How to get the best out of your club

Courteney Jacobs was recently recognised at the England Athletics East Regional Volunteer Awards for her volunteering work with her club. We caught up with Courteney after the presentation evening to talk about her experiences as a young club committee member with Great Yarmouth Road Runners.

Courteney originally joined the club to motivate herself to turn up every week to run and get better. Despite initially hating running, this approach worked for her!

Still in her twenties, Courteney has been a big part of recruiting younger members. Right at the start of her time with the club, the Chairman reached out to say her potential had been spotted and that she should come on board and join the committee.

"He said I was a young member and like talking to people! Which I do - I'll talk to anyone."

Getting young people involved, but not alienating older members

She quickly settled into the Club Secretary role and used her knowledge of websites and social media to engage with younger and tech savvy potential members.

"To engage younger members, we have mostly used social media - so not just Facebook - we've used Instagram, TikTok, all different ways of being involved with younger people. They're always on their phones and using all sorts of different technology."

However, as a young Club Secretary, she needs to ensure the original older members of the club don't feel left out, and mix with the newer, young members.

"Our older members are brilliant at knowing the club, knowing what's worked over time. But in order to make them included with the newer members, it's bringing in those ideas and involving them as well."

"It’s with their knowledge and our new ideas that we're able to mix together really well and then make it work."

Ensuring new runners feel welcome

Courteney isn’t just a club committee member, she’s also gained her Leader in Running Fitness (LiRF) qualification, taken on the Couch to 5k registration and introduced a buddy system which means she works with the club’s coaches and arranges someone to run with newer runners to help them feel at home, included and ultimately join the club.

She told us: "My favourite thing about being a Run Leader is I love seeing someone go from saying to me ‘I can't do 5k, I can't do 10k’. And we go out, we do a run and within a few weeks they're absolutely smashing it."

"It's brilliant to see that progress - and I'm thinking I can't keep up with you now, you're going too fast."

Doing the Couch to 5k registration means that she can engage with not only members of the club but the public too to help bring more people in. She’s certainly helped future-proof the club for years to come.

Club Secretary top tips

Courteney’s top tips for anyone starting out as a Club Secretary:

• Try new things.
• Do what works for you.
• Don't be afraid to ask questions - because everyone who is part of the club will be able to help you in one way or another.