ANNUAL REPORT 2016 / 2017 OFFICE BEARERS Board Personnel President John Perrott Executive Officer Sally Jones Vice President Ben Yeo Junior Development Manager Marni Jacka Secretary Mathew Lea Industry Development Officer Simon Armstrong Finance Director Daniel Arber Competitions Administration Tony Ryan Directors Peter Evans Bookkeeper Deb Vawdrey Bianca Gold (resigned May 2017) Vivek Merchant Darren Waters Bryan Wee Rachel Winterton LIFE MEMBERS Allen Michael (Mick)* 1985 Morrison Alby 2016 Angland Carol 1988 Morrison Lynne 2004 Barfoot Robert (Bob)* 1970 O’Brien John (O’Bee) 1967 Barrow Jeff 1995 Phillips Les. M.* 1940 Bennett Horace A. (Horrie) 1960 Quarry Ray* 1971 Bennett Reginald J. (Reg)* 1960 Quittner Harry* 1984 Blake Harold O. (Harry)* 1960 Richardson Greig 2005 Campbell Phil* 1959 Ryan Andrew 2016 Cassidy George* 1938 Ryan Tony 2016 Comerford H.William (Bill) 1983 Small Russell 2005 Cook Bruce 1993 Thompson Elza* 1972 Copeland Gordon* 1938 Thompson Stan* 1960 DeFina Michael 2014 Thompson W. George* 1961 Donovan Edward (Ted) 1992 Uren Les* 1937 Flahive Daniel (Danny) 2016 Vanderfeen Aileen 2012 Flahive Lisa 1995 Van Delft John 1987 French Colin* 1956 Watkins David J. 1963 Gronow Rob* 2013 Weston William A. (Pop)* 1960 Gunn Jeanette 1998 Wiegard Keith* 1975 Hurren Edward R. (Eddie)* 1931 Wiegard Leon 1987 Lynott Edward F. (Ted)* 1945 Wilson John (Wilo)* 2006 Mason John 2015 Wooton Ron* 1975 McNeill Michael 2013 Young Les* 1961 Mills Ian 1987 * Deceased Water Polo Victoria ABN 79 570 881 365 Box 11, MSAC Aughtie Drive, Albert Park Victoria 3206 P: 03 8560 2140 www.waterpolovictoria.com.au WPA Annual Report 2016-2017 | Page 2 of 36 AFFILIATED CLUBS & REGISTRATIONS SENIOR SENIOR JUNIOR JUNIOR LIFE TOTAL PREV AFFILIATED CLUB MALE FEMALE MALE FEMALE MEMBERS YEAR Ajax Maccabi 21 5 26 25 Bendigo 5 2 1 2 1 11 20 DVE Aquatic 31 7 34 18 90 76 Essendon 24 17 11 29 81 80 Footscray 23 17 16 11 4 71 46 Geelong Marlins 15 5 21 7 48 56 La Trobe University 20 21 1 2 44 36 Melbourne Collegians 78 14 130 66 1 289 284 Melbourne Surge 59 59 55 Melbourne University 54 21 3 8 86 87 Monash University 56 34 52 14 156 166 NYP Dragons 34 36 44 27 1 142 124 Old Haileybury 11 5 16 0 Old Ivanhoe 9 12 2 23 25 Old Melburnians 19 3 22 29 Old Xaverians 15 14 29 19 Peninsula Flyers 1 1 17 Richmond 52 4 79 29 5 169 145 Ringwood 27 1 1 29 25 St Catherine’s Old Girls 12 2 14 14 Victorian Veterans 0 1 Victorian Seals 2 2 5 Life Members (no Club) 12 12 6 TOTAL MEMBERS 553 205 421 217 24 1420 1341 # CLUBS 21 22 Life Members 24 (23) 47 40 (deceased) WPA Annual Report 2016-2017 | Page 3 of 36 PRESIDENT’S REPORT I am again pleased to present the 2016/17 Annual Report of our Association - Water Polo Victoria (WPV). WPV has had another marvellous year but it has had its challenges. I would like to sincerely thank the support of the Board and the staff who ensured that our association and competition was managed in a professional manner during this year. Special thanks to Sally Jones who has completed a full year of the role of leadership and management of the operations of our sport, and to the WPV staff - Tony, Deb, Simon and Marni. Also, I want to thank all the volunteers who are the backbone and unsung heroes of our community. These people include: • competition co-ordinators, pool controllers, referees, coaches, managers and officials for WPV, regional associations, schools and the clubs who put in such an enormous amount of work to making our sport the success it is; • Board members who have spent much of their personal time working to improve what we do, to the best we can; • funding bodies VicHealth and Sport and Recreation Victoria (SRV) and the contract managers who support the WPV staff in their work; • the MSAC staff for the support they provide to WPV; • Water Polo Australia (WPA) staff and Board for their support; • staff at the VIS, including the program manager and the coaching staff for their ongoing support of our high-performance athletes; and • of course, all the players who have enjoyed the competition during the year, be it their first attempt at the sport, as an experienced player or as a seasoned veteran. Congratulations to all those members selected as State, National and Australian representatives, either as players or officials. The Board and Management has spent a long time working with WPA to look at continuing the VIS program after Rio. Unfortunately, due to factors out of our control, it will not be continuing in its current format. WPV and WPA will focus on redefining and developing a new high-performance platform which will be the best available for Victorian athletes leading up to Tokyo and beyond. We expect that the new program will take the learnings of the first four-year program and continue to strengthen the water polo community in Victoria. The Board this year has consolidated the 5-year strategic plan (2016 to 2020). The focus will be to “Secure the future of the sport of water polo in Victoria through a balanced focus on participation for fun and pathways for performance”. Its four key pillars are participation, image, governance and supporting high performance pathways. WPV is funded from three sources. First, from players via members’ registrations and match fees. The Board recognises that we are here to organise and run the best competition we can. Secondly, a small but growing stream is now coming from sponsors, who supplement our revenue. We appreciate the role played by our sponsors and I encourage the community to support those who support us. Thirdly, government grants were received from both VicHealth and SRV to contribute to our development programs. The funding from VicHealth is focused on increasing participation in sport through programs that are socially focused such as bumpa ball. We can report further progress on the delivery of the grant’s objectives, and positive feedback from the funding body. SRV funding will continue to support organisational development and water polo opportunities. It was pleasing to see the continued growth of 14/U and 12/U players participating this year. The growth of this age group is critical to future sustainability of water polo in Victoria. WPV is looking to support clubs to extend and grow their junior programs. The effort of some clubs in both regional and metropolitan areas is highly commendable and we will see this effort rewarded in time. Finally, after six years I have stepped down as President but will assist the Board with transition and transfer of knowledge. I certainly have enjoyed this period and have meet and worked with some wonderful people. There has been a full contingent on the board for the past couple of years, achieving a diverse board membership of youth, experience, skills and passion. I thank the Board for their contribution and putting up with me! John Perrott President WPA Annual Report 2016-2017 | Page 4 of 36 SECRETARY’S REPORT 2016/17 was a challenging year for Water Polo Victoria (WPV). We started the year with the renewal of our strategic plan, focusing on securing the future of water polo in Victoria through balancing fun and performance. In relation to key objectives, there is some good work being done through the office on the participation front and the board does provide good governance. But as with all organisations, we have some work to do in other areas such as image and supporting high performance. I have been impressed with the diverse set of skills and experiences across our board members, so although we have moved away from defined portfolios, there are significant strengths across many areas of governance, finance, analytics and law, just to name a few. The competition, despite all the complexities and challenges, continues to be run well by Tony Ryan and the Office and we have again delivered a strong outlet for our members to regularly come out and enjoy themselves through the great sport of water polo. I have particularly been impressed by the growth of some of our social teams (in particular the Surge), reminding us that fun and enjoyment should be the main reason we come to the pool. I cannot deny there have been some conflicts this year, particularly through the demise of the Seals, but I do take heart in the fact that all parties were doing what they thought was best for the sport. Both sides have considerable strengths and I hope that we are able to bring together the strong governance of the Seals with the passion of the Barbarians and turn them into a formidable force for the future of Victorian National League. I do hope that this one visible area doesn’t undo the large body of positive work that the board and office have overseen – much of which goes on behind the scenes and un-noticed. We are also starting to tap our greatest asset – the knowledge and passion of our life members and community, a trend which I hope will continue. 2017/18 will be an extremely important year for WPV and as long as we continue to listen, learn and communicate with our members, we will continue to move forward and evolve this great sport of water polo that we all love. Finally, a heart-felt thank-you to all the volunteers out there. A sport or club is hard work to run and we would be nowhere without all the precious time that our volunteers donate every day.