Building the Ideal Workforce for Your Club
The workforce of your club is key to great experiences for your members. The volunteers, coaches, committee members and helpers make your club tick every day, so recruiting, supporting and developing them is important to the future success of your club.
Additional Resources
Downloadable guides and templates to help you establish and run your club and better support your participants
Recruiting the right people for your club
We all see our boxers under quite stressful situations all of the time. If one of my boxers comes in and they are looking a bit down, I know straight away, just from their body language, their gait and their facial expressions."
A coach featured in England Boxing Research (2019)
Understanding the needs of your participants is the first step to recruiting the right people for your club. The England Boxing Community research project revealed that the coach relationship is the most crucial element in the running of a club.
This is because the boxer-coach relationship is founded on respect. Coaches make themselves available for their members (often at the expense of their own relationships) but as such become a constant for the young person.
This bond can encourage disclosures from members who can be the only reliable person in their life. So, their role extends beyond teaching good technique to leadership, mentoring and role-modelling. Coaches support lifestyle changes in diet, social life etc.
Therefore, the coach is key to recruitment and retention of participants in the club.
I think you’ll find that anybody who wants to be a boxer will tell you is about building that relationship. Boxers are great role models. They’re really, really good and calm. They can control their emotions, most of the children we work with can’t so it’s about having them emotional intelligence to know how much you can push someone when to challenge when not to challenge right to put an arm around them."
A coach featured in England Boxing Research (2019)
What do people want from a great coaching experience?
To create a picture of key coaching behaviours, UK Coaching captured the thoughts and words of four key participant groups:
- Inactive.
- Children.
- Talent.
- Active lifestyle.
Find out the results in the following videos, then read our guide on coaching behaviours.
- Do you know what your participants want from a session or the activities they take part in?
Do you know enough about your club members and what they want from a coach?
Do you know what constitutes a ‘great experience’ for them?
Once you have an idea of your participants’ needs, you can think about what makes a great club coach/volunteer for your club. Really consider what you need in a coach: what do they need to bring and what could you give them?
How important is it, for example, to have a coaching qualification, boxing knowledge or people skills?
Sometimes the parents expect us to discipline them as well because they have done this, or they have done that, and they will expect us to do something about it. They will say like they listen to you, they don't listen to me."
A coach featured in England Boxing Research (2019)
For more on this, have a read of our story featuring Q Shillingford.
Identifying methods of recruiting coaches/volunteers
Now you have an idea of what type of person you are looking for, you can go about recruiting people to fit the roles your club needs.
This could include:
- Coach.
- Coaching Assistant.
- Helper.
- Admin support.
- Social media support.
- Committee member.
Some people might be right in front of you, such as current boxers or parents in the club who might be willing to get involved, for example.
However, sometimes you might need to think outside the box, or outside your club. There are potentially lots of people outside of your club or community who could be brilliant volunteers.
In this video, Wayne Bloy from Fusion BC talks about how they built up the club’s workforce, including apprentices.
Where could you think outside your club to attract volunteers?
In this video, Brendan Warburton from Sheffield City Boxing Club tells how he has made links with local universities to recruit student volunteers for different roles.
Designing your perfect induction!
What might coaches/volunteers want when they start? Don’t just drop them into it!
You need to think about their induction. How can you help them to understand the:
- Club.
- People.
- Processes.
Note: An induction is not just a one-off session, it might go on for a number of weeks/months in order to:
- Help someone feel welcome and understand their role.
- Ensure they understand all the policies and procedures: the welfare/safeguarding lead are key people in the club.
- Help them to get to know people in the club and see all the activity that goes on in the club.
- Help them to get to know the participants in the club and what a training or activity session looks like.
- Help them to understand/explore where they see themselves in the club: where they feel they could give and get most being involved. This is a joint process, not just about the club putting someone in a slot that they need filling.
What key things do you need to support volunteers?
- Welcome them into club life.
- Be clear about their role and time commitments (start small, or whatever level they feel comfortable in).
- Can you give them some kit straight away to give them a sense of belonging?
- Keep communicating with them.
- Introduce them to key people and offer a ‘buddy’ if possible. Someone they can lean on
- Support them to complete all relevant paperwork, DBS form and signpost to safeguarding course if needed.
For more ideas about how to deliver a great induction, have a read of our tips on coach inductions.
Safeguarding & Protecting Children (Online Classroom)
Raise your awareness of the tell-tale signs of abuse, and gain the tools and confidence you need to deal with any issues sensitively, appropriately and effectively.
LEARN MORE
Safeguarding & Protecting Children (Workshop)
Interactive workshop to help you recognise poor practice and the red flags of abuse, while prompting a review of your coaching to ensure a positive, enriching experience for all children.
LEARN MORE
Duty to Care
The Duty to Care movement aims to help create a nurturing coaching culture where the safety, well-being and welfare of participants is at the heart of coaches’ practice. Join the growing movement of dedicated coaches committed to actively creating a culture of care in sport and physical activity.
LEARN MORESupporting and developing your workforce
Ongoing support for the coaches and volunteers within your club is important to develop them to be the best they can be and to help retain them.
How much learning and development does your club offer to its workforce?
Some of the issues facing boxing coaches identified by the England Boxing research project were:
- feeling unprepared to deal with people involved in gang activity outside the gym
- mental health
- partnering with police.
Real Men Don’t Carry Knives project
Anfield ABC are involved in this project, which addresses this serious problem by building partnerships.
This video explains how:
Mind Fit
Pat Benson Academy use boxing as part of their Mind Fit programme to tackle mental health issues amongst young people. Find out more about the programme in this video:
Disability
Poole ABC make sure their club and its activities are truly inclusive for disabled people. Learn more about how they do this in this video: