WSA Members’ Meeting round-up

The Welsh Sports Association (WSA) would like to thank everyone that made Thursday’s Members’ Meeting so special!

We’d firstly like to spread our gratitude to our MC Sam Lloyd, who ran the meeting expertly throughout.

**Sam Lloyd kicks off the Members’ Meeting**

We’d also like to thank the speakers and panellists that brought such value to the discussions.

The event kicked off with WSA’s CEO Victoria Ward addressing the members and highlighting the importance of continued collaboration & communication, and that the WSA has a considered plan to effectively support the sector moving forward – including the introduction of the WSA Sports Foundation to ensure that sport & leisure facilities and equipment are readily available for all.

**(From left to right) Jane Sellwood, Leshia Hawkins, and Andrew Howard address their fellow WSA members**

Following Victoria’s address, the event moved to the first panel discussion, which included Cricket Wales’ CEO Leshia Hawkins, Merthyr Tydfil CEO Jane Sellwood, and soon-to-be WSA CEO Andrew Howard from the FAW taking to the stage. They reflected on what has been an extremely challenging couple of years and gave a nod to what the future could hold for the sector.

The WSA’s Policy and Communications Manager Matt Williams then launched the WSA’s new strategy, taking the WSA up to 2025.

Matt outlined the objectives and priorities within the WSA’s new strategy, detailing the importance of adapting the work of recent years to the circumstances we currently face as we emerge and transition away from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The main areas of focus:

Collaboration; growing the WSA network and developing new strategic partnerships around the country to continue to be a trusted leader for sport and leisure and unite the sector as one voice.
Develop; committing to the expansion of the WSA services – from releasing a fifth Membership Plus package by 2025 to setting up a joint approach to procurement this year – to develop and facilitate the resilience of our members.
Promote; ensuring the WSA are a forward-looking organisation to influence agenda and ultimately strengthen the platform upon which all sport and physical activity bodies in Wales stand, guaranteeing that our collective voice be heard in public debate.

Then we moved to a second panel discussion, which included some new and exciting features in the WSA membership offer.

WSA Commercial Manager Tom Sharp outlined the enhancements to the existing core membership offer, as well as the new benefits of the WSA’s new initiative, Membership Plus. Ehtasham Janjua, WSA Business Support Officer, highlighted the positive uptake of the Finance Plus package in the first few months since launch. You can discover more about both packages and find out how they can further support your organisation by visiting our Membership Plus page.

The team were also joined on stage by representatives of the WSA’s two newest partners 2buy2 and CalQRisk.

**Tom Sharp and Ehtasham Janjua (left) are joined on stage by Paul Ashman and Paul O’Brien (right)**

Paul Ashman from 2buy2 introduced a compelling procurement offer available to members including the procurement portal, while Paul O’Brien revealed how governance, risk and compliance experts CalQRisk will be able to support WSA members through their solution, aligned to the Sport Wales Governance and Leadership Framework and Capability Framework.

Members were encouraged to review the member benefits section of the website for further details and to access the contact details of the new partner offers; please find details about 2buy2 here, and CalQRisk here.

The WSA would also like to give a massive thank you to our members Glamorgan Cricket and its staff, of course, who provided us with a beautiful venue and fantastic service throughout the afternoon. From the view onto the outfield during the meeting to the delicious spread and hugely enjoyable game of cricket (for which some members definitely brought their A-game!), we’d like to say thank you for facilitating such a great day!

**We were able to enjoy a fantastic game of cricket following the Members’ Meeting, too!**

**Members networked in the background during and following the fun on the crease!**

And, of course, it was brilliant to see so many familiar faces after such a long wait, so we are grateful to all the members that attended the event! We hope each and every attendee enjoyed themselves at the WSA members’ meeting and found great value in the topics discussed and the networking that followed, and we hope to see everyone very soon!

WSA Members’ Meeting round-up