MAY NEWSLETTER
Welcome to the winter season and a few updates from some of our valued and 'certainly not bored' members of the Whangamata Surf Life Saving Club's Board of Directors: Haley, Mike, Kelvyn and Andre.
We begin by addressing those with the tiniest feet, the tiniest togs, and the tiniest appetites.
Hello Junior Surf Children and families,
I hope that you are all enjoying the off season; but not eating too many pies (Ha, ha!). The next season will be upon us very quickly and you will reap the benefits if you put in the hard work over the winter time. For those of you who are not already doing so, I would recommend joining a swim squad and committing to two plus trips a week to the pool. This will not only help your swimming, but training also will strengthen your arms and help you to paddle faster. If you would like help to set yourself a swimming programme (if you choose not to join a squad) Dan or I would be very happy to help you set a programme that is relevant for your surf swimming ability and interests.
I am very excited about the up-and-coming season, Dan, Alex, Rochelle and I are working together to implement new and exciting things into Junior Surf. If you or your families have any ideas on how we can improve the current programme and/or Ocean Athlete training; please let me know on haley.mcmahon@surflifesaving.org.nz We are always looking to make the programme more relevant and fun, so your feedback is greatly appreciated.
This year we are wanting to create a Junior Surf Advisory Committee (JSAC) that will guide the direction of our Junior Surf Programme. It is envisaged that this committee will be made up with 6-10 passionate and involved parents who will meet with Haley and Dan to discuss the direction, opportunities, improvements and day to day running of our Junior Surf Programme. It is extremely important that our programme is kept relevant to the current wants and needs of our members.
If you are interested in applying to be on our JSAC, please email Haley haley.mcmahon@surflifesaving.org.nz for the Terms of Reference and the application form, or to simply ask questions. Your involvement and input into this committee is extremely valued. Thanks.
Do enjoy your winter; I am looking forward to seeing you all back at the beach again.
Haley McMahon
Now if you want to meet a man who knows all the news that is news across the nation, and in the Club, tune into Mike and his
Club Captain's Report:
Hi everyone,
I hope the start of winter is treating you all well and you haven't started to put on the winter pounds as I have!
This is my first season being Club Captain, and I must say that it is already a challenging role yet one that I am looking forward to getting stuck in to over the winter months.
In my role as Club Captain I am to aiming to be a figurehead for the Club, to motivate the Board and ensure we are working hard for the members, and also to be a voice for the active membership. If anyone has any ideas/suggestions or constructive criticism, or just wants to catch up and talk about the club I will try my best to make myself available. If talking to me seems a bit scary then feel free to contact our two new Board members - Mitch Jensen and Rachelle Bright.
Both Mitch and Rachelle have been co-opted on to the Board to provide some enthusiasm and fresh perspectives on how we go about running the Cclub, and also to give them an insight into club management so that they can move on to holding a portfolio (if we have portfolios under the new Constitution) in the coming seasons.
Board Planning
At this stage of the season the Board is in 'planning mode' and so we are grappling with our funding priorities for the upcoming season and how to best go about obtaining as much income as we can (already a special thanks to Jo Jensen for helping us out on the funding front! If anyone else has any contacts in Gaming Charities and/or businesses that have sponsorship pools, please talk to Jan F).
Other items on the work agenda are:
1. Looking at the Callout Squad SOPS drafted by Andrew Hodgson to ensure that our members are protected by committing these procedures to our Patrol Operations Manual (thanks Andrew);
2. Consulting with new SLSNZ staff to find out how to best utilise their strengths;
3. Implementing a new uniform policy and looking at stock rotation and new product lines to our current offerings (thanks Alex);
4. Beginning work on the new Cclub Constitution;
5. Organising the club survey - ensuring we ask the 'right' questions in order to get the most benefit from your time spent filling in the survey (which should be out within the next month, so watch this space!);
6. Junior surf programme - planning the season ahead; and
7. Strategic planning (Survey information will be fed into this process also).
Club Coach
We are still working through the finer details of Dan's job description but in essence it will be a stripped down version of his summer job. It will mainly consist of keeping in contact with athletes, providing some guidance on training, and also getting everyone ready to hit the ground running for next season!
We'll announce further details of what Dan will be up to in the next newsletter.
1/3 Surf sport equipment applications DUE 1 JULY 2010:
The club will again consider contributing towards surf sport equipment (ski or board) for serious competitors. Cut-off for applications for the 2010/2011 season is 1 July 2010. If you want more information please contact Haley McMahon. To be eligible for this training grant you must be pre-approved by committee. A letter of application is requested detailing:
Previous competitions attended and results achieved
Goals for the coming season
Commitment to a training program and season plan
The athlete will commit to competing at a series of carnivals - these will be agreed on in the contract between the club and the paddler
Committee approval is discretionary and dependent on grant monies being available, and suitable applicants applying
Payroll giving
Some of you may also be aware of a new payroll giving scheme that was enacted by new tax legislation last year. The scheme allows for employers to deduct a donation (if requested by the employee) from the employees wage or salary to be paid direct to a registered donee organisation.
The benefit of this scheme for the employee is that they will automatically receive a tax credit of 33.3% on the donation (i.e. you do not need to apply for the credit with your tax return) and the employee can donate smaller amounts more frequently without having to do any paperwork or make any physical payments - it is all done by the employer, the same way that PAYE is deducted before you receive your pay.
The Trust Waikato Whangamata SLSC is a registered donee organisation so we are asking that members who wish to support us by donating please consider asking your employer if they have or are going to implement a payroll giving scheme, and if they are, if Whangamata SLSC can be a nominated organisation.
Your support would be greatly appreciated! To put it into context - if only 50 members donated $5 per week (less than it costs to sponsor an African child or buy two coffees!) from their wages the club would have enough to buy a new IRB every year!! And you would get a roughly $90 tax credit at the end of the year.
And your PAYE would reduce by roughly $90 during the year (i.e. the tax credit is applied at each pay day).
More information will be placed on the club website under the "payroll giving" tab on the left hand side, including a standard letter that you can give to your employer requesting the payroll giving scheme be used at your work and that Whangamata SLSC be one of the registered charities. If you want further information feel free to call or email me directly.
Thanks for taking the time to read this update, remember to keep checking the website regularly and if you know of anyone who is not receiving email newsletters please ask them to email wslsc@xtra.co.nz to ensure that they are on the mailing list.
Mike Tames
mike.tames@gmail.com
0274 176644
Kelvyn Eglinton, who loves to wax the board and ride the waves after a hard day at work, adds a touch of Hawaii to our May newsletter.
Aloha Athletes
Last season we saw an increase in the number and quality of our Whanga athletes, and in the competition results; particularly in the Ocean Athletes grade and in new recruits to the age- grade ranks. Big thanks go to Dan Grant who ran a very good summer programme and got many of you training properly. 'Big ups' to Dan Peacock who was a representative in the Bay of Plenty team for the Surf League.
For those of you who don't know me, I have been at Whanga SLSC for the last 5 seasons. My first club was Palmerston North at the mighty Himatangi Beach, and when I moved to the Bay of Plenty in 1996 I was at Omanu Beach for ages. Here I competed and made the Bay of Plenty and New Zealand development teams and the Club World Championships in 1998. I was manager of the Bay of Plenty team from 2006 to 2008 when we took out the trophy for the Surf League; I have sat on the Bay of Plenty SLS Board for 4 years until the development of the exciting Project Groundswell; and now look forward to helping out on the Board of Directors at Whangamata.
I know summer seems a long way off but Dan and I are getting together in the next few weeks to plan our objectives for the competition scene this year. Certainly in our initial discussions we want to tidy up a few areas: around training and attending events.
The basic rule for 2010/11 is - if you don't train and don't attend the local carnivals, don't expect to be heading for the big events like the NRCs or Nationals, and don't expect to be getting gear issued. That might sound tough, but if we want the Club to have a competition scene as prestigious as it was when the Boats represented NZ and took out National titles, then we need to set and adhere to some ground rules from day one.
The second rule is simple - If you want help - ask. There are a lot of skills and experience around the Club; these people are willing to help, so feel free to give Dan or me a call if you want to know anything.
There are a few of us (Ben Hoy in particular) that have shades of grey in our hair - so if you're over 35 and thinking that you would like to give surf sports a go at masters level (at local carnivals and at Nationals) then let me know. You are almost never 'too old'.
It looks like a big year's looming ahead of us with Whangamata hosting the IRB Nationals in March 2011, so I'm looking forward to seeing you out on the waves.
Cheers
Kelvyn
Now we move north to Birkenhead for the wise words of the Director of Lifeguarding Services:
First of all, thank you very much to everyone who gave up even a little bit of their time to come to the beach and patrol during the previous season. Lifeguarding is our core service, and without your volunteer hours our club wouldn't exist; so thank you.
Now that the 2009-2010 patrolling has finished, the planning is beginning for this new season.
We are currently working through the funding priorities to get some new gear for patrolling and to upgrade some of our existing resources.
I am reviewing the way in which the patrol roster will be implemented next season. What I am looking at doing is structuring it so that the load is shared amongst volunteers rather than the same people doing patrols every weekend. It will also be run in such a way that people who have not been patrolling for a while will be able to turn up and patrol with a mixture of newcomers and people they already know.
In terms of the survey coming up, please take the time, even if you haven't been around the Club for a while or if you have just joined, to complete the survey so I can get some feedback about what members want for lifeguarding. I hope everyone is feeling as amped as I am about the 2011 National IRB Championships.
If you have any suggestions or concerns about the lifeguarding aspects of the club, please do not hesitate to send me an email: andremjohnson@gmail.com.
Cheers
Andre Johnson