The Girls Project”
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Female Hockey Development Plan “The Girls Project” Introduc>on Female sport in England has seen huge growth over recent years with ini7a7ves such as Sport England’s 'This Girl Can’ campaign, which clearly show an opportunity to expand female sports in the UK. Interna7onally, female ice hockey par7cipa7on numbers have seen a huge increase. Between 2007 and 2018 the number of registered female players worldwide grew from 153,665 to 205,674. Women’s hockey is on the rise in almost every part of the world and there are teams in North America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa and La7n America. Top level spectator figures in the United Kingdom (Elite Ice Hockey League) increased again during the 2019/20 season with a 6.8% increase on the previous season, with the average a]endance ranking 8th in Europe. Despite the upwards trend in female hockey globally, female par7cipa7on in a large number of Bri7sh sports and the increased spectator numbers, female ice hockey par7cipa7on in the United Kingdom has remained constant. This ambi7ous plan outlines the current state of female hockey within the United Kingdom along with changes needed to capitalise on exponen7al growth across the female game, helping the sport to grow and become sustainable. Where are we now? The female hockey pathway is currently delivered across three na7onal governing bodies, the Interna7onal Ice Hockey Federa7on (IIHF), Ice Hockey UK (IHUK) and the English Ice Hockey Associa7on (EIHA). The IIHF have overall responsibility for delivery of World Championships and Olympic Compe77on for ice hockey. They have also launched a series of development ini7a7ves for female hockey across the globe including: High Performance Camps, the World Girls Ice Hockey Weekend and the Girls Global Game. Ice Hockey UK are responsible for the female Great Britain programme which includes a Great Britain Senior Team and a Great Britain U18’s team. The English Ice Hockey Associa7on is responsible for all (six) female domes7c leagues for both seniors and juniors, which consists of 35 teams from 21 female clubs. The EIHA are also responsible for the ini7al stages of the performance programme, including team England, Conference programmes and the Power of 10 ini7a7ve. As part of the associa7on’s development agenda, it looks aber recrea7onal and university hockey as well as providing educa7on for coaches, volunteers and on-ice officials. During the 2019/20 there was 1,490 registered females across the sport. This includes the registra7on data for WNIHL league players, junior players, university players, on-ice officials and educa7on programme registra7ons. The numbers for recrea7onal hockey are not currently included. The breakdown of female registra7ons is as follows: Sec>on WNIHL & Junior University Educa7on On-Ice Officials Recrea7onal No. registered 918 307 310 31 TBC *There are 76 duplicate registra3ons across mul3ple sec3ons. Where do we want to be? The English Ice Hockey Associa7on aims to provide world leading female hockey programmes, raising the profile of the female game, increasing par7cipa7on, driving the female game forwards and providing opportuni7es for females to achieve their poten7al across the female hockey pathway. Ini7ally, we will look to collaborate with Ice Hockey UK, Scohsh Ice Hockey UK, Bri7sh Universi7es Ice Hockey Associa7on and EIHA Rec ensuring our vision for female hockey is replicated na7onwide. We will then look to develop partnerships with the Interna7onal Ice Hockey Federa7on, Sport England’s ‘This Girl Can’ campaign, Women in Sport and other key stakeholders in female sport. Through increased par7cipa7on and addi7onal opportuni7es for female players, compe77on across the female hockey pathway will be increase ensuring players, volunteers and on-ice officials can achieve their poten7al. Finally, the project will aim to ensure long term sustainable growth, providing all clubs with the knowledge and skills to create development plans, financial plans as well as suppor7ng them to improve their stability. The four main aims of the ‘GIRLS Project’ are: 1. Ensure all areas of the female hockey pathway are working collabora7vely to achieve a shared vision 2. Raise awareness of female hockey throughout the United Kingdom. 3. Increase female par7cipa7on across all areas of Ice Hockey, this includes but not limited to: a. Players b. Officials c. Coaches d. Manager e. Support Staff f. Media g. Volunteers 4. Improve the stability and succession planning across the female pathway. The main objec>ves: GROW - Increase awareness of female ice hockey across the United Kingdom 1. Increase WNIHL twi]er following to 2,500 followers by the end of 2021/22 2. Introduce a WNIHL Facebook page, with 2,500 likes by end of 2021/22 3. Design, create and implement social media training for clubs INSPIRE - Inspire females of all ages, skill sets and knowledge to par7cipate in ice hockey 1. Publish weekly inspira7onal stories around people involved in ice hockey 2. Create an ice hockey myth buster to remove barriers to par7cipa7on 3. Launch a UK wide group of 50 role models from all areas of the sport RECRUIT - Increase the number of females involved across all areas of ice hockey 1. Launch an annual ‘Female Hockey Development Day’ 2. Launch a ‘volunteer' programme, with online training and discussions 3. Each region (North, Midlands, South East & South West) to deliver 5 recruitment ini7a7ves annually. LEAD - Equip clubs with the skills and knowledge to deliver the GIRLS message 1. Launch a ‘GIRLS’ champion ini7a7ve 2. Create online guidance for clubs to deliver the GIRLS message 3. Deliver online planning workshops for club leaders to develop sustainable plans SUCCEED - Provide opportuni7es for females to achieve their poten7al across the sport 1. Simplify the female pathway to cover all aspects of the sport, to include Coaches, Managers, Officials, Players, Off-Ice Staff, Commi]ee Members 2. Develop addi7onal compe77ons across the player pathway, to include development cup, 3 v 3, U16’s na7onal compe77on. 3. Celebrate the collabora7on, growth and development of female hockey across the UK. Objec> Ac>on Plan Due Date Responsibili KPI’s ve ty Establish a GIRLS sec7on on the EIHA website - Create page Sec7on of the EIHA designs website established All - Develop content - Publish page Bring together a project team across all areas of the sport, led Project team All by the WNIHL league management group formalised Present project plan to EIHA board for approval Board presenta7on All completed & proposal approved Present project plan to key stakeholders across the sport: - Informa7on delivered Educa7on Programme to all sec7ons and - Officials feedback collated All - University - Recrea7on - Performance Programme (Conference, ENTP & Team GB) - JLMC Present the project plan to WNIHL clubs and collate feedback WNIHL clubs sign All agreement to support ini7a7ve Design and Implement female par7cipa7on surveys: - Female Survey data All par7cipants presented - Female clubs/teams Outline repor7ng and monitoring procedure: - Social media Repor7ng procedures tracking (weekly report) established - Par7cipa7on numbers (Quarterly) Reports completed All - Budget & financial repor7ng (Quarterly) - Survey data (Annual) - ‘Odd Balls’ Player of the month par7cipa7on (Monthly) Establish partnerships with key stakeholders: - Sport England - Formal partnerships This Girl Can formed with key stakeholders - Women in Sport All - IIHF - IHUK - SIH-UK Write and implement a UK-wide female ice hockey social Twi]er = 2.5k media strategy: Facebook = 2.5k Grow - To include a shared annual calendar with all stakeholders - Allow clubs the opportunity to add to the calendar - Develop project branding guidelines Embed the GIRLS message in the EIHA & IHUK media and GIRLS message communica7ons strategy embedded in the Grow EIHA communica7on plan Create set of standards for female clubs (Gold, Silver & WNIHL media Grow Bronze) - Review annually with new social media standards produced developments Objec> Ac>on Plan Due Date Responsibili KPI’s ve ty Design and create a club social media training-programme/ Training programme guidance: developed • Wri7ng a match report Grow • Crea7ng basic graphics • The use of hash tags • Linking to the GIRLS message and WNIHL media Deliver online social media training to clubs Successful delivery - Grow • Ques7on & Answer Sessions 20 Sign up. • Overview of expecta7ons Create a shared space for teams/clubs to upload photo and Shared space Grow video content for other clubs to use launched with restricted access Create a media contact list for all female clubs Contact list Grow established & distributed Increase entries for the player of the Develop the ‘OddBalls’ player of the month scheme: month scheme 1. Online entry form for fans, players and clubs Grow 2. Shortlist by WLMG Increased Online vote to pick the winner engagement on social media Weekly ‘Team in Grow Launch a ‘Team in focus’ campaign across the season Focus’ across all WNIHL plaqorms Launch an annual publicity campaign, linking to the IIHF Grow World Girls Ice Hockey Weekend, Girls Global Game and Annual publicity stunt Interna7onal Women’s Day Create a female hockey ambassador scheme across the UK, Online registra7on a]rac7ng females from all areas of the game to get involved: process established • Set up an online registra7on form 52 ambassadors • Create ambassador profiles online (EIHA website) signed up by end of Inspire • Launch a weekly ‘Ambassador in Focus’ post year 1 Lead Weekly ‘Ambassador in Focus’ posts across all WNIHL media channels Create