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What are the main areas of support available to clubs from the Club Development Manager (you) in Sussex?

The CDM role aims to provide support to clubs in the areas that the club most needs. We expect our CDMs to have a close working relationship with the club, for them to work together to understand where the club is going and what its needs are. The support offered from this point is then entirely geared to the clubs needs, whether that be Coach Education, volunteer recruitment, player recruitment, player development or funding / facility development. Clubmark is a fundamental part of this process and the ECB Development Planning tool aims to aid clubs to plan for the future.

From the huge role that a County Board plays in helping Clubs and Leagues in the County, is there a specific area that you find more clubs need help with and could you give an example of this?

The most common areas of need are volunteer recruitment and facility development / funding. We have worked with many clubs on both, with clubs changing the way they recruit and retain volunteers across the whole club and supporting clubs in funding bids to ECB and other partners. Funding is always difficult to find, but our role is to make sure that the clubs priorities fit with the growth of the game and then point them in the right direction.

If you were to advise a Club in Sussex on how best to utilise the County Board, what would your answer be?

Talk to us! The support one clubs needs is always different from another club. The best thing we can do, whilst it is not tangible, is sit down with a club and talk through options. There can follow many different ways in which clubs and the county board can work together, but the best starting point is discussing what the club needs.