English Coaches ... Team England Committee Election 2018

[sann0638]

NB this is not the current number of votes. They're still coming!

[Maverick]

Quick question, has anyone worked out what the possible voting pool could be I.e how many English NAF registered coaches have played at a tournament in the past year, is the database available to query this ?

[sann0638]

In theory, the data is there.

[Wulfyn]

If a candidate pulls out then their name should be removed in the first round of voting and then everyone shifted up by one. If you include them then there is a chance that someone who isn't standing could knock out someone who is that might then go on to be elected. Any votes with or without their name should be accepted.

[sann0638]

If a candidate pulls out then their name should be removed in the first round of voting and then everyone shifted up by one. If you include them then there is a chance that someone who isn't standing could knock out someone who is that might then go on to be elected. Any votes with or without their name should be accepted.

Done. Good luck everyone, 10 hours to go!

Just to say, my plan is to announce who has been elected, probably no need to say the order in which people have been eliminated. If unsuccessful candidates want to be told their finishing spot in private, happy to do that.

Any objections?

[Andydavo]

Hi all,

I've only recently become an active member here and feel that I have missed so many great conversations. I tried to read all 11+ pages but my head cold has got the better of me so i'm just going to let you know about my thoughts.

1. Someone - Goo i think - said that just adding a committee shouldn't reinvent a fully operational wheel, just rather add some accountability to it. Great shout.

Community question: Does the majority want to play on TE in some sort of rotational basis or does the community want the best X coaches for whatever TE is going to play in? England is blessed with maybe 10-15 incredibly talented players from all over so breaking into the current TE setup on merit will be a real challenge.

2. I think it would be great to see a 2nd and 3rd team squad from TE, I initially wrote reserves here, but think that sounded disrespectful and actually not the point of it at all. All countries need to keep adding depth and ability to a squad because there will be periods of time in everyone's lives that some people are going to be unavailable. This is a point that is actually personal to me- had TE had a slot to offer me in a 2nd or 3rd team I think I would have taken it. What has actually happened is that the Welsh team - which contains several of my friends - asked me and that is where I am. While no one ever says never to a move, it does make moves much more tricky. If that can happen to me, could it not happen to other players? especially from the online world and from the emergence of BB2016?

My final thought was on who I would vote for, I think I know about half that list - the York guys no, Mubo, Pipey for sure. I would not want my vote to be a popularity contest vote and while i'm sure that both of the guys I know would do a cracking job (they have engaged me at several TT's and gone out of their way to make me feel welcomed - something that I really really liked) I would just like to know more about the others, just so it was an informed choice.

Anyway, sorry for the length of the post and sorry for presumably breaking the flow of the thread, i'm off to bed now! See you in Wales for Eurobowl if you're attending. Come say hi!

[TeamEnglandAdmin]

Hi,

please to announce that the following have been elected, in no particular order:

Speedingbullet
Pipey
Mubo
Leipziger

There were 48 votes.

Congratulations all,

Sann and Hawca

[besters]

Congratulations to those elected, looking forward to seeing how you handle one of the toughest jobs in sport!

[Flick30]

Congratulations to all elected.

[speedingbullet]

Huge thanks to Mike and Andy for the count.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this whether through nomination or being part of the debate or voting.

Feels like we’ve run a marathon to get to this stage. Surprised but pleased to be on the committee.

[Wilf]

Congratulations to those who have been elected.

I look forward to your progress on the next steps for Team England!

[Wulfyn]

Congrats to those selected and thanks to those who stepped up but missed out. Without the dedication of people like yourselves in a volunteer community nothing would be achievable. I look forward to seeing the committee produce their roadmap / timetable on the next steps.


Andy - welcome to the forum and great to see you here! You raise some good questions that I think the committee is trying to answer but I'm not sure if anyone really has a solution. With 8 spots, a lot of talented coaches, a core set of ever presents, and - most importantly - a ridiculously successful run of results it feels like we are trying to make 3 things fit into 2 spaces.

Do we want to pick our best and keep winning? Yes absolutely because that it the primary ethos of the team. But do we want to be more inclusive and allow more people the opportunity? Again yes because communities that stagnate die out and ethically we believe everyone should have a fair shout.

But the problem is who gets dropped so others can get in? We have a successful core 5 that go every year. If they do go again then maybe the team is accused of being too exclusive. If they don't go then are we really picking the best 8? You can't judge an opportunity by the results. I was lucky myself to have been included (as a late fill in due to a number of drop outs) a couple years ago showing that the opportunity is there. Last year I was a reserve and this year not even that. Seeing the people going I don't feel I deserved it instead of them because they are all excellent players and I am happy to go with the captain's decision. But England have won before I was on the team and have won after I was on it so I am going to keep supporting the team and not bitch about why I am not on it.

What I am hoping the committee may bring is a wider variety of perspectives. When I was asked to play it was very much the right place at the right time. Pipey had been playing lizards and was not attending and in a bid to get better at the game I had hyper focused on that team and claimed a few scalps after a brutal early learning experience. But importantly this was known to the Captain. If I'd done the exact same thing and been the exact same player but lived in a part of the country without those connections I would not have been visible. I'm not saying Lycos picked me because I was a friend (as proven by him not picking me this year!!) but rather that I was in his scouting network. Perhaps more committee members setting a charter means a wider network?

We need to be better at engaging the wider community. This is why I personally like the idea of official TE europen teams. With only 8 places and a lot of good coaches it gives newer members a more realistic target to aim for in the first instance. If we had (say) 2 or 3 TE EO teams then that is 6-9 spots so now you are aiming to be in a squad of 14-17 rather than just 8. Do well at a EO and you become part of the scouting network. For me it adds the inclusiveness whilst not taking anything from the competitiveness of the main 8. Nobody has been really interesting in a TE EO to date because it has not meant anything. There's always a chance that people could say no and do their own EO thing (and let's face it the proximity of wales means there is more interest than there will be overseas), but we'll never truly know until we try.

But then I'm not on the committee so all I can do is be unhelpful from the sidelines


Edit : omg oops forgot the important thing of thanking Mike and Dave for being our returning officers. A thankless task now thanked! Thanks!

[sann0638]

But then I'm not on the committee so all I can do is be unhelpful from the sidelines

But you do this very well, in fairness!

[Pipey]

Really pleased to make it onto the committee, thanks for the votes everyone. Bad luck to Flick, Wil and Besters Jim who didn't make it; thanks for running.

Decent turnout too which is also pleasing. Looking forward to getting to work.

Thank you to Sann and Hawca for administration and checking.

Brendan

[howlinggriffon]

Well done to the new committee members. Hopefully this will be the last vote for a while now Anything to stop Mike creating another confusing spreadsheet should be encouraged