Committee handbook - a free tool for volunteer sports clubs in regional aus

Every regional and country sports club, no matter the sport, relies heavily on generous volunteers to take on committee roles. But there are often “traps for young players” in taking on these roles, and they carry responsibilities that aren’t always visible or understood before accepting the job. To help these vital volunteer groups, Strategy Road has pulled together a simple “Committee Handbook” designed specifically for regional sporting club volunteer committees, regardless of the code or sport they are involved in. The handbook contains explanations, practical tips, questions to ask yourselves, checklists to work through, simple templates that can be used or adapted, and even some sources of government or NFP support (grant or otherwise), both national and state-by-state (current as of April 2026). The handbook is designed as a simple “starting point” guide, written an in easy-to-follow style, that can be downloaded, printed, bound, and used by any sporting club committee and any committee member anywhere around regional Australia. Feel free to copy and share it widely, and please consult the relevant referenced bodies for more information.

Click here to download a copy of this free resource.

recorded webinar for country sports clubs

(Conducted and recorded on Tuesday 21st October 2025)

A free webinar designed for volunteer committee members of regional and rural sporting clubs of any code, from anywhere around Australia.

View a recording of the webinar here.

On Tuesday 21st October, experienced strategic planning facilitator Troy Forrest ran a free webinar for volunteer committee members of regional sporting clubs from all around Australia. Over 90 minutes, Troy shared a series of practical tips, tools and ideas on building effective strategies for volunteer-run country sporting club.

Whether your club is AFL, rugby, netball, soccer, bowls, cricket, basketball, swimming, tennis, bocce or pickleball, the methods and principles Troy discussed are relevant to helping you build, implement and govern a useful strategic plan.

Troy Forrest is one of Australia’s most experienced strategic planning facilitators. He’s facilitated hundreds of strategic planning processes for hundreds of diverse organisations. From big corporates and government, to small community groups and NFPs. Troy has dozens of clients in regional communities all around Australia, and he understands the role and importance of healthy, vibrant sports clubs as a key community asset. Originally from regional SA, country sport has been a big part of Troy’s life (even if he played it quite badly). This is Troy’s small but practical way of adding some value to communities doing it tough in and beyond 2025. Please feel free to share this video.

If you would like more tailored help developing a strategic plan for your club, your regional association, or the peak body of your sport in your region, state or Australia, please reach out for a free confidential discussion with Troy. troy@strategyroad.com.au