East Norriton Girls Athletic Association Strategic Plan 2014

East Norriton Girls Athletic Association Strategic Plan

2014
Introduction:
Established in 1977, the East Norriton Girls Athletic Association (ENGAA) continues to serve as an integral part of the East Norriton Township community by providing recreational sports programs its female youth.
Our bylaws define our objective as:

“Under the direction of the East Norriton Board of Supervisors, to promote girls athletic programs by providing leadership and formulating policies for the development of good character.”

Our philosophy is summed up in our motto:


“Good athletes today, better citizens tomorrow”
ENGAA is comprised of nearly 300 athletes, over 40 coaches, five executive board members and three sports directors. ENGAA currently runs three successful sports programs, basketball, field hockey, and softball.
This document represents ENGAA’s strategic plan, outlining mission, vision, priorities, and plans for future success. This plan will serve to chart a course for ENGAA’s future in the 1-3 year horizon.
Our strategic planning process was developed based on input from the ENGAA Executive Board Members and our three Sports Directors. The Board and Directors are committed to achieving the goals identified in this strategic plan, reviewing progress quarterly, and conducting a full annual review to ensure targets are on track versus plan. The plan will be revised biannually.

Strategic Planning Process

Strategic Planning:

The output of strategic planning is a guidance for fulfilling the mission of our organization, efficiently and effectively aligning and maximizing our resources. The finished product is a roadmap for how we expect to achieve our vision.

The strategic planning process follows a logical sequence of activities. The process first

starts with creating a Mission Statement. The Mission Statement is simply stated as the objective of our organization. Once the mission of the organization is clearly defined and agreed by the leadership of the organization, the organization develops a Vision Statement, that aligns to its mission, that defines the goals of the organization. The vision statement is the foundation of the strategic plan and will guide all future steps. Future decisions and actions should reflect our vision.

Once the vision is clearly established, the organization can then align its priorities for achieving it.
The guidance we used in ENGAA to establish our strategic plan is as follows:
The Strategic Plan:

• 
  Identifies goals/priorities and resource planning
  
• 
  Is reviewed on agreed cycle
  
• 
  Is based on simplicity – it needs to be an achievable, uncomplicated plan.
  

Mission Statement:

• 
  Concise statement of our purpose, i.e. why do we exist?
  
• 
  Present tense
  
• 
  What we want to be known for internally/externally
  
• 
  Our objective as an organization
  

Vision Statement:

• 
  Focuses on goals and aspirations
  
• 
  Inspires commitment
  
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  Unifies ENGAA membership, guides decisions
  
• 
  Long-term
  
• 
  Clear, concise, simple to understand – short in length, broad in scope
  
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  Will be made public and visible
  
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  Will have human value / community elements
  

ENGAA Mission / Vision Statement

Vision Guiding Principles
The following are the guiding principles for the strategic plan priorities and values. These core concepts represent the most significant areas of need for ENGAA and are essential

to facilitate future excellence.

Organizational Sustenance

Executive Board members and Sports Directors serve terms of 2 years. ENGAA understands that for the most part our volunteers remain involved only during the years that their children participate in ENGAA sports. For this reason it is essential that the organization continues to solicit new volunteers and board members, and transition knowledge and governance processes to incoming members.

Community Engagement

In order to meet its goals, ENGAA needs to work with a variety of constituents to obtain financial support, market our sport programs, promote ENGAA athletics, and build strong relationships within our ENGAA community and externally.

Skill Development

While recreational programs are meant to engage the community and provide a fun, athletic learning environment for its youth, ENGAA believes that excellence in skill development will lead directly to sustaining our organization’s membership, bring in talent from surrounding communities, and serve as a feeder program for scholastic athletics.

ENGAA provides significant value to the community by offering quality sports programs to the community at a reasonable price, without financial profit. We aim to provide the necessary personnel and facilities to support skills development of our athletes.
Quality Facilities

ENGAA endeavors to be the very best when representing our community in athletic competition. We are committed to provide the necessary facilities to support skill development to achieve future success.

Fiscal and Community Responsibility

It is imperative that ENGAA demonstrates integrity in all areas of its operation. We are dedicated to overall financial stability, rules compliance, and diversity as it reflects the image of our organization.

ENGAA Strategic Priorities
Sports Directors from each ENGAA sport have outlined the key priorities in the 1 – 3 year horizon that align to the ENGAA Vision. The Executive Board has endorsed these priorities as a means to advancing our organization to meet our mission.
Softball:
The strategic priorities for the softball program focus on skills development for our athletes. We believe improvements to our facilities and recruitment and development of our coaching staff should be our predominant areas of focus over the 3 year horizon, and will directly lead to continued skills development.
We have long-standing relationship with Penn Christian Academy, East Norriton Township, and Norristown Area School District that we plan to continue to leverage to ensure continued facility improvement and community engagement over the long-term horizon. Those organizations provide the softball fields and training facilities utilized by the ENGAA softball program.
The East Norriton Volunteer Fire Co shares a property line with Penn Christian Academy and supports ENGAA Softball by providing use of their parking lots and a portion of their property for field maintenance, storage, and waste collection.
Top Priorities:

1. 
   Continue our partnering relationships with Penn Christian Academy, East Norriton Township, NASD, and EN Volunteer Fire Co. By building strong relationships with these organizations, ENGAA looks to continue use of their facilities for the long-term and future support of our strategic priorities.
   
2. 
   Installation of Batting Cages at Penn Christian Academy fields.
   
3. 
   Construction of swale on EN Volunteer Fire Co property to control water runoff in front of ENGAA maintenance/storage sheds and snack stand. Runoff continues to cause water damage to ENGAA-owned structures, significantly reducing the life of these assets. The swale will also prevent damage to new equipment and structures to be located in this physical space.
   
4. 
   Regrade/refurbish PCA Field A.
   
5. 
   Purchase/construct new maintenance shed.
   
6. 
   Purchase/construct new snack stand building.
   
7. 
   Purchase new field maintenance equipment.
   
8. 
   Install electric line at ENGAA structures. The electric line will be used to power pitching machines, maintenance equipment, and snack stand equipment.
   
9. 
   Enhance skills development of coaching staff.
   

Action Plan:

• 
  Submit application for monetary donation for procurement and installation of batting cages (in process – application submitted to Industrial Development Authority). Approval obtained from PCA for locating on their grounds.
  
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  Raise funding for refurbishment of PCA Field A (in process). Approval obtained from PCA for construction project.
  
• 
  Enhance relationships with Penn Christian Academy and East Norriton Township. Forge new relationship with East Norriton Volunteer Fire Co.
  
• 
  Provide ENGAA’s Strategic Plan to all three organizations. Create opportunities for face-to-face meetings and attendance at board meetings to enhance the community’s understanding and endorsement of our strategic plan.
  
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  Obtain non-profit status for ENGAA.
  
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  Raise funding for Priority Items 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 once non-profit status is achieved.
  
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  Continue offering clinics during and off-season.
  
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  Develop coach’s training program.
  

Basketball:
The basketball program has been functioning smoothly for long period of time. It has fully-developed processes and guidelines for budgeting and running the program.
Practices and games are held Paul V. Fly Elementary School and Eisenhower Science and Technology Leadership Academy.
With the facilities already in place, the main needs for the program are based on equipment and skills development. Equipment needs are covered within the program’s annual budget, therefore the strategic plan focuses on skills development for coaches and players.
Top Priorities:

1. 
   Develop skills development benchmark levels for each age division.
   
2. 
   Run clinics outside of normal annual season player evaluations.
   
3. 
   Look for opportunities for more competitive play for EN female athletes.
   

Action Plan:

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  Develop action plan for developing benchmarks, including drafting guidelines, conducting training seminars for coaches to deliver training, developing coaching clinics, etc.
  
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  Obtain funding for gym time and skilled coaches to delivery clinics.
  
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  Explore opportunities to enter travel tournaments. Solicit interest from ENGAA basketball community.
  
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  Consider running a basketball tournament to bring in talent from neighboring communities.
  

Field Hockey:
The field hockey program has been stable, yet challenging due to the lack of training and game facilities, and lack of interleague play opportunities in surrounding areas.
The program practices at ENMS and NAHS either indoor or on the grass fields. NAHS has a turf field that is used for home games, but has been challenging to secure for practices on a routine basis. The use of the turf field for practices is a core need for the program.
Key areas of focus for the program are:
Top Priorities:

1. 
   Obtain additional funding opportunities for program.
   
2. 
   Advance player Skill development
   
3. 
   Advance Coach Skill Development
   
4. 
   Improve facilities by securing routine and consistent use of the turf field at NAHS.
   

Action Plan:

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  Start soliciting team sponsorships in preparation for 2015 season to cover budget expansion and coach certification.
  
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  Solicit support of high school players to coach, train coaches, and support clinics.
  
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  Schedule pe-season clinics starting in 2015.
  
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  Establish community of ENGAA coaches.
  
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  Support certification of ENGAA coaches through USA Field Hockey organization.
  
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  Develop coaching manual/program guidelines.
  
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  Explore other teams and outside organizations for advanced skill level play.
  
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  Secure NASD Turf Field for practices, clinics, and games staring 2015 season.
  
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  Establish relationship with NASD HS to allow for direct reservation of turf field, and other potential facility use opportunities.
  

ENGAA (Organization):
Top Priorities:

1. 
   Community Engagement
   
2. 
   Increased volunteerism
   
3. 
   Increase ENGAA board and sports director visibility internally and externally.
   
4. 
   Fundraising to support all sports programs.
   
5. 
   Obtaining grants to support quality facilities for Softball program.
   
6. 
   Continued fiscal responsibility for organizational stability.
   
7. 
   Organizational sustainability through proper governance structure and new membership.
   

Action Plan:

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  Continue organizing opening day ceremony (softball), closing ceremonies.
  
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  Participate in community events for community engagement and ENGAA promotional opportunities. Involvement in events such as EN parades, community days.
  
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  Host a mixer to solicit volunteer involvement and board visibility.
  
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  Host Beef and Beer events for fundraising, community engagement, and board visibility.
  
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  Obtain 501(c)3 non-profit accreditation.
  
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  Reach out to external organizations to apply for grants for softball facilities