BOARD 2009-2010 COACHES AND MANAGERS PRESIDENT Victorian Institute of Sport (Jan–Jun 2010) Rob Gronow Women & Coach Dalibor Maslan Men Asst Travis Bloom VICE PRESIDENT Coach Marcus Corr Swim Scott Gargoura Coach SECRETARY Elite Development Centre (July – Dec 2009) Annabel Sides Women Coach Greig Richardson Men Coach Pete Smith FINANCE DIRECTOR 20 & Under National Championships Simon Wallace-Smith (Jan – Sept 2010) Jnr Women Coach: Charlotte Banks John Perrott (Nov 2009 – Jan 2010) Asst Elise Rossato Bill Watts (Sept – Nov 2009) Coach Manager: Nicole Ware COMPETITIONS DIRECTOR Glen Piper Jnr Men Coach: John Thompson Manager Lyn Celotti COACHING & DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR 18 & Under National Championships Ryan Moody Jnr Women Coach: Sheila Langley MARKETING DIRECTOR Manager: Nicole Ware Perry Gaylard Jnr Men Coach: John Thompson DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Manager: Lyn Celotti John Perrott East Coast Challenge – 14/U REFEREES DIRECTOR Girls Coach: Darren Steere Manager: Cathy Steere Marcus DeLuca Boys Coach: Luke Gavin OFFICE STAFF Manager: Anthony Edwards Gillian Manson– Executive Officer Aust Schools Championships July 2009 – Present Boys Coach: Jono Wallace-Smith Tony Ryan – Administration Officer Manager: Nicole Ware July 2007 - Present Girls Coach: Matt Wallace-Smith Carmen Stocks – Bookkeeper Manager: Lyn Celotti April 2008 - Present Julie Makohon – Sports Development Officer August 2008 - Present HONORARY SOLICITOR John Howie VWPI Annual Report 2008-2009 PRESIDENT’S REPORT Finally, it is with some sorrow that I announcing my retirement as President and Once again I have great pleasure in from the Board. Having served on the VWPI presenting the Annual Report for Victorian Board over the last 15 years in a number of Water Polo Incorporated (VWPI) for the year positions, the last 7 as President, I feel it is 2009/2010. time for a change and for a fresh face to take the helm. I have enjoyed my Board tenure It has been a fruitful twelve months and VWPI immensely, working through some of the has continued to develop and grow. I would tough times and now the good with many like to thank all those who ensure our sport is talented and dedicated people. Rest assured administered and managed in a very I will be staying involved in the sport in the professional manner. Special thanks go to capacities of a player, referee and official. Board members who have spent a lot of their personal time in managing their various The current Board represents. a well portfolios and in some cases assisting in balanced mixture of youth, experience and other areas. Once again our full time and passion to drive our great sport forward. I contracted part time office staff deserves wish them all the best and hopefully to seeing recognition, Gillian Manson Executive Officer, most of you on the pool deck at some stage Julie Makohon in Development, Tony Ryan in the future. our office and competitions administrator and Rob Gronow Carmen Stocks our Bookkeeper. I would President – VWPI especially like to thank Simon Weatherill and Adam Luscombe and their staff at MSAC for all the support they provide to VWPI. They have been extremely flexible and have worked very closely with our staff in accommodating our needs. Finally, thanks to all the competition co-ordinators, pool controllers, referees, coaches, managers and officials who put in an enormous amount of work into to making our sport the success it is. Congratulations to all those members selected as State, National League and Australian representatives either as players or officials. The VIS and the Tier 2 and 3 programs are having an impact on player development which is now being borne out in many competition results. Many thanks go to Australian Water Polo for their continued support of the program in Melbourne. The bulk of our funding is still provided from members’ registrations and match fees. Continuing Government grants were also received from both VicHealth and SRV which mainly contribute to our development programmes. These grants will be repeated in the forthcoming year and certainly do assist in implementing the programmes in our strategic plan. Fees are being indexed to CPI and will be passed onto members which should have only a marginal flow on effect in the 2009/2010 financial year. VWPI Annual Report 2008-2009 VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT is great achievement for the sport and is an important step to our continued success. The Throughout the 2009-2010 season, VWPI board is very keen and committed to has had a great year of success both in and programs such as these in order to both out of the pool. make Victorian Water Polo successful, and to Although it was only just one year, from my continually develop players and provide them memory and time involved in Victorian Water with a chance of playing in national teams. Polo, it would be the best year we have had I would also like to take this opportunity to in the men’s competitions for quite some thank the following for all of their time and time. To start with, the U-14s, U-18’s & U- efforts throughout the year: 20’s all competed for gold in their respective - Victorian Tigers board for their age groups. In addition, these achievements continued support and develop were followed up by the great success of players throughout Victoria. Victorian Tigers and Victorian School Boys - The coaches of all state and local who won the National Championships in their teams throughout the year, with many respective competitions. Furthermore, a large great results and many more to come. number of Victorian boys/men throughout all - Referees who are an integral part of age groups have competed for spots in the all competitions. national teams, including open men’s. - Volunteers who helped put on the very successful Under 20 National In relation to the women/girls program, as the board has acknowledged, the junior teams Championship, and the running of are unfortunately not at the same level as the each and every state league game boys yet. However, we are committed to throughout the year. continue to support the programs & teams - Fellow board members, you give up that will enable our girls to continually your time to help hopefully lead improve, develop and compete for medals at Victorian Water Polo to greater and national championships. The Victorian Tigers continued success. women’s team had another successful year, - Victorian Water Polo staff who yet again making finals under new coach continue to push & support this sport Travis Bloom. Their future looks bright and in Victoria, in particular Gillian hopefully their first open national medal is Manson, Julie Makohon & Tony Ryan. only a year away. Furthermore, in relation to - Robert Gronow for many years of the success of Victorian Tigers Women, it is great and continued service to the great to see two members (Victoria Brown & game & Victorian Water Polo. Rowie Webster) cementing their spots in the Open National Team both competing in and It has been a privilege to be involved with the winning many international medals. I wish organisation and, in particular, a dedicated them all the best while they continue their and passionate board. push for a spot in the Olympic team, and hopefully gold at London in 2012. Marcus Corr Vice President – VWPI It has also been a year when new programs, for all members of the water polo community, have been implemented. In particular, the introduction of Tier-2 and Tier-3 programs, has been very successful in allowing coaches to be appropriately selected to run the various men’s and women’s programs, in all age groups. In addition to the player/coaching pathways, we have also introduced a Refereeing Commission to help train and develop current and future referees in Victoria, something that has been overlooked in the past. Furthermore, to aid the continuing development of players, Water Polo has been reintroduced into the VIS. This VWPI Annual Report 2008-2009 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS REPORT OF OPERATIONS - 2009- 2010 On behalf of the Association, the Board VWPI State Office sincerely thanks the following people and organizations for their co-operation and The year 2009-10 was best characterised as support through the year; a year of change as we held our focus on The Victorian Minister for Sport, the continuous improvement across all areas of Honourable James Merlino MP; our operations. VicHealth; Critical areas of change include: Department of Planning and The introduction of a Tier 1 VIS Community Development (Sport and program to our athlete development Recreation Victoria); pathway, which in turn has allowed us Australian Water Polo Inc; to restructure our remaining State Sports Centre Trust; development pathways to allow excellent opportunities for athlete and Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre; coach development City of Booroondara; The introduction of a Referees South Yarra Fitness Centre (Melb High); Commission and a program for Leisure Networks Association (Geelong) improving training and development of our Referees Victorian University Communication enhancement by (a) greatly improving our website (b) introduction of Facebook and (c) use of emails to communicate to clubs Enhancement of our governance, including revision of Board processes to assist in decision making, and ensuring we have a full Board of Directors to manage the association Enhancement of our financials by introducing stricter controls, sound policy and resolution of older items that impacted our balance sheet Commencement of a new constitution to move our association forward Commencement of a new strategic plan for the next five years to move the association forward Introduction of a strategic approach to facility planning to improve availability of pool space for our sport Commenced a specialist Sponsorship & Marketing committee so that we can secure long-term additional sources of income to the association Continued efforts under our Sports Development grants to make Water Polo a sport that is accessible to a wide range of participants over a range of ages Building involvement in schools Water Polo by taking on the management of the AGSV / MHS competition.