Recreation & Aquatic Centre Ltd Annual Report

Annual ReportRecreation & Aquatic Centre Ltd

UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG

RECREATION & AQUATIC CENTRE Ltd.

2002 BOARD

J. Patterson (Executive Chair)P. Webb (Deputy Chair)C. BattaerdC. FierravantiD. HarlandD. IversonM. ReidP. MaywaldM. SheilM. KellyP. Manning (Executive Director)

HONORARY LIFE HONORARYMEMBERS: SOLICITOR:

Mr I. Dunn Mr J. IsabellaMr D. Lear Williamson IsabellaMr N. McKinlayDr J. PembertonDr P. Webb

University SportInternational University Sport2002 Rugby League Tour – Tonga/New Zealand, 8 June – 14 JulyMichael GentleShannon LavertyGlen Littler

World University Triathlon Championship, Nanao, Japan 10 – 11 AugustMark Scott – 35th

2002 Beijing International University Womens Soccer InvitationalBeijing China 12 – 20 SeptemberUniversity of Wollongong – 3rd

Australian University SportAustralian University GamesGold – Men’s TennisBronze – Ultimate FrisbeeBronze – Mixed Touch

Australian University ChampionshipsGold – Surfing

Eastern University Games & ChampionshipsGold – Men’s GolfGold – Mixed OztagGold – Women’s SoccerGold – Men’s SquashGold – Men’s TennisGold – Mixed TouchSilver – Women’s BasketballSilver – GymnasticsSilver – Men’s VolleyballBronze – Women’s Tennis

2

Recreation2002 proved to be another year of growth in fitness & recreation activities at URAC. The totalnumber of members using the fitness facilities, the addition of new fitness facilities andadditional new equipment are in keeping with the overall trend for growth at the university.

2002 Key Events• March: completion of a new cardio room at a cost of $250,000 and including $250,000

of new equipment on lease• March: creation of stretching area• March: overall expansion of the fitness area to 760m2• July: casual supervision in the gym increased to accommodate more users• August: group exercise program expanded by 5 classes per week, to cater for increased

demand

Key changes in usage patterns for fitness activities• 12 Month Fitness memberships becoming more popular• Decreasing trend in casual visits to the gym and classes• Increasing number of staff members engaging in fitness activities

Total fitnessmemberships grewby 33.5% in 2002

In 2002, 12 monthmemberships made

up 44% of totalfitness memberships

3

T o tal F itn es s Mem b ers h ip s

0

500

1000

1500

2000

TO TA L Memberships

Y e a r

Nu

mb

er

So

ld

2000

2001

2002

6 Month Gold Card56%


20 V is it (P rep aid P as s es ) P u rch as es

1820

1830

1840

1850

1860

1870

1880

1890

1900

Prepaid Visits

No

. p

urc

ha

se

d

200020012002

C as u al G ro u p E x ercis e C las s es P u r c h a s e s

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

Cas ual Gro up Exe rcise Cla sse s

P u r c h a s e s

No

. v

isit

s

2000

2001

2002

C as u al G y m V is its P u rch as ed

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

Ca sual Gy m Visits

P u r c h a s e s

No

. V

isit

s2000

2001

2002

2002 U R A C Mem b er T y p e

76%

7%

10%

3%

3%

1%

0%

Students

Non Members

Staff

Life Members

Concession

Graduate

A ux illa ry

G ro u p E x ercis e C las s A tten d an ces

11381

15995

19027

020004000

60008000

100001200014000

160001800020000

Y ear

Nu

mb

er

of

att

en

da

nc

es

2000

2001

2002

O p eratin g In co m e v E x p en d itu re

0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

350000

400000

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Y e a r s

Do

lla

rs INCOME

EXPEND.

DEFICIT


0

500

1000

1500

2000

TO TA L Memberships

Y e a r

Nu

mb

er

So

ld

2000

2001

2002




1820

1830

1840

1850

1860

1870

1880

1890

1900

Prepaid Visits

No

. p

urc

ha

se

d

200020012002


0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000


P u r c h a s e s

No

. v

isit

s

2000

2001

2002


0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

Ca sual Gy m Visits

P u r c h a s e s

No

. V

isit

s

2000

2001

2002


76%

7%

10%

3%

3%

1%

0%

Students

Non Members

Staff

Life Members

Concession

Graduate

A ux illa ry

G ro u p E x ercis e C las s A t ten d an ces

11381

15995

19027

020004000

60008000

100001200014000

160001800020000

Y ear

Nu

mb

er

of

att

en

da

nc

es

2000

2001

2002


0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

350000

400000

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Y e a r s

Do

lla

rs INCOME

EXPEND.

DEFICIT

Sales of prepaid visitpasses fell by 1.4%

in 2002

Casual Group FitnessClass visits fell by

26.8% in 2002.

Casual Visits to thegym were up 19.9%

from 2001

Students were thegreatest users of

fitness services in2002, followed by

university staff andcommunity users

4


0

500

1000

1500

2000

TO TA L Memberships

Y e a r

Nu

mb

er

So

ld

2000

2001

2002




1820

1830

1840

1850

1860

1870

1880

1890

1900

Prepaid Visits

No

. p

urc

ha

se

d

200020012002


0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000


P u r c h a s e s

No

. v

isit

s

2000

2001

2002


0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

Ca sual Gy m Visits

P u r c h a s e s

No

. V

isit

s

2000

2001

2002


76%

7%

10%

3%

3%

1%

0%

Students

Non Members

Staff

Life Members

Concession

Graduate

A ux illa ry


11381

15995

19027

020004000

60008000

100001200014000

160001800020000

Y ear

Nu

mb

er

of

att

en

da

nc

es

2000

2001

2002


0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

350000

400000

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Y e a r s

Do

lla

rs INCOME

EXPEND.

DEFICIT


0

500

1000

1500

2000

TO TA L Memberships

Y e a r

Nu

mb

er

So

ld

2000

2001

2002




1820

1830

1840

1850

1860

1870

1880

1890

1900

Prepaid Visits

No

. p

urc

ha

se

d

200020012002


0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000


P u r c h a s e s

No

. v

isit

s

2000

2001

2002


0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

Ca sual Gy m Visits

P u r c h a s e s

No

. V

isit

s

2000

2001

2002


76%

7%

10%

3%

3%

1%

0%

Students

Non Members

Staff

Life Members

Concession

Graduate

A ux illa ry


11381

15995

19027

020004000

60008000

100001200014000

160001800020000

Y ear

Nu

mb

er

of

att

en

da

nc

es

2000

2001

2002


0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

350000

400000

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Y e a r s

Do

lla

rs INCOME

EXPEND.

DEFICIT


0

500

1000

1500

2000

TO TA L Memberships

Y e a r

Nu

mb

er

So

ld

2000

2001

2002




1820

1830

1840

1850

1860

1870

1880

1890

1900

Prepaid Visits

No

. p

urc

ha

se

d

200020012002


0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000


P u r c h a s e s

No

. v

isit

s2000

2001

2002


0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

Ca sual Gy m Visits

P u r c h a s e s

No

. V

isit

s

2000

2001

2002


76%

7%

10%

3%

3%

1%

0%

Students

Non Members

Staff

Life Members

Concession

Graduate

A ux illa ry


11381

15995

19027

020004000

60008000

100001200014000

160001800020000

Y ear

Nu

mb

er

of

att

en

da

nc

es

2000

2001

2002


0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

350000

400000

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Y e a r s

Do

lla

rs INCOME

EXPEND.

DEFICIT


0

500

1000

1500

2000

TO TA L Memberships

Y e a r

Nu

mb

er

So

ld

2000

2001

2002




1820

1830

1840

1850

1860

1870

1880

1890

1900

Prepaid Visits

No

. p

urc

ha

se

d

200020012002


0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000


P u r c h a s e s

No

. v

isit

s

2000

2001

2002


0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

Ca sual Gy m Visits

P u r c h a s e s

No

. V

isit

s

2000

2001

2002


76%

7%

10%

3%

3%

1%

0%

Students

Non Members

Staff

Life Members

Concession

Graduate

A ux illa ry


11381

15995

19027

020004000

60008000

100001200014000

160001800020000

Y ear

Nu

mb

er

of

att

en

da

nc

es

2000

2001

2002


0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

350000

400000

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Y e a r s

Do

lla

rs INCOME

EXPEND.

DEFICIT

In 2002, there was a shift towards larger numbers of 6 or 12 month memberships beingpurchased. The trend away from purchasing casual visits is a reflection of the greater valuemembers are receiving with the longer- term memberships – which offer a number of packagedservices.

Whilst the increasing attendances in Group Exercise Classes have been an excellent result in2002, finite spaces in the Aerobics Room and Sports Lounge meant that we were unable tomeet the demand from all of members.

We expect the trend for growth to continue as the university continues to expand. URAC fitnessservices will continue to be of industry best practice standards. However, the challenges facedin 2002 in meeting demand for popular services will continue as well. We anticipate facing thesame challenges in 2003.

Lunchtime sport was a popular social sport program in 2002 with approximately 1500 studentsparticipating. Competitions were staged for Netball, Oztag, Volleyball, Touch, Indoor & OutdoorSoccer & Basketball

The outdoor adventure program provided students with the opportunity to scuba dive, go white-water rafting, do indoor rock climbing and horse riding. These programs serviced mainlyinternational students. There has been a noticeable increase in other organizations -particularly halls of residence - offering the same service. URAC will continue to provide theseservices in 2003, but recognises the greater number of alternatives students have in selectingalternate providers.

Grant JacobsRecreation Manager

5


0

500

1000

1500

2000

TO TA L Memberships

Y e a r

Nu

mb

er

So

ld

2000

2001

2002




1820

1830

1840

1850

1860

1870

1880

1890

1900

Prepaid Visits

No

. p

urc

ha

se

d

200020012002


0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000


P u r c h a s e s

No

. v

isit

s

2000

2001

2002


0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

Ca sual Gy m Visits

P u r c h a s e s

No

. V

isit

s

2000

2001

2002


76%

7%

10%

3%

3%

1%

0%

Students

Non Members

Staff

Life Members

Concession

Graduate

A ux illa ry


11381

15995

19027

020004000

60008000

100001200014000

160001800020000

Y ear

Nu

mb

er

of

att

en

da

nc

es

2000

2001

2002


0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

350000

400000

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Y e a r s

Do

lla

rs INCOME

EXPEND.

DEFICIT

Facilities

FACILITIES INCOME

‘00 income ‘01 income ‘02 income

Aerobics Floor $2,640 $2,559 $2,834

Artificial Surface $8,851 $11,929 $9,977

Ovals $13,057 $12,389 $13,613

Tennis Courts $29,689 $31,883 $28,716

Sports Hall $45,097 $53,050 $60,030.00

Sports Lounge $5,587 $4,924 $6,021.00

Squash Courts $23,744 $32,320 $40,069

TOTAL $134652 $149054 $161260

There was an overall increase of 8% in the total income for facilities. The income for squashcourt hire increased by 20%. The squash courts are in constant demand. There was a 12%increase in income for the sports hall. This facility is booked every evening. The aerobics floor,ovals and sports lounge all had slight increases in income. The artificial playing surface hada decrease in income. It is very difficult to predict income for the surface as it is verydependent upon The Illawarra District Hockey Association and amount of wet weather usage.This facility is rarely used for competitive hockey and is showing signs of age.

The decrease in income for the tennis courts was not predicted and in 2003 staff energy needsto be directed towards this facility

Leisure CoursesLeisure courses continue to provide a number of recreational options to users. Pilates, dance,tennis and self defence classes were the most popular. A new course we offered was deeprelaxation. This was in conjunction with student services and was very well received.

The feedback from both the participants and instructors continues to be positive.

In 2002 we ran some short courses over the summer period. These were predominatelyattended by staff and all filled quickly. 36 courses were offered in 2002 and 364 places werefilled. Approximately 80 % of participants were students. These figures are very similar tothose of 2001.

6

Challenges:• Identifying new courses which fit URAC mission.• Identify areas where URAC and other Uni departments can work together• Keeping abreast of changing demand in recreation.• Having venues to run enough courses to meet increasing demand.

2002 Highlights:• Continued increase in the number of people using URAC• The continued success of the leisure Courses and providing “recreation” options.• The dedication and devotion of Facilities Staff. • Conflict resolution training for all permanent staff• Continuation of customer service/ conflict resolution training for casual employees.• The increase in income and usage of the squash courts and sports hall.• Multi skilling of facilities staff.

Things to work on in 2003:• An accurate system for collecting details on number of people using URAC facilities. • Systems for making access to URAC services fair and equitable• Finding ways to meet the increasing demand on services and facilities.

Jodie DouglasFacilities Manager

7

Aquatic CentreThe Aquatic Centre has continued on from last year with a record income year to date. A keycomponent to this success are the efforts of the enthusiastic and professional staff within theAquatic centre. Thanks must go to these staff for their help and support over the past year. Wewill be continuing to provide a range of services and programs in the premier Aquatic Centrein the Illawarra.

Bruce and Peter have taken leave during 2002/3. I have compiled this report on their behalf.

Finance

A financial outline of the Aquatic Centre’s performance over the previous years is shown below.As projected the levels of operationally subsidy rose for 2002 as dramatically increasedrefurbishment and maintenance costs were incurred. This year has been our best yet in termsof income enhanced by the fact that we offer innovative programs and continue to maximisethe use of the Centre year round.

AQUATIC CENTREOPERATING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE

COMPARISONS OF YEARLY TOTALS

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

INCOME $239083 $201942 $227756 $156872 $246209 $274728 $242986 $264552 $281582 $307475 $320966

EXPEND. $248134 $234132 $281659 $353379 $350485 $347646 $294647 $269981 $290166 $315425 $352470

DEFICIT $9051 $32190 $53903 $196507 $104276 $72918 $51661 $5429 $8584 $7950 $31499

8


0

500

1000

1500

2000

TO TA L Memberships

Y e a r

Nu

mb

er

So

ld

2000

2001

2002




1820

1830

1840

1850

1860

1870

1880

1890

1900

Prepaid Visits

No

. p

urc

ha

se

d

200020012002


0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000


P u r c h a s e s

No

. v

isit

s

2000

2001

2002


0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

Ca sual Gy m Visits

P u r c h a s e s

No

. V

isit

s

2000

2001

2002


76%

7%

10%

3%

3%

1%

0%

Students

Non Members

Staff

Life Members

Concession

Graduate

A ux illa ry


11381

15995

19027

020004000

60008000

100001200014000

160001800020000

Y ear

Nu

mb

er

of

att

en

da

nc

es

2000

2001

2002


0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

350000

400000

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Y e a r s

Do

lla

rs INCOME

EXPEND.

DEFICIT

Programs

Learn to SwimThe Uni Swim School has been a profitable program even though the range of classes offeredhas been reduced. Our customers provide positive feedback identifying the Aquatic Centreenvironment, cleanliness and professional friendly staff as key components to their decision topatronise our pool. Parking problems continue to be our greatest threat to the success of thisprogram.

Swim For Fitness (SFF)Still running profitably and with great enthusiasm from the participants. Lunch-time classeshave continued on with their growth from last year with a great core group of staff users. Thisprogram isn’t particularly affected by the parking issues as the classes morning and night runout of the patrolled times. Illawarra triathlon club has been very supportive with advertisingwithin their member bulletin and attendance by members within sessions. SFF has a very goodprofile within the local fitness swimming community.

SchoolsCarnival bookings were very full for both the start and end of year and looking good for 2003/4.Shade cover provided has been adequate for students and spectators. Many schools run acompetitors only carnival meaning a reduced duration time.

BookingsLane hire was nearly maximal over winter with Ron McKeon utilising the space left vacated bythe departure of Dapto based Squads. We also provided a training base for a number ofinternational and national swimming and triathlon groups here in Australia for competition ortraining. We have had significant casual bookings for scuba groups, schools and other casualusers groups. Introduction of the bulkheads to split 4 of the lanes allowed more space forcasual swimmers and squads during the peak winter periods has been welcomed.

2003We have plenty to live up to after the performance of 2002. Challenges will be maintaining theSwim School and Mini Squad program profile from last season. These programs feed into RonMcKeon’s squads who look to continue taking advantage of the extra space available comparedto previous years. The Uni Aquatic Centre is a base for NSWIS swimming and Triathlonregional development programs. It is hoped that as the athletes and programs advance withineach of these two individual sports we will continue to offer athletes an opportunity of tertiaryeducation, elite coaching support and facilities here in Wollongong.

Maintenance issues: As with all facilities the Aquatic Centre is ageing. This will bring with itincreasing maintenance requirements which will add to our expenses in 2003. This isnecessary to maintain the Centre as a safe, clean facility. I still believe we continue to exist asthe premier aquatic facility in the Illawarra and will be striving to maintain this position.

Jamie Turner Aquatic Centre Supervisor

9

Club SportBadmintonFollowing the successful year of 2001, theBadminton Club continues its growth in2002. Although we have lost about 30memberships this year from WollongongUniversity College students and non-uniplayers due to the fact that they are noteligible to become Badminton Clubmembers if they are not the auxiliarymembers of the Sports Association, the clubstill experienced an unbelievable increase inmemberships. The Badminton Club currentlyhas 124 full memberships, which is all timehigh. Since the Wollongong UniversityCollege students and non-uni players werenot counted as official members of the Clubby the Sports Association and were notallocated any funding, we actually have hasthis year a 70% effective increase of thememberships than last year (increase from73 to 124). We are expecting to see a hugeincrease in Club Funding from the SportsAssociation towards the Badminton Clubnext year.

Thanks to our strong committee this year,the daily operation of the Club has been verysuccessful. Due to the introduction of thenew desk manning system, we were able toallocate at least one committee member tolook after the desk at all times. This has hadseveral positive effects. It not only indicatesto the members that the Club is under thegood management, it also makes thecollection of playing money a fairly easy taskand it also reduces the waste of shuttles. Wehave kept a good bookkeeping and recordspractice. The money is counted every timeafter playing and banked at a regular basis.The Badminton Club has a high profilewithin the Sports Association. Our good workhas been acknowledged numerous timesrelative officers from the Sports Association.

We have arranged additional playing time onWednesday afternoon during the sessiontimes to accommodate the large number of

members.

The Club Days have been proved to be verysuccessful, we have attracted more than 20new members during those two days. Thanksto those committee members who havevolunteered their time and energy to sit bythe desk and give out the club information.

The Club also created a lively and welcomingatmosphere at Club Sessions and allnewcomers, potential players and spectatorswere spoken to and encouraged to try outwith the Club. The Club continues with thegraded system on Friday to ensure thatplayers of similar standard were on courtensuring better games for all. Players quicklygot used to the Club policy of pay before youplay and welcomed the fact that the Clubsessions were friendly, enjoyable and wellrun. The broken shuttles have been used forwarm ups at all times and the use of the newfeather shuttles have been overseen by thecommittee. The suggestions of improvementon the sports hall have been risen to theSports Association on several occasions. TheClub makes strenuous efforts to tidy up thehall after use. We have never received anycomplaints from the Sports Associationabout our use of the facilities.

We have organised several lunches includingwelcome lunches in the beginning of bothsessions, lunches after the Club competitionand a lunch with members form University ofSydney Club. These social functions havehelped to develop a very friendly atmospherewith in the club.

We couldn’t make the team both AUG andEUG this year due to the lack of competitiveplayers within the Club, the timing and gamelocations. We did have some players whohave participated in the several competitionsavailable in Sydney and Canberra throughthe year. Congratulations to Iggy for winningbronze in the World Masters Games inMelbourne. Next year we should plan earlyand start early. It is hoped that we will notonly participate in ECG/AUG in 2003, butalso take advantage of the opportunities toplay in the many competitions available in

10

Sydney and Canberra through the year.

We have continued the good relationshipwith Gary at the Sports Store. We havepurchased all our shuttles through him. Andhe has been quite happy to provide thebadminton equipment to the Club membersand doing the restringing of badmintonracquets. Eric has continued to provideliaison with the Illawarra BadmintonAssociation and the NSW BadmintonAssociation and is a great helper in all ourBadminton Club events.

The Clubs end of year dinner when wemonopolise a local restaurant, gives us achance to meet up with those friends madethroughout the year, especially the currentcommittee members. Without your supportthroughout the year, especially the currentcommittee members. Without you support, itwould be impossible to run such a big clubso successfully. Thankyou Danielle, Raj,Simone, Espen, Kaori, Jesy, Shams,Narendra, Rao and Tjo for your good work. Ithas been a pleasure to work with you.Thanks to all Club members, your support,encouragement and acknowledgment havealways been a good motivation for me tocarry on during the year.

Limei DiPresident

Basketball2002 was a disappointing year for the UOWbasketball club. Session one started offfairly smoothly and plenty of basketball wasbeing played. As the session progressedenthusiasm amongst members declinedwhich resulted in very little being done insession two.

One reason for the performance degradationin session two was the unavailability of keyclub members. The club meets forscrimmages at lunchtimes on Tuesdays andFridays. Due to work commitments thePresident was unable to attend thesesessions on a regular basis. Without a visible

President leading the club it was hard for theclub to function.

Successional planning is one area that ourclub has been poor with in the past and thatwas no different this year. With little interestfrom the current membership a committeefor 2003 failed to be nominated. It is hopedthat when session one begins next year anenthusiastic member will be able to pick upthe reigns and keep the basketball clubgoing forward.

Keiran McNameePresident

CricketThe University of Wollongong Cricket clubrepresent approximately 100 players, andthis year fielded one woman’s and six mens’steams over four Grades- first, second andthird grades and three fourth grade teams.Overall a successful season was enjoyed bythe Club, with the highlights being majorand minor premierships in third (both one-day and overall competition) and fourthgrade-congratulations to Gavin and Ricky fortheir efforts over the course of the seasonand to all of their players. Well done!!!Second grade were reasonably competitivefor most of the season, just falling away inthe last month- although this was largely dueto availability issues out of their control.Unfortunately such success was not forthcoming in firsts. Who whilst boasting abowling attack that could compete with anyclub in the district could not score enoughruns.

As mentioned above, the 2001/02 seasononce again saw the UWCC demonstrate itscommitment to both University sport andIllawarra/South Coast cricket community byachieving excellent ‘participation’ across thegrades- fielding six men’s teams and onewomen’s team- we are undoubtedly one ofthe Illawarra/South Coast Crickets’ strongestsenior clubs in this regard. Additionallyuniversity club members were also activelyinvolved in various ‘sports management’

11

capacities- Ricky Adams as a Vice-Presidentof Committee; John Pemberton in his role asthe Illawarra crickets paid administrator andas Vice president of the UOW SportsAssociation; and Geoff Mettam as a memberof the Sports Association ExecutiveCommittee. All have contributed enormouslyto UWCC cricket and club members shouldbe proud of their contributions.

University fielded a team in the Women’sCricket South Coast competition, however acombination of administrative/organizationaland commitment problems with the girlsresulted in them folding out of thecompetition after Christmas. This was quitea disappointing outcome from a team that inrecent seasons had certainly been on theimprove, so we are keen to turn that aroundand hear from any ‘lady cricketers’ out therein the University community.

We again offered Student Scholarships thispast season- Michael Knight, Nathan Eke,Nathan Eastwood, Glenn Jones and SeanKempton. Michael was our major scholarshipholder, in conjunction with his role as 1stGrade Captain and club coaching duties.Nathan’s (x 2), Glen and Sean’s scholarshipswere all incentive schemes, based aroundthe number of first grade matches played–which they all achieved. AdditionallyNathan Eke achieved representative honourswith his selection for Illawarra Colts andseniors and also the County Colts team. Anexcellent effort. Sean also representedIllawarra under 19’s.

As is usual with any UWCC season it cannotgo by without mentioning the contributions ofJohn and Margaret Pemberton- I say it all thetime, but it still remains true…. They are theheart and soul of our Club and a significantpart of the reason we are successful both onand off the field. Margaret, as always, does amagnificent job with the stats, she keeps ourfinances in order and keeps First Grade score.John keeps the clubs administration movingforward, always providing that gentle reminderthat something needs to be taken care of.Many thanks to both of you from all of us.

Once again, management Committee wise, itis fair to say we had our ‘slow’ year, but mythanks must go to those you gave their timeand effort- Stu Chambers for hisestablishment of a new web-page and hisorganising of Organ email distribution andweb-page up-dates; Tim and Michael knightfor their contributions as ICA Delegates;sommo for his efforts with the first gradeorganization, his constant ‘UWCC-enthusiasm’; PJ for his fundraising effortswith chocolates and sourcing much of it’sequipment; Rowdy for organising playerregistrations, Andrew Weekes for being thechief at training days most of the time; andRicky for being all things to the club.

Last, but without doubt highest on thethanks list is Gary Mockler- the best GearSteward in the world. After consideration ofthe possibilities for our “club person” awardlast year the Docs name came forward and itbecame patently clear that he was theobvious choice.Always first to training, always getting thegear out, always first on Saturday morning-whether playing or not, the Doc is a legendof our club!!! Doc had never before beenrecognised in this fashion by our Club andhis award was richly deserved. Pembo and Itried valiantly to get him to come along tothe presso night but being the committedsocial butterfly he is it was not to be.

Finally, our faithful sponsors deserve thanksalso- principally the Sports Associationthrough whom we make most of equipmentpurchases/ capital improvements; the NorthWollongong hotel, who continue to be ourmajor external (University) sponsor;Wiseman’s Park Bowling Club, Rustysnightclub and South Coast Wholesale Meats-all of whom contribute in some fashion; andlast, but be no means least, Margaret andJohn through their company Diskray.

Well that’s enough from me for the moment.See you in season 2002/03…. Lets hope wetaste more premiership success.

Geoff MettamPresident

12

Dance2002 has brought with it many new andexciting opportunities for Dance Clubmembers. As a new club in 2001, our mainpriority was to increase membershipnumbers. In 2002 however, our ultimate aimwas to increase awareness of the DanceClub, through many performances andpromotional activities within and outside ofthe University.

Our second year as an official club saw anincrease in performance opportunities,publicly, and diversity of styles within theclub. New teachers were recruited, and assuch many new classes were offered thisyear including Modern Jazz/ Funk class tocope with high demand. This served toincrease the diversity of our membership,and to raise the number of classes per weekto 9.

Although membership numbers did notincrease significantly this year (48 activemembers), there has been a genuineincrease in the level of commitment andtime given be members and teachers, with42% of members attending at least 2classes per week, and 17% attending 3-6classes per week. Additionally, memberswere required to attend a number of extrarehearsals on weekends, weeknights andduring the holidays in preparation forperformances.

Performances were an important step inpromoting our club this year. We haveundertaken two full hour performances atthe Unibar (‘Funktastic’ and Funkzone’) toshowcase dances developed in class, as wellas shorter Cheerleading performance.Altogether, a whopping 70% of memberswere involved in these performances. Wewere invited to perform 2 dances at the2002 Sports Awards Dinner in May, andchoreographed a half hour show for the VivaLa Gong Festival in September. 12 membersalso participated in the Viva La Gong ‘GrandParade’, securing the prize of “BestUniversity Group” and $150. Cheerleadersalso performed at Rugby Union and Rugby

League home games throughout the year,and at the Wollongong Wolves OpeningGame in early October. Our cheerleaderswere also invited to permanently representthe Mustangs Gridiron Team, but had todecline due to University commitments atthat time. In the coming weeks, the club isset to perform 3 dances at the WollongongEntertainment Centre, and also at theWollongong West Public School Fair. Allperformances were considered hugelysuccessful by all involved; have afforded thedance club greater recognition within theoutside of the University and have allowedmembers to form strong social bonds.

Social outings were organized throughoutthe year, including a trip to see GraemeMurphy’s “Synergy” at the Sydney OperaHouse. A number of members attended theSports Awards Dinner, and the Sports Ball.Members met informally at the Unibar andthe North gong pub throughout the year,culminating in an end of year party onOctober 24th. A great time was had by all.

In 2003 our aim will be to increasefundraising/treasury activities, and to raisethe number of active members, while stillmaintaining the quality of classes andperformances.

Huge thanks goes out to all members,particularly the teachers and committee, forgiving freely of their time to make the clubsuch a success in 2003.

Kelly GallagherPresident

FloorballThe major achievements for this include theUniversity of Wollongong Floor ball Club co-hosting a state tournament at The Illawarrahockey Sports Stadium, Unanderra, whichsaw clubs from Newcastle, Glebe andNorthern Beaches competing together forthe first time in two years. The WollongongUni Floor ball Club was welcomed back intothe fold after 2 years of being out of the

13

tournament circuit. As such, the yearmarked for much improved relations with theAustralian Floor ball Association (AFA). TheAFA is looking to such Clubs as Wollongongto help promote the sport through closer tieswith AFA and more formal organization inrelation to games, refereeing, training,promotion, and the construction of full sizedplaying rinks. In order to help promote thesport of floor ball an article was written andaccepted for publication in the studentnewspaper, the tertangala. Each year theclub has also organized a major social eventfor members. This year was no exception andthe annual club BBQ was enjoyed by all.Special thanks must go to Paal Syversen whohas served on the Club Executive Committeeand helped the Club on many occasionsthroughout the year.

Membership numbers for this year have beenquite good at around 20-25 people witharound 15 paid up members. The year 2002saw the club engage in regular Sundaytraining, practice and games. Good turnoutto Sunday trainings was encouraging withnumbers varying from 15-25. We discoveredfor the first time that the club could not copewith more than 25 people as training andgame sessions in the exciting venue becometoo cumbersome to manage. If the Clubwanted to become bigger this would need tobe considered in future planning and venueselection. All members felt that the existingvenue meets with our current requirements.

The Club would finally like to thank GaryMorgan for helping out with bookingsAnd the use of the PE gym throughout theyear, especially for organising the bookingarrangements with security.

David BombaPresident

GymnasticsOur club’s membership has risen from zeroto sixty during this year with a total of forty-one active members. The club has twotraining sessions per week, which are

coached by volunteer qualified coaches. Andthus there is an average of nine membersattending each session. The club also had 6members compete at the Eastern UniversityChampionships held in Sydney in July. Webrought back many medals (see performanceindicator 10) but were only just beaten forthe overall club trophy to Sydney University.

The club has also organized many socialevents such as indoor climbing, an end ofyear party and a pub-crawl. The club hasalso produced it’s own t-shirts and is in theprocess of developing a website. Our clubhas also organized two fundraising cakestalls held on market days on campus, whichgenerated a total profit of $132.45. We havealso increased our publicity on campus byperforming in a display held at the Unibar.

All in all, it’s been an outstanding year forthe Gymnastics club.

Jennifer BlairPresident

Hockey Well after such a successful last year, no waydid I think the club would perform as wellagain. The club carried on with all the highlevels of excellence set last year, and has setthe benchmark for future years.

Firstly I would like to congratulate our threewinning sides this year, Men’s and Women’s3rd Grade and our Under 11’s side. I wouldalso like to congratulate Men’s 4th Gradeand Women’s 1st Grade who achieved MinorPremierships and Women’s 2nd Grade wholost their Grand Final. I would also like tocongratulate all the players who representedthe club at a higher level.

The club continued with the level ofsponsorship obtained last year. We would liketo welcome and thank our new and continuingsponsors this year, these being The HarpHotel, Wiseman Park Wollongong City BowlingClub, South Coast Wholesale Meats, IllawarraHockey supplies and of course URAC.

14

The club continued with it’s updating of ouruniforms. Another five sets were purchasedthis year, which outfitted the rest of the club.Now the club owns 12 sets in total of ournewly designed (good looking) set ofuniforms.

Competition Results:

Men’s1st Grade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5th2nd Grade . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6th3rd Grade . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st-Minor Premiers 4th Grade . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3rd-Minor Premiers5th Grade Red . . . . . . . . . . 6th5th Grade Blue . . . . . . . . . . 7th

Women’s1st Grade . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3rd-Minor Premiers2nd Grade Blue . . . . . . . . . 2nd 2nd Grade Red . . . . . . . . . . 8th3rd Grade . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st-Minor Premiers4th Grade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6th

JuniorsU/11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st-Minor PremiersMinkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N/A

The executive committee has workedexceptionally hard this year; Bridget Davis(with trusty Rob Davis by her side) andMichael Kelly have yet again strived to runthe clubs books without fail, and certainlydeserve recognition for their work. Ourmotivated executive committee for 2002was:

Michael Leah (President)Nadine Winter (Vice President)Bridget Davis (Treasurer)Michael Kelly (Vice Treasurer)Michael Jones (Secretary)Fiona Taylor (Vice Secretary)Matthew DavisMatthew WentJohn Pemberton

Andrew MichaelsJustin ReedJane Barret

Thankyou for your hard work andcontribution to the club.

Selection committees, coaches and captainsoften go unnoticed throughout the course ofa season; yet keep the players showing at theright place at the right time, with countlessphone calls and emails.

The club also trialled the use of email todistribute the weekly newsletter “TheBallsup”. This was of great success with over150 names on the list. Thanks to MattyDavis who produced a great article.

The club scholarships have again proved tobe a successful system. This year there wereseven players earning club recognition. Sixof them helped out with the coaching andorganised our social events and one of thescholarships was used to lure Dave Rosserdown from Sydney (another recruit fromUniversity Games)

Congratulations must go to those involved inthe University Games side. It was not the bestyear on the field (the men were struck downwith injuries to our four new recruits, even ourNational League player) however, all enjoyedthe trip away and look forward to next year.

As this is my last year at University, and nowI have a job in Sydney (and plan to move upthere), it is unlikely that I will continue aspresident next year. I would like to thankeveryone who has helped me along in the lasttwo years especially Justin reed and MichaelKelly. Although I am moving up there, I amstill keen to come back for another seasonand strive for that premiership.

I would like to close saying thankyou to allinvolved with the club. I hope you enjoyedthe season as much as I did and look forwardto seeing everyone again next year.

Michael LeahPresident

15

Kendo2002 has been a year of steady progress forthe University of Wollongong Kendo Club.Our level of skill, as recognized by the risinglevel of grading acquired, continued to risewith the addition of Mr. Kim (3rd Dan) to ourranks and regular visits from Mr. Itakura (4thDan) and Mr. Paul Rixon (6 Dan ) to ourtraining sessions, while another practitionerRobert Brown reached the rank of seconddan in both the arts of iaido and judo.

In the 2002 Australian KendoChampionships in Melbourne, for the ninthyear in a row, Wollongong provided memberswith a member of the NSW Open Team anda Kyu grade representative.

Aden SteinkeSecretary

LacrosseThe Lacrosse Clubs membership was 10 dueto low publicity and lack of American andCanadian students. This year has seen theLacrosse club close in spring session due tolack of members. In autumn session we hadsuccessful training sessions with trainingmembers being around 15, butunfortunately we only have 10 payingmembers. This year we also missed out onhaving a competition with MacquarieUniversity due to both of us and them nothaving competition teams. We were happy tohear that Shaun Ratcliffe received URACColours award this year. Next year we aredetermined as a club to make up for springsession and make the year of 2003 asuccessful year for University of WollongongLacrosse Club.

Mark DonnellyTreasurer

RugbyThe Club had a successful year in 2002 bothon and off the field. In the Illawarracompetition our women’s sidecomprehensively won both the minorpremiership and the Grand Final over Kiama28-0 and all the players and coaches AnthonyCox and Wayne Cotton are to be congratulatedon a great job. The Under 19’s again had afantastic year (every year they are there orthereabouts) got into the grand final afterfinishing 4th and gave it a real shake by onlygoing down undefeated Bowral 5-3.Congratulations to Dave McKinnon and theplayers. 2nd grade under AndrewDemontemas had a good year and made thesemi-finals while 3rd grade finished 8th. Our1st grade side just missed the semi-finals andfinished 6th. They played an outstandingbrand of rugby and were a committed anddedicated team under the guidance of coachSimon Iliffe. We also had an Under 15 teamand our hopes are to increase the number ofjunior teams next year.

Our club has developed an excellentinfrastructure with the administration officerJohn Pemberton and the executive committeedoing an excellent job in making ourorganization very professional with anincreasing profile in the rugby community, thebusiness community and the University. Oneof the reasons for this was the John Ealesdinner which the club organised as its majorfundraiser under the chairperson CanioFierravanti and co-sponsors KPMG. 350people attended WIN entertainment centre forwhat was a fantastic night. Ten thousanddollars of the money raised went to the Ed.Edista appeal, a feedback and profile the clubhas received from the night was exceptional.

The club continues to progress in a highlyprofessional manner and thanks areextended to everyone for their dedicationthroughout the year: the administrators andofficials, coaches and players. We lookforward to 2003.

Dr. Paul WebbPresident

16

ScubaThe Scuba Club has continued to grow andimprove over the last year. It is now wellestablished among students and members ofthe general community. Several membershave expanded their skills by obtainingadvanced open water, rescue diver and divemaster qualifications. New equipment hasbeen purchased for club use, and our newconstitution and environmental policy wasvoted in.

New initiatives have been put into place toenable us to do more diving and facilitateclub growth in the future. Club membershave been encouraged to obtain their boatlicence and to come along to a boat driver-training day. So far 3 people have beentrained to drive the boat, with more to betrained up to help the scuba club over thesummer. More experienced drivers havebeen encouraged to further theirqualifications and help out those lessexperienced divers in the club. It has beenfound that the more experienced divers arepresent on a dive, the more new membersfeel comfortable coming along.

Most of last year’s executive remained intheir positions this year, with new committeemembers taking over in April this year.Despite the cold conditions, the club hasdone a large amount of diving this year. Ourfirst trip took us to Jervis Bay, which allowedus to do some fantastic cave diving. Our nexttrip is scheduled to go to Merry beach for thestart of study vacation, and will more thanlikely be well attended by club members.Local dives have been held regularly everyfortnight (weather permitting) at Bass Point,Kiama and Five islands. These dives havebeen generally well attended andconsidering it is the off-season for diving. Itis anticipated that club dives will be heldevery weekend during summer and will covera wide variety of diving (night, deep andwreck) to ensure the maximum number ofpeople can attend and have a challengingand enjoyable diving experience.

Club members have volunteered their

services to the Universities biologydepartment. Divers were given theopportunity to increase their divingexperience by helping out PhD studentsconduct underwater research. Theseactivities have greatly increased theawareness of the club amongst Universitystudents and staff, and have promoted theclub to members of the general community.

The boat Unidive has served us well thisyear, however has recently suffered someauto electric problems. These problems havenow been fixed though so the boat will be into condition for summer. Our new equipmenthas proven to be very high quality and veryuseful in serving the club and its members.The club has maintained an excellent safetyrecord this year with no major incidents.

The costs associated with diving haveessentially remained frozen since 1998,allowing members accessible, affordablediving. The club has been successful inobtaining discounted air fills and equipmenthire from United Divers (Fairy meadow). Thissponsorship has ensured that the cost ofdiving is kept to a minimum.The club has met all of its financialobjectives for the past year and has repaidhalf of its debt owing to URAC for thepurchase of 5 sets of new equipment. The club currently consists of a highpercentage of international students. Weconsequently had a high turnover rate lastyear, but new members have continued tojoin and the club has continued to grow. Thisis a good sign that with our continued effortsin promoting the club, numbers will remainhigh. The high percentage of Internationalstudents in the club initially presented somechallenges with transportation andcommunication, but these people are a realasset to the club. Nowhere else could youfind such a diverse group of people that havedone such varied diving. Auxiliary membersare also welcomed in the club as they toooffer a great deal of experience.

A number of social activities have been runsuccessfully this year including an eveningat Scarborough pub and a members BBQ, as

17

well as post dive trips out for a meal or downto the local watering hole. These socialactivities have proven to be a great way formembers to meet and get to know each otherin a fun atmosphere.

I would like to thank everyone on theexecutive committee who has workedwillingly and enthusiastically maintainingand improving the club over the last year.This can sometimes be a thankless job sotheir consistent efforts have been greatlyappreciated. Without their efforts we wouldnot be able to enjoy some of the best andcheapest diving around. I’m sure thateveryone in the club who has participated inclub dives has had an enjoyable time, and Ilook forward to an exciting 2003.

Trudy FranksPresident

Ski2002 has been another fantastic year forUniversity Of Wollongong Ski Club Inc. TheClub is continuing to grow and improve yearby year, primarily due to the growing base ofregular members and influx of new blood tothe club. Many new friendships have beenmade and we have all developed a real teamassociation. This is a real bonus as it makesthe club seem more attractive to potentialmembers in 2003.

As always, there has been much organizationthis year, with the notable improvementbeing the Snow AUC, attended inSeptember. For the first time in many years,we had a team of 25, with too many guys tocompete in all the men’s snowboardingevents! This required a high level oforganization and thanks must go to SnowVice President- Luke McIndoe for managingthis is 2002. The team competed for 1 weekin Thredbo and we achieved some excellentresults, the highlights being 3rd in Men’sHalf pipe, 5th in Men’s Giant Slalom, 5th inWomen’s half pipe and 5th in the Men’steams boarder cross.

Thanks must go to URAC and the ClubsOfficer Kerri Edwards for their assistancewith booking, registration organization.2002 saw us sign up 207 members on ourmailing list. Of these, we had 86 attend atleast one club function/event. Three times ormore, qualifying as active member, which isa fantastic improvement on 37 in 2001.

A small Wollongong contingent attended theAustralian Universities Water Ski andWakeboard Titles in February 2002.Unfortunately none were eligible to compete,but we kept the flag flying for Wollongongand worked out a plan to dominate theWakeboarding Event in 2003.

March 2002 was highlighted byShenanigans, our club Wakeboarding Event.110 people from all over NSW rolled up tothe Shoalhaven River for a weekend offestivities, laughs and social competition.We had 56 people compete, including anumber of first time riders. Wollongongprovided a team of well over 40 people andan amazing weekend by the river was had byall. People dressed as Cowboys, Pokemonsand Indians as we witnessed flip after flip(some even intentional!) The newly foundCanberra crew took on the Shenaniganschallenge and dominated the event, in finespirit. For more information on this event,contact one of us at the Ski Club. CarnageCup, the Newcastle Ski event this yearmorphed into a Wakeboard demo only(perhaps influenced by Shenanigans). 2days and nights in Raymond Terrace, onawesome water saw many of the Wollongongteam get out and display their talents. Therewas no doubt that wakeboarding is soonbecoming the most popular activity on waterand the surge is being lead by theWollongong team. Well done everyone!

As always, there has been much organizationthis year, with the notable improvementbeing the Snow AUC, attended inSeptember. For the first time in many years,we had a team of 25, with too many guys tocompete in all the men’s snowboardingevents! This required a high level oforganization and thanks must go to Snow

18

Vice President- Luke McIndoe for managingthis in 2002. The team competed for 1 weekin Thredbo and we achieved some excellentresults, the highlights being 3r in the Men’shalf pipe, 5th in the Men’s giant slalom, 5thin Women’s half pipe and 5th in the men’steams Boarder cross.

Once again, I have had an awesome year asPresident of the club and I know thateveryone who has come along has met agreat bunch of people and really enjoyedthemselves. Any newcomers to WollongongUni are sure to enjoy the Ski Club, so comealong and have some fun. For more info onthe club, check us out at the Uni link onwww.blindjudge.com

John GormanClub President

SoccerWhat an outstanding season! Of the eightteams fielded under our umbrella, no fewerthan four teams reached grand finals withtwo teams winning: our women’s team andour division two amateur league team“Wolves FT”

The Women’s Team played through theseason undefeated capped it off with a 2-0win in the grand final. After becoming theAustralian University Game champions in2001, the team were offered and acceptedan invitation to represent Australia in aninternational university tournament in Chinahosted by Beijing Normal University. Theprofessionalism of both the tournament andthe teams competing along with the way ourgirls competed will not be forgotten and theclub congratulates them on such atremendous effort.

The Amateur League Team, “Wolves FT”competed an enthusiastic season as minorpremiers culminating in a win in the leaguegrand final.

The ISA Youth Grade Team were this yearback to back minor premiers, however,

having the disappointment of again losing inthe grand final to a better outfit on the dayin Dapto.

Also this year, the youth team representedthe club in prestigious “Kass Cup” comingup against 31 other teams. They had thesatisfaction of reaching the final of thiscompetition and beating three premierleague teams along the way. Despite plentyof vocal support, they lost 1-0 to Balgownie.A brave effort indeed.

The ISA Teams again had a good season withthe first grade team reaching the semi-finalsof their competition.To top off the season the teams received theIllawarra Soccer Association ConferenceLeague Fair Play Award, which we now havethe proud record of winning four times out ofthe last five years. Another excellent effort indiscipline on the field!

Finally, I would like to give my sincerethanks to all involved in a season toremember. The committee, coaches, players,ball boys and not forgetting the canteenhelpers- Jessica and Erin.

Peter BannisterPresident

SurfridersThis was my first year as president of theWollongong University Surf riders. After lastyears fantastic result at the AustralianUniversity Games in Victoria, our greatlyincreased membership and successfulfundraising events last year the club wasawarded University Club Of The Year.Receiving the trophy was an honour and agreat feeling for us since we are such a smallclub however the size of our club in no wayreflected the amount of celebrating that tookplace that night. Sixteen of our membersattended the Sports Awards night three ofthem received Blues awards, Matt Hoar forsurfing, Nathian Davis for Body boarding andMelissa Hoar for Surf Life Saving, well done.But the real victory of the night came on the

19

dance floor where many club membersshowed that their talents extend far beyondthe surfboard. The boys wiped the floor withthe dance club who severely underestimatedour talent and left wishing they had neverchallenged us to a dance-off.

Peter Hopkins has helped the club this yearas he did last year in organising fundraisingevenings. The first was held at Bourbon St.beauty pageant winner. Whilst the secondparty was held at North Wollongong SurfClub, both events were successful and raisedover $1,500. Our fundraiser nights are fastearning a reputation as the biggest and bestparties definitely not to be missed.

This was not the only social highlight of theyear. P.O’s balcony is fast becoming theplace to be seen around town, frequented bythe likes of Steak Diane and other notablecelebrities such as Karlos, Mr BourbonStreet, Tuna head, Sloppy, Hazelhoff, Simoand the evergreen Parnell. Lamentablythough has been the conspicuous absence ofHomma, who seems to have found a goodbank at Jamberoo.

Whilst it has been a rather quiet year on theinterclub contest scene to date, with AussieTitles not to be held until December, therehas been no shortage of hot surfing action, atclub point score to date. Matt Hoar, has againbeen scintillating, showing the form that wonhim last years Men’s Australian title. But alsoon fire have bee Ryan Hanrahan, SimonLittle, Paul O’Connor, and Pete Hopkins. Anduntil he “done a hammy” on the dance floor,so too was Luke Hazelgrove. But moreencouraging, was some of the new talent thathas emerged in the club of this year. Thenotorious Steak Diane has proved to be amassive winner this year, scoring big all overthe place with many impressive rides. Hertube rides are second to none and she hasshown her worth as a true team player. Othernew standout performers have includedDylan Robertson, Jessica Broadfoot and Nao.The talent pool just gets deeper and deeperwith each passing year, and come Decemberat the Aussie titles WUSA will definitely bethe team to beat.

I would like to thank the guys on thecommittee for all there help and support thisyear PO, Hoppo, Karlos, Hazel, Hanrahan,Parnsey, Sloppy and Simo. I believe that wehave got the firepower to go back-to-backtitles. I just have to keep you guys out of thenightclubs!

We have sent away a bid for the 2003Australian University Titles to be held in theIllawarra Region. If we were successful Iwould like to ask the Wollongong University Community to show their support to theevent and our team.

Mark RoebuckPresident

TennisThe University tennis club has access to twosynthetic grass courts and two plexi-pavecourts, which are ideally situated near theswimming pool and the main RSA complex.The club is an active competitor in theWollongong District Tennis Association(WDTA) Saturday afternoon (mixed) andWednesday night (men’s competitions. Therewere five teams in the autumn competitionsand six teams in the spring competitions.Our teams fared well over the past year, witha number of team reaching the finals in theirrespective divisions. Two teams reached thesemi-finals in the spring competitions, 1team reached the semi-finals in the WinterCompetition and 2 teams reached the semifinals in the autumn competition. One other Team missed their semi-finals by one or twopositions.

Our club has 30 enthusiastic members andwe organized several social occasions, withdinners, card game and BBQs being the bestattended.

During the year, the clubs executive hasworked hard to keep membership fees as lowas possible especially now that the club hasto pay for the court use, whether is be fortraining or for competition use. For example,

20

thanks to Darren Moffit, Friday night socialtennis for students continues to be asuccess. A special thanks must also go tothe captains of the competition teams;ensuring that members are rostered for eachmatch week in-week out. Finally, thanks toremaining committee members for theirefforts and it has been a pleasure workingwith everyone for the past 12 months.

Regina SchlemmerPresident

Ultimate FrisbeeThis year saw UOW Ultimate Frisbee achievesome of its greatest successes to date.

Firstly, an inaugural Wollongong Men’s teamcompeted at the 2002 Australian nationals.In previous years members have taken partat the Australian nationals as members ofother teams, however this year there wereenough men to field our own Wollongongteam, which consisted of mostly members ofthe UOW Frisbee club and a fewpostgraduates. The team played variouspreparation games/tournaments prior tonationals, which were held in Melbourne inApril. Wollongong women also took part inthe Nationals, although playing with Sydneyteams, as we did not have the members tosupports our own Women’s team. Hopefullythis is something we can achieve in thefuture.

Second, Ultimate Frisbee was included inthe Eastern and Australian University Gamesfor the first time. This was a majorachievement for Ultimate generally as manyUniversity representatives have beenlobbying for its inclusion for several years. Ina reflective meeting at the end of thetournament AUS commented on the successof Ultimates inclusion and guaranteed thesports inclusion in 2003.Wollongong finished 5th at EUG andqualified for AUG in which we finished 3rdand took home the bronze medal. This is thebest result Wollongong has ever achieved inFrisbee since the National University events

began in 1998. I think this is the first timea team (other that ANU’s 3rd last year) fromoutside Sydney has placed in a NationalUniversity competition.

Thirdly, the club has continued to performthroughout the year, making the finals ofboth the Sydney the UNSW IV tournamentsduring the year and also the final of Dr J’sindoor tournament, which is an open levelevent.

The club was also active in many of thetournaments on the Australian Flying DiscAssociation Calender. These are listed insection 1.

Two members, Tim Booth and HannahMichaelis also competed at an internationallevel representing Australia at the WorldClub Championships in Hawaii.

The club has managed to increase itsmembership numbers since last year andhas recruited several promising players whohave taken a keen interest in the sport.These players have had an opportunity tocompete in major tournaments towards theend of the year including AUG and mixedNationals.

Finally, it is encouraging to see many of ourex-club members achieving in Ultimatesince graduating and moving on. Inparticular, ex-president Steven Antonopoloushas based himself in Canada and is playinghigh level Ultimate in Canada andthroughout the United States, whereUltimate is much more serious andcompetitive.

Hopefully the UOW Ultimate Frisbee Clubwill continue its growth and achievements in2003. The Club is already looking forward tosending another men’s team to Nationalsand is currently finding teams for our womenfor Nationals. We will also look forward totrying to better our AUG result and removethe Sydney teams from the top of the tables.

21

Underwater HockeyWhat a year! We hosted and won the StateChampionships and two of our members (SueFyfe and Martine Courapel) brought homesilver from the World Championships inCalgary Canada earning a University Blue!While we are patting ourselves on the backwe again ran a successful Wollongong 4’scompetition- we attracted players formSydney, Canberra, Newcastle, even Armidale.We are indebted to Untied Divers who kindlyprovided prizes for the competition.

The hosting of the Sate Championships-arguably the best-organised State Champsever- was a team effort. I need to thank Suefor arranging the medals, Andy and Tristanfor the draw and general admin matters,Jenny for organising the media coverage,Dave for the Presentation dinner at MtKembla hotel and Phil for the show stoppingfarewell BBQ. Well done everyone. Finallythe inimitable “Pool barbies” are worth amention – the all female team were no pushover and reminded us of what we were therefor- to have fun!

The Wollongong team won every game at theState Championships- but all were hardfought with several going down to the wire.We met a rejuvenated “Sydneysiders” teamin the Grand Final after trouncing them 4-1in the round robin. They were all firing and itwas hard fast uncompromising hockey! Nilall at half time and the stage was set for athrilling final 12 minutes. Dean scoredearlier in the second half and then sealed itin the dying minutes with a second. Heearned the right to take a couple of weeks offand get married- Congratulations Dean!

Our Club competitions have gone really wellthis year and allowed us to maintain goodnumbers through winter. Next year ourpriorities will be to more fully exploresponsorship with the Palm court hotel anddevelop and functional and regularlyupdated website.

Scott HamiltonPresident

VolleyballOver the past year the volleyball club hasperformed reasonably well in all aspects ofcompetition and performance. Ourmembership numbers stayed around about thehigh standard that was set last year. Once againwe had quite a few of international studentsthat became members of the club and enjoyedthe services that the club was able to offer.

We continued in last year’s footsteps bycontinuing to split the training time betweenbeginners and more advanced players andthis worked well again. A number of theplayers that were in the beginners level lastyear made the step up to the more advancedtraining and I am sure benefited from this.

This year the volleyball club entered teamsinto a number of competitions at local, stateand university levels. This years universityteams didn’t perform quite as well as lastyear, but the men’s team were able to pickup a silver medal at Eastern AustralianGames in Newcastle whilst the Women’steam unfortunately didn’t qualify for AUG’s.

Michael Perry and myself were selected in SVL(State Volleyball League) and AVL (AustralianVolleyball League) teams and had a good campaignin both leagues and are currently training for theAustralian Club Championships to be held inCanberra at the end of November.Unfortunately due to myself getting theperformance indicators in late last year the clubwas penalized half of their allotted funding. Thishas meant that the members had to subsidizecompetitions more than usual although theywere not expected to pay full costs. Fundraisingthroughout the year has helped limit theamount of money at had to be used from theclubs saving account and over the next year newinitiatives will be developed to help increase theclubs savings for future years to come.

Overall the club has had a fairly productivecompetition year and hopefully with the helpof its members the club will continue to growthroughout the next year.

Kaine NewmanPresident

22

WaterpoloSummaryThis year has again proved to be a successfulone for the club. We have performed well in ourcompetitions, winning the Illawarra competitionand the girls picking up a silver medal at theAustralian University Games. The Clubs aims tofoster a friendly yet competitive environment toattract new players, which we accomplishedover the year. We are still training even thoughthe big competitions are over, and we are stillreceiving new players each week to the sessions.Hopefully the club will do just as well next year.

CompetitionThe Club has fielded a mixed team in thesummer Illawarra competition that will begin onWednesday 30th October, with at least 5 newplayers. Our mixed team came out on top,winning the Illawarra Comp over the winterseason. We won the grand final with a mandown, having only 5 players, playing a teamwith only 6 players (there is usually 7 in the poolat one time). So it was all too easy really. Ourteam played like professionals the wholeseason, and the newer players demonstratedconsiderable potential. Once again, the Illawarra Tournament providedan excellent opportunity before Uni Games forthe teams to hone their skills against harderopposition.

ECGBoth Women’s and Men’s teams competed atthe Eastern Conference Games held inCanberra, finishing 6th and 9th respectively.The placing enabled the girls team to gothrough to AUG’s, but unfortunately the boysmissed out. This tournament was an opportunityfor new players to be indoctrinated with theways of the Gong Polo with the benefit of “teambonding social functions”. On the Saturdaynight of the weekend, Annalie’s Mum and Dadkindly held a massive BBQ for both teams,which was lots of fun. Accommodation was abreeze, with the girls staying at friend’s houses,and the boys in a caravan park. It was a greatweekend. Amber Lumb and Kate Allum both made themerit ECG team, which was due to theirfantastic playing in the water.

AUGWell, due to our dedicated coach and hardtraining sessions the girls came away with silvermedal at the games this year. This is the highestever recorded placing for WollongongUniversity!!! Peter Rolfe was to thank for thetournament, as he trained the girls four times aweek and also coached us at our Illawarra compgames.

We won all of our games throughout the week,only to lose the Grand Final by 6 goals toNewcastle. They were just too good for us. We had a fantastic week in Adelaide, and evenenjoyed the long drive over and back there. Allthe girls behaved themselves, and enjoyed thenightlife. Fundraising made the trip a lot less expensive.A fundraiser BBQ raised enough money to payfor our swimmers, and we also sold boxes andboxes, raising a total amount of $760!!! We alsohad a raffle which the Uni Shop kindly donatingthe prize. These profits went to the coachespresent, so that also made things a lot cheaper.The girls were all fantastic and willing to cometogether as a team and fundraise to make thingseasier.We had three girls make the green and goldteam, which is more than we have ever hadmake it. Those numbers included Amber Lumb,Annalie Houston and Kate Allum. The week wasdefinitely a great success!!!

TrainingWe have been having swimming sessionsthroughout the year, two mornings a week. Ithas now increased to three sessions withsummer comp starting soon. Everyone haspulled themselves out of bed for most sessions,which is great!Our Tuesday night sessions have become ofgreat interest to new players. Word of mouthbrought them here. It must have got around howhard but fun they were.Peter Rolfe has been a champion and organizedall sessions and has taken time out of his owntime to do this. He is much to thank for ourincreasing numbers at these sessions.

Leah RonczkaPresident

23

24

Recreation & Aquatic Centre Ltd Annual Report

Documents