Contents Directors, Staff & Committees Page 2 Chairman’s Report Page 3 CEO Report Page 7 Committee Reports Alpine Page 9 Cross Country Page 12 Freestyle Page 13 Snowboard Page 14 State Reports South Australia Page 17 Australia Capital Territory Page 19 New South Wales Page 20 School SnowSport Development Foundation Page 21 Optus Australian Ski Awards Page 22 Financial Reports Page 23 Directors Report Page 23 Balance Sheet Page 29 Profit and Loss Page 30 Notes forming part of the statement Page 31 Statement by Directors Page 34 Independent Audit Report Page 35 Skiing Australia Limited Rialto South Tower Level 32, 525 Collins Street Melbourne VIC 3000 Phone: (03) 9614 2644 Fax: (03) 9614 7423 Email: [email protected] Directors, Staff & Committees Directors CHAIRMAN Hugh Whan BOARD MEMBERS Andrew Evans Dean Gosper Suzie Graham Steve Loader Gary Plovanic Rod Read Chris Solly Shane Wood Staff CEO Steven Potts Chairman of Discipline Committees ALPINE Cliff Mason CROSS COUNTRY Tony Greville FREESTYLE David Frydman SNOWBOARDING Jonette Wilton 2 Chairman’s Report Hugh Whan The 1999/2000 year saw the sport achieve some significant milestones in the performance of our athletes, management of our development programs and substantial reduction of our historic debt level. Sporting Performance The 1999/2000 season was a record breaking one for Australian skiing and snowboarding. Jacqui Cooper became the first Australian to win back to back World Cup skiing titles. With a second double twisting triple somersault added to her repertoire – a full tuck full - Jacqui won both Mt Buller events, won again in Deer Valley and Piancavallo and picked up a silver medal in Heavenly Valley to also capture consecutive World Cup overall freestyle titles. Alisa Camplin captured her first World Cup medal, a bronze, in the finals in Livigno in March 2000, capping a 12 month period that saw her move from rookie to top ten regular. She continued her great form in August at the commencement of the 2000/2001 World Cup season, winning a silver medal in the Philips Mobile Phones World Aerials at Mt Buller. Our snowboarders also carved out a new chapter of success. In a superb season, Zeke Steggall won two World Cup snowboard cross events – in Schonried, Switzerland and Madonna di Campiglio, Italy – and also collected a silver medal in San Candido, Italy and a bronze medal in Morzine, France. He ended the season ranked number three in the world. Fellow New South Wales rider John Fletcher became the second Australian to win a World Cup snowboard medal, claiming silver in snowboard cross in Ischgl, Austria, in his rookie season on the circuit. Eighteen-year-old Fletcher, a former world junior champion, was competing in only his fifth World Cup boardercross event. In alpine, Jenny Owens demonstrated her potential by recording her first top 30 World Cup downhill result, and although Zali Steggall was drastically hampered by a viral infection for most of the World Cup season, she maintained her ranking in the world’s top 20 in slalom. However, the sport owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to Zali for introducing One Tel as a sponsor of the National Alpine Team. Her efforts are an outstanding example of an athlete utilizing her network to put something back into the development of the sport. Development Programs A significant milestone for the sport was achieved with the completion of our Athlete Pathways document. This document, designed specifically for the different needs of each discipline, will provide the planning infrastructure to ensure that: 3 1. Resources are focused on the development of credible athletes 2. Stakeholders are aware of their role and position within the national structure 3. Athletes are aware of their defined athlete pathway 4. Black holes which currently exist in the pathways can be identified and addressed. Clearly, this is an ongoing process requiring review against changing circumstances. However, the sport has already benefited from the Athlete Pathways program, which was developed in consultation with discipline committees, state sporting organizations, The New South Wales Institute of Sport, AIWS, Jindabine Winter Academy and resort managers. I thank all those who participated in this process and encourage you to continue with your participation. Additionally, the year saw the first intake of athletes into Skiing Australia’s Freestyle Aerial development program and the funding of a cross-country high performance development program through the Australian Sports Commission. Finance In May of 2000, it became clear to the Board that we needed to achieve a significant reduction in overhead costs in order to firstly, achieve a breakeven position for the year and secondly, have some chance of achieving our debt reduction goals, which were subject to a satisfactory outcome from our event management activities. As the Aerials outcome could not be guaranteed at that time, the Board implemented a restructure of our resources which resulted in staffing levels being reduced back to Steve Potts, our CEO and supported by a small but willing group of volunteers. This was a difficult decision for the Board, however it was clearly the only financially responsible course of action available to us. Subsequently, with the successful outcome from the World Aerials event and the achievement of additional corporate sponsorship during the year, we were able to achieve a surplus of $89,000 which has been applied to the reduction of our debt facilities. This result will be difficult to emulate next year, with the decision by the Australian Sports Commission to cease providing funding to National Sporting Organizations for administration. This will result in a net loss of $67,000 to our government grant in the 2000/2001 year. Events The 2000 Philips Mobile Phones World Aerials was held over the weekend of August 7 and 8 and was judged a most successful event by competitors, (who nominated the Mt Buller event as the best event on the World Cup circuit for the third year in a row!) our sponsors and the viewing public. The Seven Network achieved a substantial increase in ratings with their innovative coverage of the event. As a result of their outstanding telecast, they were awarded recognition by FIS for the best media contribution to freestyle skiing for the year 2000. Our thanks to our major sponsors, Philips Mobile Phones, Buller Ski Lifts and the Mt Buller Resort Management Board, all of whom are great supporters of the event and of the sport. In particular, our thanks to our competition management team from Team Buller. Again the weather was spectacular and again the outcome could not have produced better results with Jacqui Cooper wining both events and Alisa Camplin gaining a silver podium finish on the Sunday. 4 FIS World Congress Skiing Australia hosted the 42nd biennial Congress of the Federation International De Ski (FIS) in May 2000 in Melbourne. Over 1000 delegates from more than 100 nations attended the Congress. They were very positive in their praise of the organization of the Congress and the venue. The holding of the Congress in Australia afforded us the opportunity to increase the profile of Australian skiing to an international audience. The Ski Awards dinner was held in conjunction with the FIS World Congress and was attended by Gian-Franco Kasper, President of FIS, Tony Sailer was one of our honoured guests, presenting the Junior Skier of the Year Awards. Skiing Victoria, the Victorian division of SAL The Chairman of Skiing Victoria, Joel Dixon, resigned from his role during the year due to time commitments. Despite a concerted effort to identify an individual to replace Joel we were unsuccessful in our search. Accordingly, the relevance of the existing structure of Skiing Victoria will need to be looked at in the future. Communication This is probably the area that has suffered most during the year owing to the cutback in our staffing and resources. However, the Skiing Australia Internet site, www.skiingaustralia.org.au has been maintained with the very able assistance of Jonette Wilton and we can see Internet communication becoming more and more the preferred median between Skiing Australia and its stakeholders in the future. Summation Over the past two years the Board has focused much of their time and effort in the areas of fundraising and event management in order to achieve what has had to be our primary objective of reducing the historic level of debt. As at the end of the 2000 financial year, our liabilities have been reduced from a peak of $297,000 to $112,000 which is a significant achievement for the sport. However, this has not been without cost: resources available to the sport at the present time are at an historic low; communication with stakeholders has suffered; the need for the Skiing Australia office to prioritise its activities has meant that many functions that have been traditionally performed by the office have either not been performed or performed outside the preferred timetable, including our AGM. This situation will not change markedly until our debt reduction program is completed and all the activities of Skiing Australia are clearly focused upon sport outcomes. However, with the support of all our stakeholders, I am confident we will be able to make further inroads towards the achievement of this goal in 2001 whilst we continue to expand our involvement in the management and financing of our athlete development programs. 5 Finally, I must recognize the efforts of our CEO, Steven Potts, who over this past year who has done an outstanding job under very difficult circumstances - a real baptism to the sport in his first year in the role. 6 Chief Executive Officer’s Report Steven Potts Throughout the 1999/2000 season Australian Skiers continued to earn their place on the World snowsports stage.