All St.Ives members: Club Committee Update

31 May 2019 by Lindy Jones

1
As we approach the half-way mark of the season, we’re once again experiencing the joys of watching our kids develop, make friends and have fun, combined with the challenges being part of a growing 500-team Sydney AFL competition.

Over 200 parents, friends and supporters volunteer each and every week of the season to help our kids enjoy their AFL experience as part of the 23 teams we field at St Ives. The Committee is very grateful for your involvement and would like to provide a brief update on our activities.

Investing for our members
Our Committee focus has been to manage our finances carefully, enabling us to invest for the benefit of our members and not increase our membership fees this season, despite an increase in AFL affiliation fees per player.

This year, we have invested to purchase new team kit and training bags, first aid kits as well as boosting our supply of game and training footballs. We have also extended our professional first aid services (kindly supplied by Northside Physiotherapy) to Friday nights reducing our reliance on team parents to fill the role.

Our generous major sponsor Toyo Tyres has supplied new reversible jerseys to all our players and Liberty Industrial is providing new, more easily fitted, goal post pads for Acron Oval.

Currently, we have a number of Council and other grant applications in progress to fund much-needed improvements to our Acron Oval clubhouse facilities and we will provide more updates as we hear of the outcomes.

This year, we have also extended our use of the St Ives Showground as an overflow venue and we’re working with Council to improve its suitability for our training and match day use.

As a not-for-profit organisation that receives no Government or other funding, we rely solely on income from member fees and sponsorship to fund our running costs which include AFL affiliation fees, insurance, Council ground hire, player and squad equipment, our coaches’ accreditation fees and representative/development carnival participation fees to name a few.

As a result, our fund raising activity is vital to maintain the quality of our assets and experience we can offer to our kids, and we are grateful for your support in fund-raising activities during the year. Our Bunnings Belrose sausage sizzle on Saturday 8th June is the next event on our fund-raising calendar and we thank all families who will help us out on the day. You can still sign up to help here: https://signup.com/go/cgyuThk

Club Strategy Update
A Strategy Sub-Committee has been progressing development of a Club Strategy for St Ives and after consulting a number of stakeholders on strategic options, we are currently surveying our squad leadership teams (coaches, managers and other coaching staff) for their opinions. In the near future, we will open consultation to all Club members to request your input, with a view to presenting the final strategy at our Annual General Meeting on 31st October. If you have any questions or would like to discuss the strategy, please contact secretary@stivesafl.com

What to expect for the rest of 2019 and beyond
With our current President, Paul Thompson, handing over the baton at the end of this year after four seasons leading our great Club, the Committee is working towards a smooth leadership transition to handover responsibilities by the end of the season while we continue to strengthen our Club and serve our members.

The President and other Committee roles will be elected by members at the Annual General Meeting on 31st October.

While we’re half way through season 2019, the Committee has already commenced planning for an exciting season 2020 which will see more structured and early preparation of our squads and player lists in collaboration with the AFL, a defined recruitment strategy and building the capability of our squad leadership teams (coaches, managers and other key roles).

It’s all about making sure that our kids have a great AFL experience every year at St Ives in line with our values and culture. We will be discussing our new initiatives in more detail at our upcoming Coaches & Managers mid-year briefing on 17th June, prior to socialising more broadly throughout our membership.

Building our kids’ mental health and resilience
Playing competitive sport like AFL gives kids the opportunity to build mental toughness and resilience, while also potentially exposing vulnerabilities. As part of our commitment to care for our kids and support our squad leaders, we will be holding a session at our next Coaches & Managers briefing led by community organisation, StreetWork at www.streetwork.org.au on ways to identify mental health issues in our kids, tools and strategies to build resilience as a coach or leader of kids and how to get help.

We want you!!
If you would like to play a more active role in the Club, we are currently seeking expressions of interest in a number of key new and existing positions to commence from season 2020 with preparation and handover starting later this year:
• Registrar
• Auskick Coordinator
• Fund-raising Coordinator
• Recruitment Coordinator
• Volunteer Coordinator
• Team App Coordinator (new role)
• Council Grounds Coordinator (new role)
• Draw Management Coordinator (new role)
• Squad Leadership Coordinator (new role)

Our organisation chart and outline of new roles is attached. For more information, please contact Lindy Jones (footy2@stivesafl.com) in the first instance.

Key dates for your diary
Sydney Swans player visit – 5th June at Acron Oval from 5.30pm
Bunnings Sausage Sizzle fund-raiser – 8th June at Bunnings Belrose
Coaches & Managers mid-season briefing – 17th June 7.30 – 9pm at Greengate Hotel, Killara
Annual Club Social – 27th July at Greengate Hotel, Killara

Thanks for your support and Go Saints!



Location

acron oval

Comments 1

Loading...