U13 Bantam Girls Ontario Cup Programme

IS YOUR CLUB EXCELLENT? Participation in sport and recreation is more than just finding a club that wins a lot of basketball games. Throughout amateur sport in Canada, there exists an increased focus on accountability to parents and their children, risk management assessment, development programming, quality coaches and administrators, and fiscal transparency. It is for these reasons that Ontario Basketball (OBA) recently announced its partnership with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, True Sport Foundation and the Club Excellence Cooperative (CEC) to launch a basketball club excellence strategy throughout province.

“We are proud of the more than 200 member clubs within Ontario Basketball that represent our sport in communities across Ontario. Most of these clubs are administered by dedicated local volunteers. The launch of Club Excellence will strengthen the capacity of our clubs and provide invaluable resources, enabling them to deliver the sport with excellence to the thousands of members who rely on our professionalism and quality standards,” said Ken Urbach, president, Ontario Basketball. “We share an incredible responsibility with our clubs to ensure our members enjoy a safe and rewarding basketball experience. OBA looks forward to working with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport and continue to strengthen our existing member clubs.”

OBA has joined leading national sport organizations in embracing the Club Excellence program which is helping to build a network of healthy, strong and sustainable sport clubs across Canada. As an Associate Member, OBA now enjoys access to a range of customized tools and resources to improve club programs. Targeted workshops will help member clubs become Club Excellence certified, building capacity in a number of critical areas including coaching, people management, governance, recruitment, financial accountability, marketing, and revenue generation. OBA will be working with its Regional Stakeholders Network and member clubs to identify the sport-specific categories required in addition to the Club Excellence mandated standards.

The Club Excellence Cooperative (CEC) was created in 2007 with common goals to identify a stable and supportive environment for coaches, improve implementation of Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) at the community level, and ensure quality club programming. The Club Excellence program was then created to help build a network of healthy, strong and sustainable sport clubs and sport organizations, across Canada. Based on 30 standards, Club Excellence can help in building capacity within program delivery, coaching, people management, governance, financial accountability, and marketing, recruitment and revenue generation.

Founding Members of the Club Excellence Cooperative (CEC) include Swimming Canada, Speedskating Canada, CanoeKayak Canada, Athletics Canada, Gymnastics Canada, and the True Sport Foundation.

“OBA is the first major team sport organization to join Club Excellence. They clearly see the opportunity to apply the Club Excellence certification program to raise the quality of the sport at the grassroots level. We look forward to their contribution to our campaign to improve sport delivery at the local club level,” said John Edwards, Chair of Club Excellence Cooperative.

Through the Associate Membership paid for by OBA, the Club Excellence program will be available to Ontario Basketball member clubs in good standing, focusing on all the characteristics of strong, sound clubs, from management to governance and program delivery. It will also allow OBA to provide discounts to their member clubs on Club Excellence services, and gives them a voice in the stewardship of this innovative, standards-based certification program.

“Club Excellence represents a significant financial investment from OBA to its member clubs,” said Michael Cvitkovic, executive director, Ontario Basketball. “We believe this investment aligns our clubs more closely, provides strong risk management and continues our commitment to Canadian Sport for Life principles. OBA clubs are the foundation of our organization and so it is imperative that we provide them with the necessary resources to succeed. No matter where our parents and athletes live, they should expect the same services from their local clubs.”

For more information, visit www.clubexcellence.com.