Learn Handball has a new club visit

Midway between the Easter skiing, the slalom slope and the après-ski, it might have been lovely to sit down by the cabin wall with some interesting reading material. We at Learn Handball have made another “club visit”, and this time we are at Askøy Håndballklubb.
In recent years Askøy has seen a huge increase in new handball players, and has more than doubled the number of members in the club. Over the past four years, membership has increased from 341 to 732 (of which 50 youth players have become 192), from 1 club referee to 32, from 25 registered teams in the series to 82, from 2 senior teams to 6, and played their way up from 7th Division to 3rd Division on the women's side.
Impressive? Yes, we think so and!

We have spoken to the sporting director of Askøy Håndballklubb, Hilde Daae Johannessen, to get a little insight into the process behind the great numbers.
“A few years ago, the club had a solid organizational plan with good role descriptions, but we also needed a sports plan. I got with a couple of other keen Askøy souls who drew up a sports plan and started a sporting selection. We held kick-off, mini-days for recruitment, coaching forum and incorporated regular team contacts for each team into the sporting line-up. We started a website to make ourselves more visible, and took a lot of action to make the club more club-run. We merged several groups that trained separately, and created larger training groups for those approaching adolescence. A youth committee also was established, so that the youth should be heard.”

Johannessen explains that they were the first club in Norway to take the club analysis to Klubbhuset (the NHF's program on Club Development), due to a desire to further develop. Following the analysis, the board and sporting committee hold regular seminars each year where they work structured with key elements to make the club even better. Askøy conducts many coaching courses and refereeing courses every year, and has a lot of activity from the board and sporting committee out towards parent contacts and coaches. It has been important as a club that the sporting committee maintains a good and regular dialogue out towards each individual team of the club in order to maintain the framework and values that the organisation wishes to represent.
To emphasize this, Johannessen adds:

'I think the most important thing has been that the club has been club managed and that while parents and coaches don't always agree, it's the club's values and rules that reflect what we do. '

In conclusion, Johannessen rounds off with the following:
'We've introduced an offer of positional training sessions for all youth teams, of mixed age and gender, to create club affinity through interaction across the teams. Now that it is also Easter, Askøy has organized a chicken cup for the age group 6-11 years in which 400 of our youngest members have participated. And for the older groups we have arranged nightcup, which has been a fun get-together for the elders.”
Although the club is well managed, Johannessen cannot get around another important factor for the success of the club:
“We have many enthusiasts who participate as coaches, referees, parent contacts and other elected officials. Without them, as a club there will be no roads”

What do you think of Askøy's focus on club management? Are there moments that inspire?

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Published on Facebook 20.04.2019