Introduction
At the Annual General Meeting of the League in 2011, the membership agreed that, following the workshop for Umpires and Bench Officials that was held in October 2011, there is a need for training at other levels in the Organization.  The Management of the League later decided that senior officials of the League should be targeted for up skilling in terms of Leadership and Management.

The workshop was held at the Eastern Regional Indoor Arena on the 6 and 13 October, 2012.  Each Club was invited to send two (2) of its senior officials.  On each day, there were about twenty-five (25) persons in attendance. Refreshments for the breaks and lunches were provided.

Course Objectives
In the two 5-hour sessions, it was proposed to

• Prep participants for leadership and management positions in the sport
• Sensitize and update regarding recent occurrences in coaching both at the local and international levels
• Assist participants with managing relationships among stakeholders
• Expose participants to some psychological aspects/learning in terms of personal development and behaviour.

Participants were also exposed to the new Fast 5 Rules. Fast 5 replaces Fastnet which was played for the past three (3) years.

The objectives of the workshop were delivered in a variety of ways, but mainly through the sharing of information by facilitators, who used multimedia materials and question and answer sessions in performing their roles.  The sessions were very participatory and interactive

Methodology
Each day was divided into two (2) main sessions followed by a short discussion of the Rules for Fast 5. 

On the first day, Session 1 was facilitated by Ms Bridget Adams, current Chairperson of the Technical and Development Committee of the Trinidad and Tobago Netball Association and member of the Regional Coaching Committee. Ms Adams’ subject area was “Overview of the Netball Coaching Programme in Trinidad and Tobago”.  Session 2 was handled by Ms Maureen Hall, experienced and most successful team coach of the Jamaican National Netball team, and current member of the Coaching Advisory Panel of the International Federation. The subject area was “Managing Relationships among Stakeholders”

The first session on Day 2 was facilitated by Ms Pat Butcher, member of the Management Committee of the League, and CEO of the T&T Hospitality Technical Institute. Ms Butcher is highly regarded as an agent of organizational transformation as she successfully managed to change around the fortunes of the ‘Hotel School’ into the best institution of its kind today.  She delivered on the topic “General Management Principles”

The final session was delivered by the renowned and accomplished Organizational and Development Consultant, Mr. L Anthony Watkins of Odyssey Consultinc. The subject area was “Personal Development Ethics and Standards”

Quality of Content
As indicated earlier each of the facilitators delivered through multimedia materials which they made available to the participants afterwards. The content was comprehensive, relevant, and provoked critical thinking and questions from the participants.  It is noted, and indeed the management of the League is grateful that these PowerPoint presentations are now reference material for participants, and others with whom they will share, especially within their clubs.

Quality of Instruction
Based on the feedback from the Programme Evaluation Documents, participants were extremely satisfied with the quality of instruction, the style of the presenters and the mode of interaction with them.  A great deal of information was shared and a lot of discussion and learning took place both in the class room and over the lunch periods

Recommendations
The main recommendation that was made by the majority of participants was that this programme should be extended to the wider netball membership. It was felt that the sharing of the content of this programme with the wider body would add much value to the general leadership and management in the sport.
Participants also felt that the programme should have been more widely advertised, should have been held at a larger venue, and should be held more often.

The Management has promised to consider these comments, and will discuss them at the next Annual General Meeting of the League, on 22 November 2012.

Conclusion
The Management of the League holds the view that this workshop was indeed a success in terms of value for money, based on the responses of the participants, and its own observations.  The benefits of this kind of exposure to the leadership in the sport would most certainly redound to the growth and enhancement of Netball.