I haven't blogged for a while because instead of being pre-occupied with one main thread, the MC has had a lot on the go at once - so it hasn't been so easy to muse on any particular issue here. We've also had entries and nominations coming in for the GCWC this July and the Under 21s that precedes it, which take some sorting out and chasing of photos, biographies, entry fees etc. for the players.
The big consultation on events we sent out a month ago is beginning to get well-considered responses now - and a couple of Members have asked for more time, which I had always suspected would happen. We've also just sent out the second of these major consultations we had planned - this one on how to improve WCF decision-making. Our statutes say the WCF is controlled by its Members. But the existing postal-voting system, with 60 days notice required and 40 days for an amendment, doesn't really help the Members exercise this control. What has sometimes happened with complex issues is that votes have happened at Council meetings, without a great deal of talking between Members before the meeting and with some of the key players not being present in Council. The outcomes haven't always suited everyone.
So we thought it important to find a model where the Members talk to each other, and where proposals develop and are brought to a vote in a series of discussion cycles. Luckily, ubiquitous email makes this possible - and didn't of course exist when the Statutes were drafted. The MC's proposal is to manage, for the Members, an email discussion system which would develop proposals over typically 3 cycles: 1) kick the idea around and get people's views, 2) come up with a reasonable proposal and get comments on that, then 3) vote on the revised proposal. You can flex the number of cycles depending on the maturity of the issue and how quickly agreement is reached.
This is essentially how the MC now operates. The MC operates on 1 week cycles, but we'll probably need 3 weeks or so for Council, because many Members have International Committees or Executives who will need to consider the proposals and agree their responses.
I hope the Members go for this proposal, as it really will put control into their hands.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
The past is always with us
I'm currently struggling with the past. Not all of it, mind you, but particular bits where people dispute what happened or what was agreed or have odd views about who did what and why.
My S-G role is to make things happen, but it's tricky when people can't agree what has happened before I got involved, and whether it was right or not. Hey ho.
The other thing I was amazed about this week were the reactions I got to a personal post on the NB asking for ideas on how to have a simple practical test for how firm a hoop is. I set hoops a lot (I think I was RoT at 5 A class or championship events last season). I've pondered this off and on for some time - and though it's not a difficult concept, coming up with a very practical simple quick field test for firmness seems difficult. Anyway, I had a number of sensible, reasoned suggestions about what could be done (none quite meeting my requirement for "simple" though) but also a few quite strident responses assuming this was all a plot by the WCF to regulate hoop firmness and in one case extrapolating to ludicrous extremes (like being able to sue the organisers if the hoops failed the firmness spec!). Predicatbly after such a silly statement, the writer then appealed for "common sense". It's a funny old world.
My S-G role is to make things happen, but it's tricky when people can't agree what has happened before I got involved, and whether it was right or not. Hey ho.
The other thing I was amazed about this week were the reactions I got to a personal post on the NB asking for ideas on how to have a simple practical test for how firm a hoop is. I set hoops a lot (I think I was RoT at 5 A class or championship events last season). I've pondered this off and on for some time - and though it's not a difficult concept, coming up with a very practical simple quick field test for firmness seems difficult. Anyway, I had a number of sensible, reasoned suggestions about what could be done (none quite meeting my requirement for "simple" though) but also a few quite strident responses assuming this was all a plot by the WCF to regulate hoop firmness and in one case extrapolating to ludicrous extremes (like being able to sue the organisers if the hoops failed the firmness spec!). Predicatbly after such a silly statement, the writer then appealed for "common sense". It's a funny old world.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Everything you wanted to know about WCF events....
Hurrah! Finally, I've been able to press the Send button on a major piece of consultation we've been working on for over 2 months. We were putting together about 6 or 7 proposals on various things to do with how to improve WCF events, and I sent the first one to the WCF Members for their comments. Then it dawned on me we'd have a further 6 ready send all in the next month or so. So instead, we've pulled them together into one large document, and it's gone out to Members tonight.
It centres around having a published 10 Year Schedule of forthcoming events. We'll update it regularly, and the placeholders will gradually get replaced by agreed bids to stage specific events. This will help Member associations - and players - plan further ahead, and also prevent the "clumping" of events that has sometimes happened. All the MC has contributed ides or comments but I must thank Ian Burridge who has done the major work on the schedule itself.
What else does the document cover? Well as well as the Schedule, there is information on the eight World Championship event types ( AC and GC singles and Team World Championships, Women's AC and GC events, and GC Over 50s and Under 21s). We are proposing to halve the WCF License Fees, which host associations pay in order to hold a recognised WCF world championship. We are also defining a clear annual bid process and timetable - we'll start shortly taking bids up till 2014, and then each year we'll call for more bids 3-4 years ahead. And finally, there are a large number of detailed refinements proposed, for example to rules on seeding and draws.
I hope before long to publish the consultation document on the WCF website. Now work starts on a second important consulation document, this one covering how to improve the involvement of WCF Members in the decision making process. And tomorrow, I hope to announce the Under 21 GC world championship for July 2011 - so there's plenty going on!
It centres around having a published 10 Year Schedule of forthcoming events. We'll update it regularly, and the placeholders will gradually get replaced by agreed bids to stage specific events. This will help Member associations - and players - plan further ahead, and also prevent the "clumping" of events that has sometimes happened. All the MC has contributed ides or comments but I must thank Ian Burridge who has done the major work on the schedule itself.
What else does the document cover? Well as well as the Schedule, there is information on the eight World Championship event types ( AC and GC singles and Team World Championships, Women's AC and GC events, and GC Over 50s and Under 21s). We are proposing to halve the WCF License Fees, which host associations pay in order to hold a recognised WCF world championship. We are also defining a clear annual bid process and timetable - we'll start shortly taking bids up till 2014, and then each year we'll call for more bids 3-4 years ahead. And finally, there are a large number of detailed refinements proposed, for example to rules on seeding and draws.
I hope before long to publish the consultation document on the WCF website. Now work starts on a second important consulation document, this one covering how to improve the involvement of WCF Members in the decision making process. And tomorrow, I hope to announce the Under 21 GC world championship for July 2011 - so there's plenty going on!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Busy busy busy!
Lots going on at the moment. I've been trying to make some progress with the WCF website, on two fronts. First, I've been doing some updates to things like the Taylor List of contact details for individuals. I found a database in my local copy of the website that seemed to be the Taylor List, also found (lucky day!) I had MS Access on my PC so could open the db. I dutifully made the requested changes to the Taylor List then uploaded them to the live website and....nothing! Brian Storey helped point me in the right direction (thanks Brian) - it seems this local copy is irrelevant, instead you have to edit the live MySQL database! Scarey - I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
So when I tried to upload the latest World Team Rankings which Chris Clarke had provided (thanks Chris), after a while crawling around bits of the site trying to find where the data was held, it dawned on me it might also be in the same MySQL db - and it was! So, now an expert (!), I was a bit quicker in getting these changes loaded. Then over the weekend, trying to pick-off easy things from my To Do list, I wanted to update a couple of WCF Member contact details that had changed - and yes, they were also in the same db. At one level, this is great, I know how to change things now (within limits). But on the other hand, editing the live db seems just wrong to me - far too many opportunities to mess things up.
The other tack on the website has been to agree with the Management Committee an approach for a complete revamp for the website. All websites 'silt up' over time, and often the best solution is to start afresh. We are planning to do that this Spring (UK). We have advertised for a webmaster, as we need someone with more skills and time to devote to it than I have. So, with luck we will have a shiny new website later this year. The current website has served us well, and I appreciate the huge amount of work Brian Storey put into it when he was S-G.
Finally, the WCF GC Rules Committee has been looking at two new official rulings for Rule 9. A complete updated list of official rulings has now been uploaded at http://www.wcfcroquet.org/Rules/Official%20GC%20Rulings%20-January%202011.pdf.
The MC has two quite large proposals in the final stages of edits and updates, which we hope to get out to the WCF Members for their comments shortly - it's taking a big push to get these proposals out the door - "just one last little thing" keeps delaying us. I'll be glad when they're done as then we can catch up with some other things we need to do, like planning for events.
So when I tried to upload the latest World Team Rankings which Chris Clarke had provided (thanks Chris), after a while crawling around bits of the site trying to find where the data was held, it dawned on me it might also be in the same MySQL db - and it was! So, now an expert (!), I was a bit quicker in getting these changes loaded. Then over the weekend, trying to pick-off easy things from my To Do list, I wanted to update a couple of WCF Member contact details that had changed - and yes, they were also in the same db. At one level, this is great, I know how to change things now (within limits). But on the other hand, editing the live db seems just wrong to me - far too many opportunities to mess things up.
The other tack on the website has been to agree with the Management Committee an approach for a complete revamp for the website. All websites 'silt up' over time, and often the best solution is to start afresh. We are planning to do that this Spring (UK). We have advertised for a webmaster, as we need someone with more skills and time to devote to it than I have. So, with luck we will have a shiny new website later this year. The current website has served us well, and I appreciate the huge amount of work Brian Storey put into it when he was S-G.
Finally, the WCF GC Rules Committee has been looking at two new official rulings for Rule 9. A complete updated list of official rulings has now been uploaded at http://www.wcfcroquet.org/Rules/Official%20GC%20Rulings%20-January%202011.pdf.
The MC has two quite large proposals in the final stages of edits and updates, which we hope to get out to the WCF Members for their comments shortly - it's taking a big push to get these proposals out the door - "just one last little thing" keeps delaying us. I'll be glad when they're done as then we can catch up with some other things we need to do, like planning for events.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Putting it all together
We've been building up quite a few decisions and proposals on how events are run - and particularly how they are scheduled and agreed. I've been struggling with how best to discuss these with the WCF Member associations and get their ideas and approval. We sent one set of specific proposals out for consulation at the start of January - but it struck me that if we did the same with everything, the Members would be snowed under. They'd also get lots of "point solutions" to comment on, without being shown the big picture of where we're trying to get to.
So after about a week of trying to "clear the decks" to let me think about this, I've finally managed to pull all our event-related ideas together into one larger story. This centres around an outline schedule for events for the next 10 years. Attached to this, we can talk about the different kinds of event, how they are planned, the fees charged, how seeding and the draw operates and so on. It should help us to resolve a number of "loose ends" and also give the Members a clearer picture of the future and what events they might want to bid to host.
This would be a great advance, as at present we're having to try to organise events at the same time as discussing how to update all the rules that relate to holding events - with no clear picture of where we're trying to reach. So I've just finished a first draft, and hope to soon get it out to my colleagues on the MC for their thoughts and corrections, before it goes to our Members.
Next challenge: do a similar 'big picture' proposal on how to make the WCF more effective and the Members more engaged in its decision-making. We've discussed the material in the MC - it just needs pulling into shape. Mind you, it's probably not fair to hit the Members with both these large consultations at once.
Meanwhile, things are hotting up on the entries for the GC World Championships in July in London, and with getting ready for entries to the Women's GC Worlds that will be staged this November in New Zealand. So I have to split my time between trying to improve the "big picture" of how we're organised, and getting the important day-to-day things done. It's good to be busy!
Martin French
S-G
So after about a week of trying to "clear the decks" to let me think about this, I've finally managed to pull all our event-related ideas together into one larger story. This centres around an outline schedule for events for the next 10 years. Attached to this, we can talk about the different kinds of event, how they are planned, the fees charged, how seeding and the draw operates and so on. It should help us to resolve a number of "loose ends" and also give the Members a clearer picture of the future and what events they might want to bid to host.
This would be a great advance, as at present we're having to try to organise events at the same time as discussing how to update all the rules that relate to holding events - with no clear picture of where we're trying to reach. So I've just finished a first draft, and hope to soon get it out to my colleagues on the MC for their thoughts and corrections, before it goes to our Members.
Next challenge: do a similar 'big picture' proposal on how to make the WCF more effective and the Members more engaged in its decision-making. We've discussed the material in the MC - it just needs pulling into shape. Mind you, it's probably not fair to hit the Members with both these large consultations at once.
Meanwhile, things are hotting up on the entries for the GC World Championships in July in London, and with getting ready for entries to the Women's GC Worlds that will be staged this November in New Zealand. So I have to split my time between trying to improve the "big picture" of how we're organised, and getting the important day-to-day things done. It's good to be busy!
Martin French
S-G
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Hall of Fame open for 2011 nominations
THE WCF Hallf of Fame seeks nominations from January to June each year.
See http://www.wcfcroquet.org/Halloffame/hoff.htm for the people already inducted into the Croquet Hall of Fame - and also the nomination form for new candidates. Unsuccessful candidates from last year are carried forward - so don't need to be nominated again.
Happy Nominating!
Martin French
See http://www.wcfcroquet.org/Halloffame/hoff.htm for the people already inducted into the Croquet Hall of Fame - and also the nomination form for new candidates. Unsuccessful candidates from last year are carried forward - so don't need to be nominated again.
Happy Nominating!
Martin French
Friday, January 7, 2011
WCF Newsletters
Hi folks,
I've started a monthly newsletter to the WCF Member associations, summarising what the WCF Management Committee has been doing, what's decided, what's in progress and so on. I'm planning to publish them to the WCF website about a week after they've gone to the Members. I've just put the first two newsletters up:
Thanks.
regards
Martin French
Martin French
Secretary-General of the World Croquet Federation
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