade and what has been achieved during that time.

The Sports Commission consisted of 2 full time members of staff on secondment from the newly formed Culture & Leisure Department. In those days it was a case of being all things to all men but from those early days it became apparent where the gaps were in provision. The key to achieving any kind of success was to provide dedicated staff in the identified areas.

This sounds like a relatively easy strategy to implement but the issue of fundraising for the Sports Commission to develop any programmes has been key to its success over the years. The money received from the States of Guernsey has been largely allocated to administer funds on their behalf. All associated with the Culture & Leisure Sports Development Unit being relocated to the Sports Commission. So new programmes required new funding.

Fast forward 10 years and we now have 2 and a quarter staff rolling out our PE in schools programme, 1 looking after marketing and administration, 1 on community sports and general initiatives run by the Sports Commission. We have part time staff looking after Street Sports and administration back up for the funds distribution.

The Performance Programme has a full-time administrator plus a support network of professionals covering everything from sports psychology to diet, nutrition and strength and conditioning and coach development.

All the above sounds very simplistic and when you commit your thoughts to paper and space is tight, it is not always easy to give justice to the amount of work that went in to getting where the Sports Commission is today.

However, it would be fair to say that probably the past six months has allowed the Sports Commission to have a period of reflection, to think about what works well, what could work better, where the gaps are in provision and what agencies we need to work closer with in the future. There is still much work to be done.

Just allowing myself the opportunity to comment on the sporting excellence highlight of the year for me was without doubt the Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow. Others will reflect on that event within their own highlights so I will leave that to them. Save to say that anybody winning a medal at the Commonwealth Games in the future (and indeed the past) will rightly have their place as a legend of Guernsey sport.

Graham Chester Operations Director, Guernsey Sports Commission

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PE in SchoolsThe Year 3 and 4 PE lessons were taught in 12 primary schools and 2 private schools in 2013 - 2014 with each school receiving 15 lessons of high quality PE per class. Over the course of 3 termly blocks of 5 weeks the children and teachers were given the opportunity to learn and enjoy 11 different sports ranging from basketball to tag rugby and tennis to volleyball. The lessons continue to be highly engaging for the children with maximum participation throughout where children are introduced to new sports for the first time in a positive and safe environment. The children are encouraged to learn through playing the game and that making mistakes is part of learning.

The PE in Schools team work closely with the class teacher to ensure that they are developing a sound understanding of the sport and learning new ideas that they can implement into their own PE lessons. All Guernsey teachers have access to the Sports Commissions online resources that are updated regularly with easy to use lesson plans. All lessons are sequenced, age appropriate, focus on transferable skills and linked to the National Curriculum.

In 2014 Guernsey primary schools received over 1000 hours of PE provision delivered to up to 1250 children and 50 teachers. The programme continues to go from strength to strength and the team actively seek feedback each year to further improve the programme to ensure the Sports Commission continue to provide children with a positive first experience of PE.

“My children always love Sports Commission lessons. I really like the focus on P.Bs, teamwork and fair play” - Year 3 Teacher.

What did the teachers find most useful about the programme?

Opportunity to have more specialist staff deliver a specialist subject.

Watching the class as an observer rather than the teacher - interesting responses and interactions.

Assistance for Year 3 and 4 teachers who are non-specialists.

The activities are relevant for the age group.

Each sport was broken down into small steps and the skills needed for each were put into game type activities that are very easy to replicate.

Children get a taster for other sports that are less well known.

Engaging lessons that are well suited to the age of the pupils.

Great range of sports and skills which I wouldn’t have the expertise to plan or teach.

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Good to see unusual sports like volleyball and golf.

Seeing how active PE sessions can be and also how to differentiate for different abilities, especially those who are very able (how to stretch).

Fit Clubs

Fit Clubs are offered to every primary school in Guernsey and provide children with the opportunity to stay active either at lunchtime or after school.

At lunchtime, children in Year 1 and 2 can attend a fun and educational 30 minute session which focuses on fundamental skills and learning about how to stay active and become a ‘fit kid’. Children are taught, through playing games, how to be healthy, the importance of sleep, how to stay active and enjoy PE and sport. The children earn a sticker for each session they attend and after the 5 weeks can take home their completed sheet to share what they have learnt with family at home.

After school, children in Year 3 and 4 can attend a 45 minute session which builds upon the sports taught within the PE lessons. Children can further develop an understanding of how to play the games and how to access the sports locally outside of school. Each week the children are given time to reflect on the sport they have played by noting down what they have learnt or enjoyed from playing the sport. Schools are encouraged to target children who may not be able to access sport outside of school or children who could benefit from being more active.

Festivals

The PE in Schools team recently introduced festivals which have seen over 400 children choose to take part in. Targeted mainly at Year 3 and 4, the festivals are organised closely with the respective sports to build up a strong link and encourage children to take up the sport if they have enjoyed their experience. In 2013 - 2014 children were able to take part in a basketball, squash and tri golf, while children in Year 5 and 6 could represent their school at the KGV football festival or play golf at Saumarez Manor. The festivals have strong emphasis on fun and fair play. Medals are awarded to the teams that score the most match points and fair play points.

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Multi Skills Academy

In 2014 the team continued their Multi Skills Academy which is an opportunity to stretch and challenge children from Year 4 and 5 who have shown particular qualities in their PE lessons. Children who have a strong work ethic, display excellent teamwork and positive attitude towards learning are invited to the 5 sessions.

The sessions focus on developing the creative, personal, physical, cognitive and social aspects of a young performer and the staff ensure that each session is challenging for the children, engaging and fun.

Primary School Sports Leaders

From what started as a pilot project in 2012, the Primary School Sports Leaders was rolled out to 7 schools in 2013 - 2014. Over 5 weeks, children from Year 5 or 6 are ‘trained’ to lead safe and fun play in the playground at break or lunchtime. The children are taught about playground safety, how to play and manage tag games or team games and how to ensure everyone is taking part. Reception PE

A 6 week block of PE lessons were offered to all Guernsey primary schools in 2014. The lessons focus on the fundamental movement skills of running, dodging, hopping, jumping, throwing, catching and dribbling. The lessons, 30 minutes in length, ensure children have maximum contact time with the equipment and are active throughout. The key aim is to provide the children with a positive first experience of PE and provide teachers with resources and ideas to further their knowledge and improve their confidence when teaching PE.

Teacher Training

In 2014 we offered Guernsey primary school teachers the opportunity to attend a CPD course after school at no cost to the individual or the school. The course focused on providing teachers with new and exciting ideas that can be implement ed into their teaching, in or out of the classroom. Team-building and problem solving games were taught and resources were also available for teachers to take away.

“The atmosphere created was relaxed, fun, but also inspiring” - Course attendee

“Really good. I came away with lots of team building ideas which would be great to use at most times, especially the beginning of the year with a new class or transition times.” -

Course attendee

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Street SportsStreet Sports is a community programme that aims to improve sports provision for young people in order to benefit their well-being. It offers 11-18 year olds of all abilities access to free sports and physical activity sessions in neighbourhoods at three locations across the Island where a number of young people may experience social and/or economic difficulties.

It is an opportunity for young people to be active, socialise, have fun, play sports and learn new skills. Staff provide the equipment and deliver a variety of sports including games and variations of many traditional sports that lend themselves to a ‘street’ setting. With guidance from staff, participants are very much involved in the plan and decision-making for each session and are given the choice of which activities they would like to do. Young people can just turn up, register with a member of staff and join in.

The sessions are a way of channelling young Islanders’ energies into constructive physical activity and through sport, the aim is to improve young people's confidence and self-esteem. The programme is also committed to making young people aware of other activities and services on the Island that may also benefit their well-being. Street Sports staff work closely with other youth agencies that can offer participants advice and support in other areas of their lives.

Where?Les Genats Estate (hard court)St. Martins Primary SchoolYouth Commission Les Ozouets Campus

When?Tuesdays 7-9pmWednesdays 7-9pmThursday 6.30-8.30pm

Who?For 11-18 year olds of all abilities

Benefits of the programme for young people?

Sports / physical activities enjoyed in 2014

- Free and fun sports sessions - Sessions held within local neighourhoods - Increased fitness and improved well-being

through physical activity - Improved self-confidence and self-esteem - Social inclusion and community spirit - Constructive evenings - Choice of what activities in place - Young people thriving on positive

interactions with staff and consistent weekly presence

Badminton Basketball Boxing Circus skills Cricket Dodgeball Football Gaelic football Longball Netball Parkour

Rollerblading Rounders Table Tennis Tchoukball Tennis Touch rugby Trifold Unihoc Volleyball + more

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Street Sports sessions are delivered fifty weeks of the year including school holidays (with a two week break over Christmas and New Year). The Street Sports team consists of a Sports Development Officer, Street Sports Co-ordinator, Sports Leaders and Assistants as well as volunteers, all of whom are passionate about sports and engaging with young people.

The Participants

In 2014 97 young people accessed the Les Genats Street Sports sessions, with 32 of these young people attending on a regular basis (1 in 3 of the sessions or more). At St Martins Street Sports 104 young people attended throughout the year, with 14 attending on a regular basis. Over 150 young people had access to Street Sports at Les Ozouets Campus.

We conduct anonymous questionnaires with the Street Sports participants twice a year, below are some of the comments from 2014:

What’s good about Street Sports?

“Staff are really good” “Staff listen to everyone what they want to do”

“Fun times” “Enjoyable and a good way to spend your time”

“Not just one sport, there is variety”

“Gives everyone on the estate something to look forward to”

“It’s about sports and how you can make friends as well – I’ve made a few new friends here”

“Nice to have one day where you actually go outside and do some activities; not inside all the time”

“Made me more confident at sports coz now I can do a lot better at school and its much more exciting for me now”

“Gives me something to do every Wednesday and keeps me active”

“I’m 14 now, I started coming when I was 11/12. I keep coming back because it’s fun and keeps me out of the house”

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What would you be doing if not at Street Sports?

“On laptop” “Wii” “Minecraft” “PS3” “xbox” “playing on ipad” “video games” “playing fifa”

“At my friend’s house”

“Out on bike”

“Watching tv”

“Falling asleep on sofa”

“Nothing”

“Swearing and annoying old people”

Working with other Agencies

During 2014 we continued to successfully work alongside a variety of Guernsey agencies, including the Youth Commission, The Hub, Action For Children, The Neighbourhood Police Team and the Guernsey Arts Commission, amongst others.

Funding

During 2014 the Street Sports Programme has been funded by a Lloyds Foundation Grant, The Guernsey Round Table Harbour Carnival, HSBC and The Guernsey Community Foundation.

Highlights of 2014

January

- A coach from the Guernsey Volleyball Association joined Street Sports staff at Les Ozouets to introduce sitting volleyball to young people.

February

- Dodgeball was popular at Les Genats with mixed groups of young people playing many variations of the game and introducing new rules.

- Staff took the Les Genats participants to the Guernsey Table Tennis Centre for one session where young people were able to make use of the facilities. It was a welcome change from the wet conditions on the outdoor court. A number of young people that do not usually participate in sport (including the girls) had a turn at scoring and playing the game.

May

- Following the success of last year’s football tournament the event was held again on the 3G pitch at the KGV Playing Fields.

- Parkour Generations were in Guernsey to introduce Parkour and delivered a session at Les Genats Street Sports. This session saw all participants involved in one way or another, which has not been seen previously or since.

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- Gaelic football was delivered by the Guernsey Gaels Gaelic Athletic Association.

- The Guernsey Volleyball Association delivered a session at St Martins Street Sports.

June

- The Guernsey Volleyball Association delivered at session at LOC.

- Gaelic football was delivered by the GGGAA at St Martins.

- Street Sports participants and staff went on a sailing trip on the clippers, provided by the Set Sail Trust.

- Delancey Park Street Sports pilot project started at the end of June, in response to a need identified by the Neighbourhood Police Team.

July

- The Guernsey Volleyball Association delivered a volleyball session at Les Genats Estate.

August

- The Street Sports team delivered activities at the Harbour Carnival to current participants while also promoting Street Sports to the wider Guernsey community.

October

- Thanks to a donation we started providing free fruit every month to Street Sports participants.

- The Les Genats Street Sports team took the participants to the Table Tennis Centre for a session.

December

- St Martins Street Sports took part in a Christmas challenge on their final session for the year.

 

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Quids in Sports ProgrammeThe Ray Lowe Sporting Foundation kindly sponsored our Quids In programme again throughout 2014 alongside Liberation Management Ltd. The Quids In programme offers children and young people the opportunity to take part in various activities locally during the school holidays for only £1 per session. The support from the Ray Lowe Sporting Foundation and Liberation Management enables the Guernsey Sports Commission to offer activities for just £1 ensuring that cost does not become a barrier to participation.

790 children took part in activities in 2014, a huge increase on the previous year (446 participants), and tried one or more of the 13 activities on offer. Primary school aged children had the opportunity to attend Fun & Fit Club (Years Reception – Year 2) or Multi-Sports (Year 3 – Year 6). The multi-sports included tchoukball, tri-golf, ultimate Frisbee, basketball, long-ball and cricket to name a few. Those taking part in the secondary school aged activities this year had the chance to try;

- Archery- Basketball- Beach Sports- Boxing

- Climbing- Dodgeball- Football- Squash

- Street Dance- Surfing

“I have been very impressed with the efficiency and standard of the training and supervision and would be grateful if you could feed back to the organisers who need to

know. I hope the Sports Commission are able to run this again as it gives children an excellent opportunity to try new activities even if they are extremely shy as my son is” -

Michelle (Parent of Multi-sports participant).

“Catherine is really enjoying the multi sports – I’ve never seen her so relaxed about holiday sessions before. It’s a great relief!” - Gill (Parent of Multi-sports participant).

I just wanted to email to say how much Tamsin and Charlie both enjoyed the days they had at Sports Commission. We were impressed with the leaders at how friendly and encouraging to the children they were” - Claire (Parent of Multi-sports participant)

“Just a quick line to thank you and your team for the great variety of sports and activities for the children this summer holidays. This is the first time my son has taken part and he

has thoroughly enjoyed the archery and surfing he was able to get into” - Michelle (Parent of Multi-sports participant).

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Brooks Macdonald High Performance ProgrammeWritten by Jeremy Frith, Performance Director.

The High Performance Programme continues to go from strength to strength, now supporting over 40 athletes and benefitting from almost 20 hours a week of professional volunteer time.

As a team we are exceptionally proud of the support that we now offer to coaches, parents and athletes on the programme which has been described as ‘life changing’ by some participants. The nature of some of our work means that we are often unable to discuss individual cases however knowing how we have helped and continue to support people makes us immeasurably proud. We are there for the medals and to enjoy success however importantly we are there when things aren’t working as they might.

We have continued to support athletes through a detailed needs analysis and aligning specific support to improve performance. This has seen us work closely with teachers, national coaches, medical professionals, psychologists, local coaches and strength and conditioning coaches.

Within the programme we have a number of athletes competing and performing at a high level away from the Island, all of whom are working hard on their journey towards a variety of goals with one thing in common, being the best that they can be.

With the closing of the Rising Stars programme all of our elite athletes will sit within the programme. Those athletes competing at the highest levels will continue to benefit from an increased level of focused support services.

Our annual conference was a roaring success, attracting 15 students and 5 lecturers from Bournemouth University as well as one delegate from Singapore, alongside local delegates. We were joined at the conference by Professor Vince Walsh. Professor Walsh works closely with UK Sport and English Institute of Sport, as well as a whole host of professional and Olympic sports. In total we offered 17 different workshops delivered by local and UK based experts across a wide variety of subjects. Importantly though we have been able to support our local coaching population who give their support to those on the programme day in day out.

Finally I would like to thank our sponsors Brooks Macdonald. We are hugely greatly for their invaluable support they offer us, which ensures we can deliver opportunities and services to our sportsmen and women on Island.

In 2015 we will continue to improve the delivery and coordination of our services, grow our expertise and ensure that we continue to make living in Guernsey an advantage for our young sportsmen and women.

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Rising StarsWritten by Jeremy Frith, Performance Director.

The Rising Stars scheme has been an invaluable resource to Guernsey Sport since it began. Supported by Cenkos (now Ravenscroft), Sportingbet, Generali and JW Rihoy the programme provided a much-needed boost to our up and coming young athletes.

Our role with these athletes is very much one of providing focused support and services on an individual basis. We continue to develop closer links with National Governing Bodies and professional clubs through those we currently support. These links will benefit not only those currently in the programme but local sport as a whole and those young athletes of the future that make the decision to follow a similar pathway.

Rising Stars finished at the end of 2014 and those athletes on the programme will be supported through the now well established High Performance Programme, where they will continue to be supported. It is appropriate to then reflect on the achievements of some of the athletes who were part of Rising Stars and how they benefitted from the scheme.

Lee Merrien (Athletics – Marathon) – Rising Stars supported Lee with the opportunity to increase his training load and indeed his recovery time whilst trying to achieve a time of 2hr 13 mins 59 sec in order to qualify for London 2012. Money was also targeted towards an altitude tent to further aid physical development. Despite not quite making the time he did make selection for Team GB and was the first British athlete to finish.

Miles Munro (Swimming) – Miles performed superbly at the 2014 Commonwealth Games reaching the 50m Butterfly semi-finals, then went on to win Gold at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing with the British relay team. Now based at Bath University he is part of the British Swimming Performance Squad.

Clem Thompson (Sailing) – An outstanding young lady who has made it on to the GB Youth Programme and has been regularly medalling in her category in junior British and European competitions.

James McLaughlin (Cycling) – Supported with professional coaching and science support whilst being an amateur cyclist through to signing a full-time professional contract with Madison-Genesis. In 2014 James put in an incredible performance in the 2014 Commonwealth Games Time Trial to finish 7th overall.

Jack Oldfield (Tennis) – Jack was the youngest ever player to be accepted on to the Sanchez Academy where he is now in the academy’s top group. He is likely to be selected for the 2015 Youth Commonwealth Games in Samoa where we look forward to seeing him represent Guernsey.

Luke Jones (Rugby) – A hard working and determined young man. The programme provided Luke with the opportunity of an apprenticeship at Leicester Tigers, before signing a professional contract with Cornish Pirates.

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George Collenette (Rugby) – George was supported with the opportunity to gain academic qualifications and sign professional terms with Cornish Pirates linking in with Education, Guernsey Rugby and Truro College. He is currently recovering from a nasty hip injury but is anticipated to make a full recovery before the end of the 2014 / 2015 season.

Erica Bodman (Rowing) – An incredibly dedicated and conscientious young woman who represented Great Britain at Sydney in the 2013 World Cup before retiring soon after. Rising Stars supported Erica in balancing the requirements of a physically and mentally punishing schedule whilst pursuing her goals.

Alice Loveridge (Table Tennis) – Now in her final year of University at Nottingham Trent, Rising Stars has supported Alice with professional coaching and advice over the past 4 years. A member of the Team GB Olympic Ambition Programme she delivered the best ever performance by a female table-tennis player from Guernsey at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 2014.

Our sincere thanks go to our sponsors for making the scheme possible and in particular Ian Robinson, Jo Wyatt, Jon Ravenscroft and Jeremy Rihoy. Also to Dave Warr who was the architect of the Rising Stars programme and co-ordinated much of the support provided by the Commission.

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KGV Re-developmentWritten by Jo Wyatt, KGV Director

As we come to the end of 2014 the Friends of KGV Limited have been trading for one year and as we look back over the past 12 months much has been achieved.

The 3G pitch came into its own in the early part of this year when the bad weather hit the Island and saw many rugby and football fixtures and minis training cancelled at their own clubs. The 3G hosted many of these teams and indeed for most of February and March we saw the children playing every Saturday morning. The pitch held up really well and despite weeks of torrential rain we saw no surface water.

The 3G also received accreditation from both the RFU and the FA and is now on their approved list of 3G pitches.

Peak times are now nearly fully booked and we are now looking at initiatives to utilise the free spaces, including the free trial of walking football in December and more school sports.

The Oval (rugby and cricket pitch) saw a lot of action this year and one of the highlights was the Collas Crill Rugby Weekend which saw the Wasps Legends take on the Guernsey Siams and also lots of entertainment for the children. A great showcase for the KGV whilst raising money for the Wooden Spoon Charity.

Guernsey Touch have now signed an agreement and can now call KGV their home. They are a great addition to the KGV family alongside St Jacques and the Guernsey Cricket Board (GCB). Alongside our football leagues and regular users of the 3G we have seen an increased footfall at the facility.

Visitors to the site have seen that the cricket nets are now up and the old Dyslexia Centre has been demolished and the footings are now going in for the new changing rooms block. We have also done some work on the car park and remedial work in the club house.

As with any charity we need to raise funds in order for the redevelopment to be completed. We have a number of initiatives on offer including advertising boards and our most recent initiative purchasing a “parcel” of land at the KGV. All these details are on our new website www.supportkgv.gg .

There has been much to celebrate this year at the KGV but in July we were devastated by the sudden passing of Alan Hamilton our Head Groundsman. Alan had been at the KGV working for the GCB for the past 10 years, he was a real character. Alan was honoured by the Friends of KGV by presenting his son Matthew with a parcel of land in Alan’s name. Alan will be remembered by many for his dry sense of humour and love of his job.

2015 will see the team working on building on their first year, moving forward with the re-development and welcoming new users to the facility.

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Bedell Volunteers’ WeekBedell Volunteers Week 2014 took place 6th – 13th October. The aims of the week are to raise the profile of sports volunteering, celebrate the work and commitment of current volunteers and to inspire new volunteers. During the week we had a “Volunteers Week” page every day in the Guernsey Press, we delivered assemblies in schools to inspire the next generation of volunteers and we held the Bedell Volunteers Recognition Evening, to celebrate the work and commitment of our sports volunteers.

Guernsey Press Feature

The Guernsey Press “Volunteers Week” page included the following each day: a main piece, a Q&A with a local sports star on how volunteers have helped them succeed, a profile of a local sports volunteer and a box highlighting the Bedell Volunteer Recognition Evening. All copy was written by the Guernsey Sports Commission.

Bedell Volunteers’ Week Assemblies

Assemblies were delivered to years 10 and 11 at Les Beaucamps High, to all senior school students at Ladies College, and to all students on BTEC Sports level 1, 2 & 3 at the College of FE and to the Access course at the College of FE. The assemblies were interactive, using charades to highlight statistics and reasons to volunteer. Bedell water bottles were given out to all those participating in the assembly.

Bedell Volunteers’ Week Recognition Evening

Our night of recognition was held on Monday 8th October and we welcomed over 100 guests to our event at Beau Sejour which aimed to recognise and celebrate our sports volunteers here in Guernsey. All of the award nominees were featured on posters showing their nomination and photo for everyone to see. Len Creber and Emily Green were recognised for their outstanding contribution made to their sport and were presented with an award each. Len Creber received the Bedell Volunteer Recognition Award, and Emily Green received the Bedell Young Volunteer Award. Both awards were presented by the Deputy Bailiff Richard McMahon. There were also speeches by Tim Newenhem, CEO at the Commission, Alasdair Davidson, Bedell Partner and Richard McMahon the Deputy Bailiff.

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Workshops & Training OpportunitiesThe Guernsey Sports Commission offer a range of workshops and training opportunities to sports coaches, sports leaders, volunteers and anyone with an interest in furthering their sporting ability. These courses are provided to ensure that coaches can remain skilled and can further their continued professional development. These courses are also provided to enable all coaches to fulfil the minimum standards for deployment required by a range of National Sporting Governing Bodies.

In 2014 we organised various workshops delivered by Sport Wales alongside St. John Ambulance. Workshops delivered by Sport Wales included Safeguarding and Protecting Children, Equity in Your Coaching and Time To Listen. We worked with St. John Ambulance to offer a bespoke 3.5 hour course tailored to the requirements from a number of Sports National Governing Bodies. A total of nine workshops were held throughout the year and filled a total of 100 spaces.

Feedback from previous courses: (Role: Workshop they attended)

“Helped me to understand the importance of a number of topics. Not to be anxious about reporting issues and how to report effectively through the correct channels”

(Basketball Coach: Safeguarding and Protecting Children 2)

“Really details equity in sport and definitely highlighted areas I was unsure of. Great details and explanations from Karen”

(Street Sports Coach: Equity in Your Coaching)

“Eye opening, easy to take home messages. Highly recommended” (Multisports coach: Equity in Your Coaching)

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Generali Get Active FortnightFrom the 30th of May – 15th of June we ran our 4th consecutive Generali Get Active Fortnight, organised and co-ordinated by the Guernsey Sports Commission and supported by Generali Worldwide. The idea of the fortnight is to get as many people as possible in Guernsey active. The activities on offer are all about having fun and finding options to keep active on a regular basis. All activities were offered free of charge as a taster, with no previous experience or fitness required. During the week 35 different activities were on offer with 90 different sessions available to join in.

Participant Feedback

“I just wanted to ask you to pass on my thanks to all those staff and volunteers who contributed to the Get Active fortnight. It has been a fantastic opportunity to try new things and my son has a new love for fencing

as a result. I appreciate it takes great time and effort to organise and my family have taken advantage of a full

range of sports”.

Has this taster session encouraged you to try further rowing? “Definitely, I’ve already asked about it!”.

Activity Provider Feedback

“From my point of view, I was pleased with the response I got, especially considering pregnancy yoga

is such a specialist market! Everyone who came wanted to continue, which is good feedback in itself”

“A great event that helps us promote our sport”

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M&S Girls ConventionThe M&S Girls Convention took place on Thursday 19th June for the 5th year running. 60 Year 9 girls from four different schools across the Island took part this year moving to a new venue at the Indoor Cricket Centre. The aim was to give these 60 young women a positive experience of sport / physical activity by offering a variety of activities that do not form part of the regular curriculum. Activities on offer included zumba, yoga, fitness bootcamp, tennis and cricket which gave the girls an opportunity to enjoy being active in a positive environment. These activities were also paired with a body confidence workshop.

The feedback from the girls who attended was excellent. Whilst it served as a day off the regular school timetable, their comments reinforced the need to stage this event annually. The majority of the girls really enjoyed the day and comments included:

“I liked all the things we did”

“I liked the activities because it’s not the things we do in school”

“It was fun, each activity was great and I would do it again”

The aim of the convention is to empower the girls who take part to find an activity that they would want to do again. Many of the girls were excited and motivated after taking part in the various activities on offer, with several enthusiastic to come back for more. The event was sponsored by Marks and Spencer and the activities on the day were supported by a number of organisations including Indoor Cricket Centre, Guernsey Cricket Board, Phil Midgley, Caroline Wickham, Get Fit Guernsey, Dean Hollingsworth and the Guernsey Table Tennis Association.

Marks and Spencer also provided lunch and healthy snacks for the girls who attended and this encouraged the girls to make healthy eating choices. Overall the day was considered a success by all those involved, and a couple of comments from the girls in attendance summarised the reasons for the staging of our fourth M&S Convention. “This was a great day, it was so fun trying new stuff, thank you!” and “it was good fun and really interesting”.

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Healthy Hearts DayHealthy Hearts Day is an event aimed at raising awareness of heart health and related issues. The day sees a number of agencies, charities and Health and Social Services Departments come together to offer health screenings, information and advice to the public. The Guernsey Sports Commission offered free sports activity sessions for children and their families. There was a steady stream of children, many with their parents, who took part in free play and some more organised activities. The Guernsey Sports Commission also offered information and advice to those attending on issues relating to getting active, local sports clubs and physical activity guidelines.

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Junior Sports Leaders AwardThe Guernsey Sports Commission recognise that young sports participants want to give something back to their sports club and community, and thus offer them the chance to become a sports leader by completing an award offered by Sports Leaders UK.

Oliver Tracey, Marketing & Administration Officer from the Guernsey Sports Commission, also a Sports Leaders accredited tutor, ran a weekly session for the leaders at Beau Sejour Leisure Centre. In 2014, 15 students from Elizabeth College took the Sports Leaders Level 1 course which provided the leaders with a recognised leadership award and qualification.

The award was delivered over 33 guided learning hours and assessment is made upon a learner’s ability to lead and demonstrate their leadership skills for a total of 1 hour. The course was supported by various sports development officers and coaches and they were from sports that included cricket, hockey, basketball, football and sitting volleyball.

The syllabus is designed to develop generic leadership skills that can be applied to a variety of sports and/or recreational situations as well as contributing to the personal development of the learner.

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FundingSports Guernsey (Incorporating Sports and Nautical Guernsey)Sports Guernsey and Nautical Guernsey, although separate event groups in 2013, were amalgamated in 2014 as Sports Guernsey with a considerable reduction to the joint Group Fund.

The Sports Guernsey Fund 2014 received 35 applications to assist local sports associations to host sporting events in Guernsey for both local and visiting competitors. Of these 35 applications 14 received underwrites, 5 had grants, 8 did not require the underwrite that had been reserved for them and the other 8 events were cancelled for a variety of reasons.

The budget of £53,000 was spread amongst a variety of sporting events that attracted visitors from across the world. The budget for 2014 provided for 66% of funds requested by sports.

The high standard of sport venues on the Island provide excellent facilities for visiting sports men and women, and continue to develop and increase standards for all concerned.

The majority of sport events are organised and run in the main by our local volunteer workforce, including sport development officers, coaches, administrators, and parent helpers. Hosting sport events in Guernsey brings a large number of visitors to the Island, occupying hotel accommodation at all times of the year which supports the local economy.

The annual Chess Festival continues to bring over 150 people to the Island for a week during the autumn when visitors numbers may not be as high as the summer holiday season months. Women’s cricket has become ever more popular with a festival held this year, and promising to continue with events in 2015 and beyond. Equestrian events provide competition for local and visiting riders, and are well attended by local supporters. The World Powerboat Championships were held locally with great success, again providing entertainment for Island residents.

Sports Development FundThe Sports Development Fund Committee met with sport representatives in November 2013 to discuss their annual plan for 2014 and proposed fund applications. At these meetings the Committee advised sports of the limited amount of Fund available in each category, and the applications received would have been far in excess of the actual applications received if this guidance had not been given. After careful consideration and scrutiny of applications, the Committee kept within the Fund limit of £65,000.

The Committee invested in promoting local people to qualify as coaches as well as bringing higher qualified coaches to the Island for elite coaching workshops, and utilised in the region of 38% of the Fund for this purpose, which is an increase of 13% from 2013. This investment provides a higher number of local coaches able to support sport on Island.

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Junior sports boys and girls travelling off-Island to compete in county level events were supported with 22% of the Fund, which is a reduction of 13% from 2013. This has meant that local sports or athletes families have been required to fund junior travel to county level events at a higher level this year.

The remaining 40% of the Fund was allocated to the elite athletes of Guernsey of all ages who achieve the top 20 ranking position of their sport, including juniors who achieve a top 20 ranking position in their age group, which is the same amount of support as 2013. 42 athletes from 16 different sports achieved the criteria and were supported to train and compete off-Island at national and other events, which is an increase from 36 athletes in 2013. With a continuing increase in numbers achieving a high standard the amount of Fund available to each athlete is reduced.

Sports Development OfficersGolf

This year has been one of cementing the work done last year while further expanding other initiatives. We have supported the Guernsey Sports Commission with their junior school programme and have expanded our Guernsey Golf Union programme of events.  We have, with the help of the Ray Lowe Sporting Foundation, run a pilot scheme to introduce golf to students who had never played before in four secondary schools.  The work being done by the Guernsey Golf Union Junior Committee and associated helpers  was rewarded at the end of the season when our Junior Island Golf side produced a winning performance against Jersey at the L’Ancresse links. Major individual junior performances were the selection of Steph Ballay and Megan Graham being selected to represent Hampshire this year and Robbie Garner winning the Channel Islands Boy’s title and Jeremy Nicolle being selected to represent Guernsey in the senior Inter-Insular again.

Football

2014 has seen the GFA’s High Performance Player Pathway improve and develop with 14 teams and over 250 players ranging from under 7’s through to senior men’s and women’s. The coach education programme has been strong, with a vast variety of courses offered to cater for all coaches’ whether working with 7 year olds or senior players. 2014 has also seen the introduction of Joelle Pengelley as Football Development Officer (women & girls) also with a number of new opportunities for girls to play football, including the Girls Player Development Centre, girls after school clubs and girls football festivals. Another exciting new project that has been introduced is the FA Coach Mentoring Programme, where two local tutors have been appointed in Guernsey. Their role is to support clubs and improve the level of coaching on the Island. In summary, some exciting new projects have been launched in 2014 and the association will look to build on these in 2015.

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Angus MackayFootball Development Officer

Cricket

It is pleasing to say that a lot was achieved during 2014 by the Guernsey Cricket Board Development Team. Women's cricket continues to grow in strength and a Girl's Programme is underway. The Le Murier School Cricket Tour to the UK and the Table Cricket Programme in local care homes and rehabilitation centres continue to inspire. Our community coaches visited every school on the Island running sessions throughout the year. Local clubs took on the running of junior sides for the first time. The fixture programme against sides from off-Island provides excellent opportunities for our young players to test themselves against the very best. We look forward to 2015 ebulliently.

Rugby

Rugby continues to be developed in the primary schools with a target of increasing the numbers entering the 15th Annual Tag Festival in March. This was achieved as some 37 Teams (over 300 players) from many of the primary/junior schools on the Island entered the 2014 Festival.

Towards the end of the season several in-school festivals have been facilitated between Melrose and Beechwood as well as the Ladies College (Melrose) Sports Relief Rugby morning which saw 60 Year 2 / 3’s take part in a mini festival.

At secondary school level development has been seen in both the boys and girls rugby with the latter now providing some 12 (U14/15) girls who train alongside the Guernsey Ladies on a wednesday night. Towards the end of the season 200 Year 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 girls took part in a day long Touch Rugby Festival. The boys on the other hand show great promise in the Lord Jersey Cup Competition losing in the Plate Semi Final. By the end of the season 30 hours per week of rugby was being delivered in Island schools. In order to continue and increase these hours the Guernsey Rugby Association has recruited a part time Community Rugby Coach (Callum Gladstone) to deliver in the primary and junior schools.

The Guernsey Rugby Academy has flourished with more players than before attending training sessions on sunday mornings as well as some sessions during the evening for the older age group. As the new season started the Academy opened its doors to the TOTs U6’s, which has gone from strength to strength.

During the summer developments both on and off the pitch has seen St Jacques RFC entered for the first time into the Hampshire Solent Merit Table League and at this time they

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Steve MelbourneRugby Development Officer

Jason ShambrookCricket Development Officer

are top of the league with an unbeaten record. The Guernsey Ladies Rugby was another team to be accepted into the National Conference League and with some fantastic results they also top the League. Guernsey RFC have had a run of bad luck injury wise which has seen them struggle during the first half of the season. However, new full time Director of Rugby Jordan Reynolds is confident that this can be turned around. The 2nd XV have suffered only one loss in the Channel Island League and also top the table.

Six Colts so far this season have made their senior debut with the Guernsey 2nd XV, George Collenette and Luke Jones continue their careers at Cornish Pirates; Daniel De Kock has spent time at both Leicester Academy and Doncaster Knights; Rachel Merrien who was the first female on the Island to gain the RFU UKCC Level 2 Coaching award as well as being a Championship player with Trojans, London and South East and England U20 Trialist; Hampshire caps for Tom Chammings (U20), Dom Rice, Harry Finch (U18) and Alfie Penny (U16).

7 new rugby referees including Ben Holland (Academy U15 Player) can be seen most weekends running the touch line in the GRFC 2nd XV and St Jacques games. 6 New RFU UKCC Level 2 coaches and 10 CPD’s run covering Rugby Ready to Towards Level 3, with over 150 coaches, Teachers and Officials attending them.

Hockey

2014 was a successful year for Senior Hockey. The Island Women’s 1st XI, as England Hockey Vase winners, decided to further challenge themselves by entering the Women’s EH Trophy competition. Under the guidance of their coach David Wray, they exceeded all expectations and proceeded to the semi final stages of the competition where they were knocked out by the eventual winners, Henley Ladies.

The Island Men’s 1st XI faced a different challenge for their trophy run. Having reached two successive finals returning both times without the trophy, they felt that with the strength and depth in the squad, that 2014 could be their year. After a third round win on penalty strokes, the boys knuckled down under player / coach Andy Whalley’s training regime and once again made it to the final which was against an old adversary, Banbury HC. A thrilling encounter ensued with the score level at 3-3 at full time. Again a nail biting penalty stroke competition determined the winners which Guernsey secured by 3-1, thereby lifting the trophy for the second time in their history.

The Inter Island fixtures against Jersey produced a fine run of wins in all but two of the eight senior fixtures played which reinforces the depth of hockey within Guernsey. This is aided by the integration of juniors into senior Island teams at both club and Island level.

The junior teams did not fare so well in their corresponding age group fixtures although the

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Sally BushellHockey Development Officer

Girls U15 posted a draw and the Boys U13 won the Jersey Festival of Hockey. However the integrated programme of junior hockey which starts at Reception age children on Sunday mornings and, enables girls and boys to play at each age level until they can join in adult teams is a clear successful pathway.

The Hockey Outreach programme focussed on school years 5 and 6 with positive feedback and extremely popular and well represented tournaments held in May. Participation is key at junior level and alongside age group training Guernsey Hockey arranged competition for each age group either by domestic fixtures and in-house tournaments or playing visiting teams or taking teams away on tour.

The Boys U13 squad and the Girls U15 squads both enjoyed successful UK tours playing strong, quality opposition. A Boys U14 team and Girls U16 team were entered into their respective age group England Hockey National Championships for the first time this year. As well as a superb experience for the players involved, it has enabled Guernsey Hockey to make new contacts with English clubs who have expressed their interest in travelling back to Guernsey.

The Footes Lane pitch was resurfaced during the summer enhancing our superb facilities and we look forward to welcoming the first of these visitors, Reading HC U14 Boys in February 2015.

Badminton

The start of a development year for Guernsey Badminton with the employment of a Development Officer in April. Badminton has now been introduced into the primary schools for Years 5 and 6 as well as being offered to social groups e.g. guides and scout troops.

The GBA sent four players to the commonwealth games in Glasgow and entered the team event for the first time in a few games. Guernsey Badminton finished off the season with wins against Jersey in the Leadbeater Shield, Gilson and Vets to complete a clean sweep of all 5 interinsular matches for the season.

Elite junior players are making a smooth transition into the senior circuits with some titles already. Looking forward to continued development into schools with an increased participation levels for all age groups and levels and continued success into 2015.

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Matthew HaynesBadminton Development Officer

Squash

2014 has been an interesting year for squash and racketball, with development and progress at all levels.

The highlight of the year must be Chris Simpson reaching the quarter finals of the Commonwealth Games, a fantastic achievement for Chris and a moment that has inspired a number of younger players in Guernsey.

We have also revamped our junior development programme with the help of Deutsche Bank who now support our programme from schools through to our junior squads. The new programme means we can continue to run our schools work and with the enhanced development scheme we can better support our elite juniors.

For adults we have introduced our new premier league which means our top players can get more competitive matches on Island in an organised league.

Finally, we have worked hard to secure a new squash centre and are currently in talks to build four new squash courts, a must if we are going to move forward as a sport.Table Tennis

Table Tennis

Both teams won their divisions three and four at the Junior British national league. Joshua Stacey won a Bronze medal at the senior schools international in the Under 18 boys beating players from England, Wales, and Ireland. Developing officials represented Guernsey at World Championships and Commonwealth Games. 2 Athletes represented Guernsey at the Commonwealth Games.

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Martin WattsSquash Development Officer

Becks O’KeffeRugby Development Officer

Sporting Achievement AwardsThe Guernsey Sports Commission Sporting Achievement Awards presentation 2013 took place on Thursday 16th January 2014 at Beau Sejour. Over 450 guests turned out to support athletes, teams and coaches that had been nominated for one of the 11 awards

Baroness Sue Campbell CBE joined us for the evening as our special guest. She helped present the awards whilst presenting her keynote speech during the evening specifically highlighting the importance of sport within society and physical education lessons taught within schools.

We were also extremely grateful to British paralympian Danny Nobbs, who had been with us for the week to help us launch our Disability Strategy, who also joined us for the evening’s celebrations.

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Sports SundayThe Guernsey Sports Commission hosted their 3rd Sports Sunday event in June this year. Part of the popular seafront Sunday series of events held in St. Peter Port, this was the third time an event like this had been organised by our charity. It all began back in 2012 when the Olympic Torch visited the Island and a celebration of sport followed in St. Peter Port for the rest of the day. Last year we built on this and closed the seafront again and hosted an afternoon of energetic and visual activities for people to watch and in some cases try.

2014 was very similar in that we created a cycling circuit and allowed cyclists of all ages and abilities the chance to battle it out over the relatively short course, which stretched from Crown Pier to the Albert monument and back. It wasn't only cycling that featured on the seafront, as 10 other sports were available to try on Albert Pier.

These included circus skills, rugby, football, basketball, trampolining, squash, fencing, darts, triathlon and hockey. Members of the public were able to try out all of these sports in a fun environment on the seafront in the dry conditions which remained for the whole day.

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Commonwealth Queen’s Baton RelayIn May we were fortunate enough to be tasked with being part of the organising committee for the visit of the Queen’s Baton Relay to the Bailiwick. Over 3 days we were able to take the Baton to 15 local primary schools, Alderney, Herm and Sark. Over 6000 children came in contact with the baton which attracted national media attention. Thirty children were chosen in Guernsey to be ‘baton bearers’, nominated by their schools, they were the lucky ones that had the responsibility for passing the baton from their school and onto the next. A memorable 3 days for all involved.

“Can I say that we were absolutely thrilled to be part of the celebrations for the Queen’s Baton Relay and all had a wonderful time. It was an amazing occasion for the baton

bearers and one they will always remember” - Head Teacher

“I would like to say thank you to you and your team for all the hard work in making the day so special for so many of the school children”. - Parent of Baton Bearer

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10th Birthday CelebrationsThe Guernsey Sports Commission celebrated their 10th Birthday this year with a special reception at Government House. Over 40 individuals who have been involved with the local charity were in attendance and a review video showcasing the achievement of the Commission in the last decade was shown.

Oliver Tracey, Marketing Officer at the Commission was the man behind the video, who highlighted "the aim of the video was to inform everyone about the vast amount of projects and initiatives that we have delivered in the last decade. I interviewed not only current members of staff but those who have worked for us in the last 10 years who were able to share a unique insight into their favourite moments during their time when working for the Commission. It will serve as a great reminder of all the hard work, effort and dedication that the Commission has put into projects delivered in our local sporting community and we hope that the video is shared Islandwide”.

As part of the anniversary celebrations we also put together two funnier videos, highlighting the funnier side of sport here in Guernsey. These included working with rugby player Leighton Batiste, Culture & Leisure Minister Mike O’Hara and Rob Moore from Channel Television.

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Harbour CarnivalThe Guernsey Sports Commission was the primary beneficiary of the 2014 Harbour Carnival. The event, organised by the Guernsey Round Table and sponsored by RBC Wealth Management, offered members of the public various events to take part on the St. Peter Port seafront. These included a man powered flight, ladies’ dinghy race, tug of war and a chance to enter a rubber duck into the ever popular corporate and mini duck race.

The Sports Commission offered members of the public the chance to take part in sports in their giant inflatable football pitch and if participants were under 11 they were given the chance to perfect one of many different circus skills. Our Street Sports programme was to be the primary recipient of the funds raised on the night, and staff were keen to promote this programme by giving out flyers to young people aged 11-18 who would be eligible to attend our free Street Sports sessions that run 3 nights a week.

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ParkourIn May this year we brought Parkour Generations to Guernsey to introduce the sport to the Island through a series of taster sessions  as well as delivering a CPD course to teachers. Parkour is a sport that often appeals to those that aren’t currently involved in other sports. It provides a full workout for both body and mind. It encourages thinking on your feet. Parkour creates a can-do attitude which leads to greater confidence.

Free taster sessions were delivered for adults outside at Fort Le Marchant, using the man-made structures as well as the natural surroundings to practice Parkour. For the younger members of the public two indoor taster sessions were delivered at Styx Youth Club, using the Guernsey Specials gym equipment. Sessions were also delivered at St Sampson’s High School and at our Street Sports programme at Les Genats Estate.

Feedback

“Hi, I was just writing to say thanks for booking me into the Parkour session. I had a lot of fun and think I may

start doing it on my own” – Adult participant

“Hi…just wanted to say a huge thank you for today…my son managed to get into the younger session and still found it quite challenging. It was great to watch. He

said the coaches were really nice and patient which is very important to him. Was this a one off event? I can see it helping with his dyspraxia in so many ways –

Grateful Mum” Parent of youth participant

“I have never seen everyone at Street Sports engaged like that before, it was fantastic!” – Street Sports Leader

“The whole day was structured very well with two very knowledgeable and personable instructors. The session was engaging and I was particularly

impressed with the level of differentiation they had built into the course. This is a great

alternative sport for students to experience and excel at. The students will benefit greatly by

learning these skills. They will be able to use the skills learnt through Parkour and transfer them to

a variety of sports” – PE teacher

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Member SportsThe Guernsey Sports Commission’s website hosts 48 different member sports. A range of club and organisations are listed with the relevant contact information to get in touch with your chosen sport.

This list is published annually in The Guernsey Press in January before our Sporting Annual Achievement Awards. It is also available to view at our website on www.guernseysports.com/sports.

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Media Relations2014 has been another busy year in terms of media relations and the number of stories the local media ran about us increased compared to last year. This can be attributed to the introduction of a number of new initiatives, new sports, the arrival of the Queen's Baton Relay and the Commission providing all the updates in relation to the Guernsey team competing in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

This section of our review of the year will analyse each medium in more detail. The photos below showcase a few of the media opportunities we have been a part of in the last year.

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Print CoverageThe Guernsey Press provided the majority of coverage this year, however this was boosted by local magazines featuring a number of stories relating to us. This year we filled 7,427.05cm2 in newspapers and magazines, which is an increase of 2,784.81cm2

when compared to the coverage in 2013. Photographs occupied 20,903.75cm2 within newspapers and magazines which compared to 11,652.54cm2 in 2013.

The Guernsey Press featured very comprehensive coverage of our 3rd Bedell Volunteers’ Week featuring 8 full pages of coverage. This helped to boost our written and photograph coverage when compared to previous years. The introduction of parkour, visits from Jessica Jane Applegate, Douglas Samuel from Spartans Football Club, Sue Campbell MBE, Danny Nobbs and Professor Vincent Walsh and the Sports Commission organising activities relating to the Queen’s Baton Relay in May helped to boost the coverage of our charity this year.

We also helped relay news announcements from the Guernsey Commonwealth Games Association and this was reflected in the number of appearances within the Guernsey Press. They provided coverage when the team was away competing in Glasgow and thus a substantial amount of coverage was provided during the summer months of this year. They provided written coverage that measured 6,049.50cm2 and photographic coverage measuring 17,937.75cm2.

TV CoverageChannel Television and BBC Guernsey have worked with us numerous times this year on various sporting stories which aired during their live evening broadcasts and featured online. Programmes that they covered this year included Street Sports, Disability Coaching Programme, KGV showcase and the Queen’s Baton Relay.

Whilst our Marketing Officer was supporting the Commonwealth Games team in Glasgow earlier this year various pre-recorded broadcasts and a few live broadcasts direct from the capital featuring on BBC and Channel Television.

Radio CoverageRadio coverage also increased significantly this year on both local radio stations. BBC Guernsey featured us in live and pre-recorded programmes a number of times throughout the year. They covered the launch of our new Disability Coaching Programme and the build up to our Sporting Achievement Awards as well as stories relating to women in sport, young people’s engagement in sport, new athletes being added to our Rising Stars programme, the arrival of the Queen’s Baton Relay, return of our Generali Get Active Fortnight as well as Quids in Sports and Bedell Volunteers’ Week.

They also provided comprehensive coverage whilst at the Commonwealth Games with their sports reporter featuring daily updates in the local news with pre-recorded and a few live interviews featuring on the local station.

Island FM also featured a great number of individual news stories in their hourly news bulletins which included our Sporting Achievement Awards, Disability Coaching

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Programme, Sport Your Trainers Campaign, Queen’s Baton Relay, introduction of Parkour, primary sponsor at the Harbour Carnival alongside many Quids in Sports news items.

Island FM Takeover2014 witnessed the introduction of our Island FM Takeover (on Island FM). On the first Saturday of every month Oliver Tracey, Marketing Officer at the Commission, presents a show of around 30-60 minutes featuring stories from the Commission as well as summarising upcoming events from local sports clubs. To date we have presented 11 takeovers on Saturday afternoons and have had a tremendous response since they started nearly a year ago.

We submit the audio clips to the station in the week leading up to the show on the Saturday afternoon, they are then added to the system ready for us to play out on the show. We pre-record clips with staff at the Commission, local coaches, athletes and anyone who we are working with in the past month. The show serves as a good summary of our work delivered in the past month and allows us to profile upcoming sports events that the public can get involved with.

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Website & Social Media SitesWebsite

As already highlighted in the previous media relations section, 2014 was a very busy year for the Sports Commission as various new initiatives were launched in the Island alongside the arrival of some renowned sporting stars and the arrival of the Queen’s Baton Relay in the lead up to the 2014 Commonwealth Games. All of these stories increased the number of news reports featuring on our website. Our relationship with our member sports on the Island continues to increase and thus a vast number of news stories relating to them were posted. We also help to profile their upcoming events through our online event listing and these were coupled with events that the Sports Commission organised.

Our website remains the main method of promotion in which we promote all of the programmes and initiatives the Sports Commission organise and serves as the primary point of contact between us and any user wanting to take part in sport here in Guernsey.

During 2014 our website was visited by 30,885 unique visitors which is an increase of 57.34% when compared to 2012 which measured 19,630. These visitors viewed our website 53,432 times which was an increase of 42.23% when compared to 37,568 from 2013.

A total of 140,218 pages were viewed on our website which is another increase of 27.93% when compared to 109,603 from 2013. Visitors to our website this year came from 137 different countries which is an increase of 17 from 2013 where our visitors came from 120 different countries around the world.

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The most visited page on our website after our homepage was our Commonwealth section with 7,360 page views over the year with the sports, news and event section following in close behind that.

The Quids in Sports programme remains the most viewed set of events on our website, and the summer programme attained the most views reaching 1,716. The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, Healthspan Night Ride, Queen’s Baton Relay and the Brooks Macdonald Coaching Conference also featured in the top 10.

To date we have posted 640 news stories on our website. 315 of those were posted in 2014 compared to 232 in 2013 and 93 in 2012. At present we have increased the number of news stories we are producing a month from 19 in 2013 to 25 in 2014. This has seen the average go from 4 a week in 2013 to 6 a week in 2016.

The top 10 news stories included:

Nominees revealed for 2014 sports awards - 754 pageviews

Queen’s Baton Relay in Guernsey - live updates - 644 pageviews

Powerboat world championships return to Guernsey - 554 Pageviews

Athletes set to represent Guernsey in Glasgow - 509 pageviews

Final team selection for Glasgow 2014 - 486 - pageviews

Commonwealth games team kit unveiled - 402 pageviews

Get Active fortnight is back for 2014 - 392 pageviews

Louis enters the record books - 362 pageviews

More workshops, more experience more opportunity - 333 pageviews

Guernsey sailors take to the water for Bart - 310 pageviews

Batonbearers for Queen’s Baton Relay confirmed - 294 pageviews

Social media

In 2014 we used social media networks to signpost people to our website to view various news stories, upcoming events and new videos we had created.

Twitter

Twitter remains one of the most popular social networks around and we continue to utilise it to share updates with our followers. To date we have sent over 21,900 Tweets since 2011 and follow over 500 different sports club, athletes and national governing bodies and had 2,168 followers at the end of 2014. We have utilised Twitter to launch various campaigns to raise awareness of various events and initiatives we have organised.

This started in January of this year where we used the hashtag #GSCSportsAwards at our awards to announce award winners alongside hearing from members of the audience present for the awards held at Beau Sejour. It was a great success with over 250,000 people seeing a message about our awards on their Twitter stream that day. We

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continued to use Twitter throughout the year to give each follower an inside look at our charitable work we deliver here in the community. May witnessed a heightened level of media activity relating to our charity as we organised the Queen’s Baton Relay events over two and a half days here in the bailiwick.

Our marketing officer travelled to Glasgow with the Commonwealth Games team over the summer and launched a new social media campaign. The #TeamGuernsey2014 campaign witnessed over 19 million people read a message about our team on their Twitter feed over the period of the games. In the last few months the hashtags #BedellVolunteersWeek, #GSCConference and #QuidsInSports have also been well used and have built up the use of #GSCSportsAwards again as we build up to the awards taking place in January 2015.

Facebook

We continue to use Facebook to share daily updates about upcoming sports events our audience can get involved in. We use the social media service to share photographs, videos and posters relating to upcoming events we are organising and events hosted by our member sports. This year we reached a significant milestone in that we obtained our 1,000th LIKE on our Facebook page. It continues to serve as a great way to engage our audience and serves as a great way to enable our followers to comments on stories and photographs that we post.

YouTube

To date we have uploaded 283 videos to our YouTube channel and we continue to use it as one of the main methods of promoting upcoming events and summarising the programmes and initiatives that we deliver here in Guernsey. This year we have accumulated 31,959 views on the various videos we have posted (when compared to last year) accumulating 63,643 minutes watched on our channel and have had 55 new subscribers to our videos posted via our channel. 85% of videos are played directly via the YouTube website with 15% coming from the video being embedded on our website. At present 78% of our audience is male and the majority of views coming from Guernsey closely followed by United Kingdom, United States, India and Australia. The list below showcases the 10 most watched videos that feature on our channel this year.

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AudioBoom

We use AudioBoom (formally Audioboo) to publish single audio recordings that can be played on their website or embedded directly to our website. To date we have posted 94 audio clips on their website, of which 42 have been posted this year. This website serves as the platform whereby we post our monthly Island FM Takeovers alongside individual audio reports from a range of different sports. We have accumulated 5,100 listens to date and see audio reporting as a valuable medium to report or promote various stories where video isn’t appropriate or allowed.

Flickr

Photographs are taken at all events that the Guernsey Sports Commission are involved in. Throughout this year we have continued to cover events that we have organised and posted high resolution photographs on Flickr after the event. To date we have 143 different albums and this year our marketing officer used Flickr to share photographs of the Guernsey Commonwealth Games team whilst they were in Glasgow competing in the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Photographs were grouped by day and put into albums for our global audience to view and overall the service is a great way of summarising events and linking slideshows to our website.

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Contact UsIf you would like to contact the Guernsey Sports Commission please use the contact details listed on the ‘contact us’ page of our website. All of the Sports Specific Development Officers contact details can also be obtained by visiting our website. Alternatively please ring the office on 01481 747229 or email info@guernseysports.com. Our offices are based on the main road leading up to the reception at Beau Sejour Leisure Centre.

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Performance DirectorJeremy Frith

Operations DirectorGraham Chester

Medical DirectorSteve Evans

ChairmanStuart Falla

Chief Executive OfficerTim Newenham

PE & Sport Development OfficerKerri Brown

Marketing & Administration OfficerOliver Tracey

KGV DirectorJo Wyatt

PE & Sport Development OfficerOllie Dowding

PE & Sport Development OfficerHannah Mechem

Youth Games Co-ordinatorAndrea Lord

PE & Sport Development OfficerSteph Batiste

Sports Development OfficerJenny Murphy

Street Sports Co-ordinatorShirley Ann Parker