Ontario Basketball Introduces Club Excellence

Young athletes playing basketball in Ontario deserve an enriching experience through their club that provides everything they need to develop and succeed. With the newly-implemented Club Excellence model, clubs affiliating under the Ontario Basketball Association will follow guidelines that measure up to a standard set by the OBA and the Club Excellence Committee.

 

Introduced at the 2017 Annual Meeting of Members, the purpose of the Club Excellence program is to implement standards across Ontario for clubs to adhere to, and to ensure organizational best practices are supported and followed. These standards are in line with Canada Basketball, and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport in governing youth sport.

 

“The Club Excellence initiative will help us understand where member clubs need support and how Ontario Basketball can provide the resources required to raise the level of our sport across the province,” said Steph Rudnick, president of Ontario Basketball. “This is the start of a giant leap forward for our club system and these guidelines set all our members on a path to excellence and accountability.”

 

Through the pilot phase of an evaluation tool, established by the Club Excellence Committee and approved by Ontario Basketball Board of Directors, clubs will be asked to assess their best practices in a self-assessment that focuses on five key areas:

 

  1. Long-term Athlete Development and Canadian Sport for Life alignment
  2. Coaching and Education
  3. Athlete Wellbeing
  4. Membership and Registration
  5. Governance and Administration

 

This assessment will help clubs and associations consistently adhere to a set of standards determined by Ontario Basketball, which can be used as a benchmark to compare to other clubs and better develop their own programs and support systems.

 

Several clubs are piloting the Club Excellence evaluation tool now with plans to roll it out to all clubs over the coming months. If your club is interested in piloting the Club Excellence self-assessment please contact Mike Barbin.