2018 BWA Participation, Staff and Volunteer Survey

Members will recall that the 2018 British Wrestling Association Survey took place over the Christmas period, starting 22^nd December 2018.

The British Wrestling Board considered the survey outcomes at their February 2019 meeting at which the following reports were available, (further detail was available to them in addition).

The survey outcomes are given below as an Executive Summary, a List of Actionable Items and a set of the statistics.

Any questions about the survey should be addressed to the Chief Executive via ce@britishwrestling.org

Thank you to everyone who took the trouble to reply to the survey.

Executive Summary.

This year, the number of respondents was 53.  The combined total across all respondents of years actively involved in Wrestling was 836yrs! (1265yrs in 2017).  Whilst the survey represented a small number of respondents in comparison to the overall membership (which includes a large number of transient Recreational memberships) the validity of the sample seems reinforced by many questions being answered with a very similar profile of answers to previous years – albeit, portraying a gently improving picture, with the ‘Dissatisfied’ option often being zero.

Home Nations issues came through clearly in verbatim answers: Northern Ireland, with a set of strong views in the 2017 survey, came across more muted in 2018, but now joined by Scottish issues.

The BWA’s emphasis over recent years on “Respect for Officials” appears to be paying off with a rise from 41% -> 65% of respondents “Satisfied” with “the level of respect the officials receive from participants when I compete in Wrestling.”

It is worth mentioning that there was a concerning theme from Northern Ireland that appears to believe that it should be for the BWA to pay for the training/certificates of volunteers, should the BWA demand any qualifications beyond that of the willing volunteer.  Unfortunately, this is not how sport is administered/survives in the UK.

The verbatim, open, responses give a good insight into the concerns of respondents.  Most of the comments/suggestions are items that the BWA has/is considering/working on delivering.  In general, the survey endorses support for the current activities, but that they should go (a) faster and (b) further.

The summary of one respondent’s response deserves airing: “Management to understand that without good Officials and Volunteers, Wrestling will not progress to the levels the competitor [Nations] can achieve”

Actionable items

1. Branding / New Website / Communications
   1. Investigate options for competing athletes to create a profile on the BWA website
   2. guidance to local support for clubs with more club orientated information in a single section
   3. Create a Social Media “communication matrix for volunteers etc.”

2. New Wrestling “products” favoured by Sport England/other sports
   1. Create a simple version of wrestling to take the stereotype out of the sport. Potentially looking at something like Eddy Kavanagh’s Tag Wrestling, perhaps already practised by many, but certainly with the support of multiple Head Teachers across Salford and Bolton with Eddy’s particular version (a suggestion already on the Club Development Manager’s list, but not yet at a high enough priority to get done)

3. Apparel
   1. Whilst not much mentioned, (and the fact that a full 93% are not feeling embarrassed or awkward Q20,) the sought-after new UWW singlet formats are willingly paid for. Well-designed similarly striking singlets for domestic competition should (a) increase “stick” to the sport and (b) raise limited funds for the BWA

4. Calendar (mentioned just once)
   1. “Organising the BWA Wrestling Calendar according the School Year and family holidays time” (Q32)

5. Financial
   1. BWA to provide support in identifying grant opportunities – and how to proactively fundraise via community involvement
   2. BWA to select merchandise partner to make wrestling equipment easily available (and perhaps generate some surplus funds)

6. Club Development / Facilities
   1. BWA to advise on mat-types for (a) cost effective suppliers, and (b) types of mats that can be put down and taken up easily, making more facilities useable practicably
   2. The notion of a National Coach visiting clubs was raised. This proved difficult with Anatolii and he was, perhaps, overqualified for club athlete tuition.  There may be a middle way of using Coach/Official Development funding to pay the appropriate level of coach to tour and do “in-club” coach tuition, whilst inspiring the younger members

7. Coaching
   1. Need to focus on how to get more coaches trained
   2. A Coaching CPD weekend could be orientated towards “’match tactics’ and overall strategy” tied in, perhaps with the response “Try to get more UWW coaches to hold seminars when possible (Q43)”

8. Officials
   1. Have an Officials “referral line” to a Lead Official who will give advice
   2. Isolate 45mins at the beginning of a competition to a Referee update for Coaches and Officials, whilst the pairing is being managed. Perhaps an extension to the existing pre-competition briefing meeting
   3. Regular (6mthly) review of athletes nearing the end of their “careers” with a view to actively recruiting them to be officials, with incentives such as annual recognition awards
   4. Add signing up a “Code of conduct” on entering a competition on-line – so all taking part have agreed to respect and protect officials

9. Tournaments
   1. The survey again highlights the known need to improve the production of Tournaments, both for athlete enjoyment, impact to spectators and financially with merchandising. Any Sport England underspend should be reviewed against the possibility of investing here.

10. Learning for next year’s questionnaire:
    1. Culture and Heritage to be added as reasons for Wrestling
    2. Advertising campaign to secure a more representative sample of the membership across more sections, with a tangible reward
    3. A review of the questions, perhaps different sets for different elements of the community
    4. Start production of the questionnaire earlier in the year