Featured Report

2017/18 Community Sports Club Advanced Management
Course Graduation Ceremony and Sharing Session
Theme: New thinking in sports and leisure management

 

The 2017/18 Community Sports Club Advanced Management Course Graduation Ceremony cum Sharing Session was held at the Leisure and Cultural Services Headquarters in the afternoon of 4 March 2018. Time is slipping away, this course has already been held for more than ten years and has provided professional and pragmatic theoretical and practical training in sports development work during these past ten years.

On the day of the graduation ceremony, certificates were presented to participants who completed the course and students were arranged to share their learning experiences. Dr. Louie, Hung Tak, Lobo, Associate Professor, Department of Physical Education, Hong Kong Baptist University and Associate Director, Dr. Stephen Hui Research Centre for Physical Recreation and Wellness, was also invited to give a speech on “New Thinking in Sports and Leisure Management”. He gave lively and interesting examples to explain management and operational issues to guests and participants.

Dr. Louie started off by giving an example with a very famous Premier League Team. He pointed out that the team leader brought great income to the club but ignored the team’s performance, causing lots of criticism from fans. This reflected that the management plan did not meet the public’s expectations. He hoped that this example showed that communication was the key to management. Managers of community sports clubs had to interact with a variety of different people. Some were very interested in sports, while others were participating with the attitude of just giving it a try. Managers needed to understand the needs of all the parties and strike a balance. He mentioned the “Left-right Circles Theory”. The left circle contained the expectations and needs of participants while the right circle contained the services provided by community sports clubs. The larger the overlap between the two, the more the management plan would meet the public’s expectation.

Dr. Louie also pointed out that negative news was the crisis of management. He asked everyone: “What is 100 minus 1?” If this is purely a mathematics question, the answer will be 99, but in management, the answer will be 0. The “1” in the question is the professional image of the organisation and a mistake, no matter how small it is, can be shut down to an organisation. Therefore, managers must think twice before implementing any policy to balance the interests of all parties and formulate a sound comprehensive plan.

In addition, now that information technology is so advanced, community sports clubs could use technology well to assist in management. The most direct way was to use the Internet and social platforms to enhance communication and interaction with participants, so as to understand their expectations and needs and implement effective management solutions. The use of advanced technology would also save some administrative work time and make administrative management more convenient.

After the speech, the participants who completed the course shared their learning experiences and gains with the participants in four groups. Since the inception of the Community Sports Club Advanced Management Course in 2007, a large number of professionals who manage community sports clubs have received theoretical teaching and practical training to help them improve the level of community sports activities at community sports clubs and discover more outstanding athletes.