CONTENTS PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2 SPORT AUSTRALIA CHAIR WELCOME 4 OUR PARTNERS 5 HP REPORT 6 ATHLETE COMMISSION REPORT & PERSONAL EXCELLENCE 8 SPORT DEVELOPMENT REPORT 10 COMPETITIONS REPORT 11 CASE STUDY: AUSTRALIAN YOUTH WATER POLO CHAMPIONSHIPS 12 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 14 INTERNATIONAL RESULTS 16 BOARD SKILLS MATRIX 22 DIRECTORS’ REPORT 23 AUDITED ACCOUNTS 27 OFFICE BEARERS 40 HONOUR ROLL 41 1 PRESIDENT’S REPORT Welcome to the 2017-2018 Water polo Australia (WPA) Annual DEVELOPMENT Report. The roll-out of our registration database across the sport was We are now 18 months into Water Polo Australia’s (WPA) a significant project led by Holly Tyrell, Development Manager “Towards 2020 Strategic Plan” which was the result of at WPA and I must commend her on her efforts together extensive consultation with our State and Territory members with our members and clubs for rolling this out nationally. to identify key priorities for the sport into the future. This initiative is in line with building capability in our sport The Strategic Plan is the blueprint for what the organisation as we obtain a true understanding of and communicate more has been focusing on. Our challenge remains to build effectively with participants across Australia to guide us in capability and capacity from the grassroots through to our delivering the best possible services. national teams, to ensure all of our stakeholders are afforded The ‘LearningPool’ has been a key focus with substantial the best opportunity to enjoy the sport and exceed our shared e-learning and accreditation content added and streamlined goals. with our ‘MemberPool’ database. We want to ensure our coaches, referees and volunteers are properly educated and CORPORATE accredited to build capacity in our sport for growth. There are many opportunities for our sport to develop FlippaBall finished a successful pilot last year and we are greater efficiencies via shared services and delivery, roles experiencing growth in the delivery of this exciting junior and responsibilities, behaviors as well as access to IP. This program. Whilst FlippaBall has been around for some time would allow for our resources to be maximised and our goals and successfully delivered by some clubs, this is the first achieved collectively. time a nationally led and standardised coordination has WPA is committed to continuing to work with our members been implemented and we will continue to work with service to implement initiatives aimed at best delivering water polo providers to grow participation nationally. across Australia with an emphasis on unified behaviours. COMPETITION Unified behaviours extends across the entire sport and the success of our Think.Act.Play initiative extends beyond The OVO Australian Waterpolo League (AWL) delivered the pool. I would ask all of our participants to support us another successful season and we are extremely appreciative in delivering a positive culture by working together with of the investment of the AWL Clubs and increased quantity respect and within the spirit of an inclusive and welcoming and quality of feature fixtures. Thank you to our partnership environment for all. with OVO Mobile for the increased quality of livestreams across the AWL and other WPA competitions. The AWL Finals The recent roll-out of a common shared digital registration series saw a brilliant display across the Men’s and Women’s database across all layers of the sport is a key example of competitions and a special congratulations to the Sydney Uni our stakeholders working together to deliver an important Lions and UNSW Wests teams on their respective victories. milestone. This project allows us to better understand and communicate with our members (both existing and potential) WPA with the support of our members, delivered a number and more efficiently organise competitions, registrations and of national aged championships and once again the quality of value-added benefits to all participants. talent and competition and the volume of teams competing is extremely positive. Our aim is to deliver professional standard The executive team has experienced significant turnover events whilst remaining affordable for all. during the reporting period however the board and management are committed to delivering key projects aimed We are counting down towards the inaugural Australian at growing participation and delivering sustainable elite Youth Water Polo Championships that will be held in January success. Christian Renford resigned recently due to personal 2019; the largest ever aged water polo championships held reasons and we thank him for his tireless work and dedication in Australia. 3000 participants will assemble in Brisbane to in delivering several key projects. enjoy a fortnight of competition, education and entertainment and we’re thankful of the support of our major event partners WPA experienced another challenging financial year which Brisbane Marketing and Tourism Events Queensland. resulted in a loss of $236,000. The board budgeted for a surplus and we missed the target. We have undertaken a The event will also feature a two game Test Series between thorough audit of the financial reporting framework against Australia and Japan at the AYWPC will enhance this event by budget and I thank Cara O’Neill for her extensive efforts since inspiring our next generation of Aussie Sharks and Stingers. her recent appointment as Finance Manager together with the We’re also looking forward to hosting the Intercontinental Cup Finance Audit and Risk Committee. to be held in Perth, Western Australia in March 2019. We will deliver a surplus in FY19, without significant disruption, to deliver on our strategic priorities and I thank the continued investment and support from Sport Australia and all our program partners. 2 HIGH PERFORMANCE This year we saw our senior men’s and women’s teams represent Australia proudly at the FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. For both sides there were new look teams taking on the world’s best, with the squads using this as an important building block towards the 2018 World Cups and on to Tokyo 2020. The high performance teams have experienced a number of changes with a view to providing a strong base and the best environment to support our national squads and elite athletes to achieve their and our shared goals. Our junior teams did us proud at the Junior World Championships that took place in Belgrade, Serbia and Volos, Greece, with the junior men finishing eleventh and our women taking tenth place. The executive team welcomes Aleksandr Osadchuk to the role of High Performance Manager, with the team tasked with updating the 2020+ High Performance strategic plan to provide a clear focus for our long term pathway and delivery of high performance to 2024 and beyond. Aleks is working closely with both the Aussie Sharks and Stingers who are well advanced in their campaign planning Towards Tokyo 2020. Our athletes give so much to the sport and we thank them for their ongoing commitment. We continue to seek opportunities to support all of our athletes in balancing their careers, vocation and time in the pool and I thank our significant donors and partners who share our vision in supporting not only great players but developing strong leaders and ambassadors of our sport. Thomas Whalan President 3 MESSAGE FROM SPORT AUSTRALIA It has been The AIS has launched a new Athlete a watershed Wellbeing and Engagement team, focused year for the on supporting athletes to transition through Australian their sporting careers and connect with their Sports communities. We want sporting champions Commission. to be positive influences. We’ve Australia enjoyed genuine sporting success launched a in 2017-18. In challenging times, the Gold new public- Coast Commonwealth Games helped facing brand – restore Australia’s faith in our sports and Sport Australia athletes. – with a renewed vision Positions on the podium are wonderful to for Australia celebrate, but the narrative is incomplete to be the without humility, generosity of spirit, world’s most confidence in what our athletes stand for active sporting nation, known for its integrity, and how they carry themselves. At the sporting success and world-leading sports Gold Coast Games, we saw the very best industry. in our athletes, and this display of spirit and integrity is sure to give them the best This aligns with the Australian Government’s start to their preparation for the Tokyo long-term vision for sport in this country, 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. outlined in Sport 2030, released in August 2018 by Minister for Sport Bridget McKenzie. We also had some outstanding Sport Australia will be central to delivering performances at the PyeongChang the priorities outlined in this national sport Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. plan. Australia equalled its most successful Winter Olympics haul of three medals At the fundamental level, Sport Australia’s in PyeongChang, two silvers and one focus will be on getting Australians moving bronze medal matching the result in through sport and, more broadly, physical Sochi 2014. It was also our best result activity. We want to inspire and activating at a Paralympic Winter Games in 16 people across every age, race, gender, years. cultural background and physical ability. We will continue to build partnerships in Sport integrity has justifiably gained the health and education sectors to ensure additional focus in the past year, physical activity is a national priority. and is a very important priority for Sport Australia and for Australian We need to ensure sporting organisations sport more generally. We, and are equipped to make the most of a renewed everyone involved in sport, owe it interest in physical activity, and so we will to the athletes, coaches, officials, continue working with sports to improve volunteers, fans and the public at the workforce capability, governance and large to ensure that Australian sport partnerships. We want to help sports is fair and clean, and is seen to be innovate, connect with existing and new fair and clean.