Northern Territory Hockey Association Inc Annual Report 2014 Photo Courtesy of Dan Carson DC Images SPONSORS – HOCKEY NT Hockey NT - 2014 Annual Report Page 2 NT Hockey Association 2014 Patron: Hon Delia Lawrie Executive Committee: President: Peter Sommerville Senior Vice President: Eric Bailey Vice-President: Vanda Stewart Vice-President: Rick Paul Vice-President: Teena Norman Treasurer: Kirby Lawler Secretary/Public Officer: Ian Harkness High Performance Committee:- HPC Chairperson: Peter Sommerville Members: Barry Shewring Chantrelle Carey Craig Curby Ian Harkness Gordon Clarke (resigned) Mark Davis Nick Jones Nick Lenoir Pennie Weedon Tracey Bradley (resigned) Manekha Byerley HNT Staff: Executive Officer: Ian Harkness Development Officer: Mark Davis (Darwin) Development Officer: Dale Hiscox (Alice Springs) Financial Officer: Robyn Southwood Administration: Diane Trimble HA Women’s Masters Australian Championships 2014: Convenor Doreen Walton Committee Terry Dunbar Diane Trimble Michele Walton Alex Knowler Hockey NT - 2014 Annual Report Page 3 Hockey NT Delegates and Membership 2014 Alice Springs Hockey Association President - Luke Mashford (until August 2014) Bernadette Shields (from August 2014) Darwin Hockey Association President - Doreen Walton NT Masters Hockey Association Inc President - Tony Wood 2014 NT Hockey Membership Profile: Darwin Alice Springs NT Masters Senior Males 299 52 *79 (18 Years & over Senior Females 314 58 *136 (18 Years & over) Junior Males 317 42 (17 Years & under) Junior Females 365 17 (17 Years & under) Total Male 616 94 Total Female 679 75 Regional Totals 1,295 169 *215 * Includes NT and Interstate based players with dual hockey membership. Hockey NT - 2014 Annual Report Page 4 PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2014 What a great year we have had in 2014. I would like to thank all of the Volunteers that helped with Hockey in 2014 your input is what makes our sport so successful. We have had a year where the whole NT Hockey community has been working together with the focus on growing our player numbers over the coming years. Hockey NT with the strong support from the NT Masters, hosted the Australian Women’s Masters in July. This was a very successful event with excellent feedback from all teams and states. I would like to congratulate all of Hockey NT staff and Volunteers for their hard work at this event. Congratulations to all our all our State teams and their support staff for their strong and proud representation of the NT, with a very big thank you to all the people who were involved with getting our teams ready. Well done to our hard working HPC over the last 12 months, we have seen many changes in the way we look at our state teams, both players and support staff with lots great support from all involved Thank you to Ian Harkness and his team for all their hard work in 2014 keeping our Centre running smoothly and the correctional service gentlemen for all their help. To Our sponsors, I wish to thank you for Your support in 2014 and look forward to your continued support in the coming year. Our web site is updated in line with Hockey Australia and you will notice that there is a lot more information available and is being updated regularly. A big thank you to Mark Davis for all the work he has put into this over the last 12 months. Congratulations to Brooke Peris, Jeremy and Leon Hayward for making the Australian teams during 2014 and look forward to their continued success over the next 12 months. We will be hosting the Men’s AHL with the Men’s Under 13s in September and look forward to seeing everyone there to support our teams. We finished the year with wet season competitions and the support for this competition was great with 16 teams involved in the Senior Women’s and Mixed Social divisions, a great way to end the year. A call for all those who would like to be involved in the future development of Hockey in the NT, it is the volunteers that keep our sport growing and remember it is our Association. A big thank you to the NTHA Board for all their support and help over the last 12 months and look forward to another very busy year. Thank you to Eric Bailey for his support on the Board and wish you well as you move into a new chapter in your life. Peter Sommerville President Northern Territory Hockey Association Hockey NT - 2014 Annual Report Page 5 EXECUTIVE OFFICERS REPORT 2014 2014 was aimed at establishing a base in the areas of core responsibility that Hockey NT manages and this will now be reported on under the following headings:- Management State Teams Facilities Events Development Management – the main project during the period was to address the outdated governance structure that the sport currently operates under and whilst a template Constitution and By Laws were prepared for adoption the project has been unable to be finalised for varying reasons. At the current time both ASHA and DHA have expressed formal support for the new structure and we continue to have dialogue with the Masters with the hope that it can be finalised early in 2015. From the staffing structure perspective there has been consistency throughout the year which has allowed new approaches and initiatives to be pursued with the knowledge of incumbents pivotal to establishing new systems and processes for a better delivery to the membership. State Teams – Through the efforts of the High Performance Committee (HPC) there have been more timely systems established from the nomination process, the trials and final team selections which has provided a more professional approach. The establishment of standard fitness and skill testing and retention of records for future comparison allows for tracking of athletes and age demographics for coming years. The disappointment of the year was the inability to send away a team in the Women’s Under 21 Category and this was the catalyst for a review into the Associations development programs and retention strategy for athletes as there were also worrying signs in other categories when the nomination process was started. We have also been put on notice by the Government regarding the lack of NT based athletes in the AHL teams and this has been earmarked for attention early in 2015 to ensure that more NT originating or based players are participating in these teams. The teams and their performances for 2014 are identified within the Booklet. Facilities – Due to the financial performance of the Association during the period some improvements were able to be made to the Marrara Complex including the reinforcing the concrete at the base of the light poles on Turf 1, the painting of the external lower deck of the main grandstand including the tunnels to the change rooms, considerable work done on the lighting and the irrigation systems, new chairs and screens for the technical bench areas on both turfs and the repair to the grass area and plants in the barbeque area It is clear that with an ageing building, maintenance work is increasing annually and already for 2015 there will be a need for extensive work on the plumbing / toilet facilities. Hockey NT - 2014 Annual Report Page 6 As part of the upkeep of the facility I would like to acknowledge the support of the Department of Corrections and their work crews who visit us on a fortnightly basis to maintain the grounds, their efforts allow the facility to be presented in a high standard. Events – Clearly the major event of the year was the hosting of the Women’s Masters National Championships and this was successfully undertaken through the support of many people but particularly the Organising Committee and staff who worked long hours to deliver a quality event. The size of the event brought to light some deficiencies within the Marrara complex and these will need to be addressed prior to the Men’s AHL scheduled for Darwin in September 2015. Due to the scheduling of the Women’s Masters, the NT Under 15 Championships were rescheduled to the September school holidays and whilst there was representation from Darwin based athletes and a contingent from Alice Springs who travelled by bus there is a need to have a good look at this event to further enhance its position in the calendar. The Wet Season 7’s in late 2014 was a success with terrific numbers especially in the social mixed category and, again, this base should be aimed to be capitalised upon in the future. Development – Whilst there is a development report within the Booklet it is relevant to note probably what was the most exciting initiative during the year, that being the review of the Hockey NT squad programs. The review that was undertaken leading to the revised tier program of Development Squad, Academy Squad, Youth Squad and Emerging Athlete Program and having the squads come together for periods based on the school terms rather than six (6) week blocks has seen improvements in athlete skill levels but also in the nominating numbers for the various lower age State Teams. The concept that we wish to retain athletes in the sport will see any player who is not selected in a State team continue to receive skill development through these programs and not be lost to the sport as may have been the case previously. Summary – there has been much achieved in 2014 and if I were to individually name everyone that has made a contribution we would need many more pages so I would like to thank anyone and everyone that has made a contribution to the sport in whatever role or capacity they did so whether it be at Club, Association or State level.