Macklins Newsletter #1. February 2024

Welcome to the 1st edition of the Macklins Netball Club Newsletter! We aim to create a new edition every month to keep parents, carers and players up to date with everything going on in the club!

We always welcome feedback, so let us know what else you would like to see feature in future editions of the newsletter via our email, macklinsnc@gmail.com.

As a Committee, after feedback from players and parents, we will now be looking to treat the club as a 'performance' club. Essentially, this means we will be maintaining high standards both at training and matches across all age groups. 

All members will be expected to attend training sessions and team selections will be made based on this. This also means that there are opportunties for players to be moved up and down between teams based on ability, performance and commitment.

• Players will be expected to hold themselves accountable to practice and perfect the basics in their own time. For example, practicing passing and catching against a wall in the garden, or shooters putting up shots to perfect their technique. This will not only help players to improve, but enable coaches to focus on more technical and game-play based skills in training. We are more than happy for players to borrow netballs from the club in order to do this, just ask a member of committee at training.
• Going forward, Junior members will be expected to select their availability on Teamo on the Wednesday before their match by 6pm. The teams will then be selected by the following evening. Penalty fees will be introduced to players who say they are available and do not show up to the match. 
• We will also be asking all Juniors (apart from the youngest team, U11s) to wear dresses to their matches. We all want our players to look and feel professional and as part of a team when they step onto the court. The dresses we currently use are Gilbert Black and White dresses, which are usually around £25 (currently £25.50 on Netball UK). Please reach out to a member of committee if there are any troubles surrounding kit. 

Our training and match fees are calculated by our Treasurers to ensure our members still pay the lowest price possible. The Club does not take a profit from member fees. We can provide a spreadsheet that details how money is spent in the club, and we are looking to circulate this to you soon. 

Our current outstanding fees across the club sit at £3054.28.

When we have such large outstanding fees, we may be unable to pay important costs such as hall hire and match fees, which means that we cannot train or participate in leagues. 

To prevent such high outstanding fees, we will be introducing a fee cap to all players. This is as follows: 

£60 for Juniors 

£80 for Seniors 

Any player with outstanding fees over these caps will not be allowed to play in matches until the fees are paid. The cap will come into place at the end of February. You can find your outstanding payments on Teamo under your profile. Anyone concerned with payments or are struggling to make payments can contact a member of committee, where we may be able to arrange other payment plans on an individual basis. 

We are currently seeking new new sponsorship for the club. If you or anyone you know may be interested, please let one of the committee know. Sponsorship will enable us to improve the club even further, for example, purchasing new kit and equipment.

If you have any questions from now on, please direct these towards our email address macklinsnc@gmail.com as opposed to messages to individual committee members on Teamo; all of our committee have access to the email account, so the right person will be able to help you through this format. 

Follow our Instagram account @macklinsnc to see lots of content from the club, such as upcoming fixtures, results and player successes. 

For the brand new season, we have decided to bring in some brand new names for our Junior teams! We wanted some fresh names that we haven't used before to move away from teams named after age groups. 

Macklins U11s > Macklins Cyclone

Macklins Minis > Macklins Tornado

Macklins Mix > Macklins Storm

Macklins U17s > Macklins Hurricane

Thank you for taking the time to read through this newsletter. We hope it has given you some answers to questions you may have had. Thank you also for sticking with us through recent times, we are working extremely hard to put plans in place to improve the club that we all love. 

 Macklins Committee x

In next month's newsletter:

• Introduction to our Coaches!
• Some exciting player news
• And more important info