ANNUAL REPORT 2011 Contents President 3 Men’s Olympians Medal Winners 23 CEO 4 Women’s Charlesworth Medal Winners 23 Club and Game Development 5 Men’s Premier Division Winners 24 High Performance 6 Women’s Premier Division Winners 25 Facilities and Infrastructure 7 Grade Winners - Senior 26 Marketing and Events 8 Grade Winners - Junior 27 Finance 9 Byrne and Judge Perpetual Trophy 28 Junior Committee 10 Kyle Rutter Perpetual Trophy 29 Club and Game Development Committee 11 Australian Hockey League 30 High Performance and Coaching Committee 12 State Teams - Men 31 Officiating Reference Panel 13 State Teams -Women 35 Country Committee 14 Appointed Officials 39 Indoor Committee 15 Ladders - Men 40 Masters Committee 16 Ladders - Women 43 Women’s National Training Centre 17 Ladders - Boys 45 Men’s National Training Centre 18 Ladders - Girls 48 Editor: Kate Main Office Bearers and Committees 19 Photos by: Hockey WA Staff 20 Dan Carson Stu Williams Life Members and Award of Merit 21 David Cosgrove 2011 Award Winners 22 Kangaroos Photos President It does not seem a year since Tony Leeflang stepped down as President and I took over, but when I look back at the year in review it has been 12 months of strong activity and achievement. • As is the case this year the budget process for 2011 threw up a number of challenges, in particular falling patronage and strongly increasing utilities costs, particularly power. The Board resisted the temptation to simply continue to increase gate entry and affiliation fees, instead it chose to forgo spectator gate entry and maintain affiliation fees at half CPI. The impact of this has been significant with the profitability of the bar and canteen improving substantially. • Over the summer period the Board and management met on a number of occasions to develop a new strategic plan, to provide direction for Hockey WA for the next five years. Today Hockey WA is focused on five key areas: Organisation, Revenue, High Performance, Participation and Infrastructure. The structure of Hockey WA has also changed to reflect this focus; now instead of seven department managers we have four plus the CEO responsible for the achievement of clearly defined objectives. • Although the Lanco International Super Series (LISS) came to Hockey WA from Hockey Australia, it was firmly within our plans to run some form of income producing event at the conclusion of the season, thus making the Perth Hockey Stadium a net income generator rather than a major expense to the Hockey community. To this end the staging of LISS was an outstanding success with considerable revenue raised, an increased exposure of the sport throughout Australia but particularly in WA, and a profile builder for Hockey WA with such organisations as the ABC, State and Federal Sports Ministries and importantly the business community of Perth. • The performance of our state teams was also a highlight, with Western Australia finishing second behind NSW on the WA initiated, but now nationally adopted, ranking system for all junior and senior state teams. Note this is a significant improvement from our fourth place ranking held over the last few years and is a year ahead of the objective set in the strategic plan. As we enter the 2012 season a number of challenges face Hockey WA and again a number of them are financial. Of particular concern is the increasing cost of utilities, with the State Government flagging another 29% increase in power costs to take effect in July of next year. Our water usage and costs are also on the increase. With these increases in mind, Hockey WA and Curtin University have commenced a dialogue to: - Ensure that both organisations can obtain the best possible rates for utilities - Research a number of water conservation and alternate power generation options that in the longer term will reduce costs - And finally to investigate opportunities for Curtin University students to become involved in the many activities that the managing of an international sporting facility and high performance sports programs present. The Board is becoming increasingly concerned about the costs of State team representation at national championships. To this end Hockey WA has been an active proponent of a rationalisation of the Australian Hockey League competition (AHL) away from numerous rounds being played over the course of a season at various locations, to a more efficient and sustainable tournament model. The integrity of our competitions and the provision of pathways for WA athletes is also an area that Hockey WA is continually reviewing. In 2011 we introduced the import player rule thereby going some way to ensuring WA athletes are given the opportunity to play at the highest level of our competition and encouraging clubs to invest in the development of their own players. Finally I wish to acknowledge the contribution of two members who left the Board over the course of the year, Brian Mayo and Struan Burges, both of whom have played pivotal roles in the development of the current Strategic Plan and the restructure of the organisation of Hockey WA and I thank them for their efforts on behalf of the hockey community. To Kevin Knapp and the staff who have had to deal with numerous challenges, thank you for your efforts and to the Board of Hockey WA thank you for the support and many hours of voluntary contribution to Hockey in WA. Peter Churack President CEO Hockey WA has completed its first year of the new Strategic Plan 2011 – 2015 with some notable achievements against the key performance measures. Some of these are detailed below. With a new Board of Directors being led by President Peter Churack contributing to ongoing strategic planning, the organisation is in a strong position to face challenges and identify opportunities into the future. Our sport would not be what it is without the support of our major partners DSR and Healthway whose invaluable contribution to our organisation is greatly appreciated. High Performance 2011 has been a very successful year for Western Australian State Teams with the Under 21 Men’s and Women’s teams victorious at their respective National Championships and the WA Thundersticks also taking out top honours. The success of these teams was particularly positive as all were coached by new coaches who were mentored by WA’s Institute of Sport (WAIS) coaches. In October, WA ran the first HockeyEd Advanced Coach Program to cater for a growing cohort of quality coaches involved with clubs and state team programs. We also competed this year for the first time in the Under 13 National Championships and the Under 15 Indoor National Championships will be held in Perth in January. Participation The Hockey WA metropolitan competition experienced significant growth in 2011 emulating the record figures attained two years earlier. The 31 team growth equated to 4.4% – well above the strategic plan target of 2%. Additionally, junior team numbers grew by 5.35%. Male team numbers had their most pronounced growth since 1992-93 with 17 additional teams (4.1%) whilst female team numbers were up for the seventh consecutive year with 14 additional teams (4.84%). Hockey 4 All is an inclusive hockey program that has celebrated its second year of operation in 2011. It provides a great hockey experience for young people living with an intellectual disability. With the invaluable support of our clubs and in particular Curtin Trinity Pirates and WASPS as well as Inclusion WA, this program is poised to expand in 2012. Regionally, team numbers remained steady but many centres benefited from participation programs and coach education initiatives that were carried out. More than 15 regional areas from Albany in the south to Karratha in the north and out to Kalgoorlie in the east saw more than 100 coaches gain accreditation and 5000 children introduced to the sport. Facilities 2011 was another very busy year at the Perth Hockey Stadium. We faced many challenges throughout the year. The main challenge we faced, and are still working on, was the failure of several roof trusses on the south end of the building. The remedial work to the roof structure will be completed late in 2011 and ensure PHS is fully operational for both Hockey WA and AIS staff heading into 2012. We are in the process of rolling out a new venue management system for all bookings at the facility. This improved system is more user-friendly and will be better integrated with the accounting systems. Staff It has been another good year in the bar and canteen with a significant increase in conferences and functions at the facility. Long serving Manager Hospitality, Bar and Catering, Lionel David and Senior Supervisor Finance Laraine Waldron will retire at the end of the year after decades of service to Hockey WA . We wish them well. Lionel and Laraine, you will be sorely missed. We also thank Barb Jenkins for her many years as Manager of Facilities. To all staff and volunteers and the hockey community, thank you for a great year. Kevin Knapp CEO Club and Game Development The new 2011-15 Strategic Plan brought with it a Key Performance Indicator to increase metropolitan competition team numbers by at least 2% per annum. This had occurred just twice in the five preceding years and the greatest percentage growth since team numbers were first recorded 12 years ago occurred in 2009, when there was an increase of 25 teams – 3.69%. Both marks were well and truly exceeded through 2011 with the competition growing by 31 teams, or 4.40%. Furthermore, the increases exceeded another strategic plan performance measure of 3% in junior competitions with 17 more teams equating to 5.35% growth.