Message from the CEO

Firstly, from all of us at Dragon Boats NSW, we hope you had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year period.

As many of you know, the start of the year is an extremely busy period for all our paddlers as we gear up for some of our biggest regatta’s of the year. With race 3, Lunar New Year and the Flowing Festival Regatta in Jindabyne just around the corner, it gives us all the perfect platform leading into the State and Nationals.

Last week, the DBNSW Board held their first Board Meeting of the year with some really good discussion being held.

Some of the key items that the CEO reported on were:

Our Community

• CEO has followed up with AusDBF on their coaching structure and athlete pathway opportunities.
• CEO met with Chair of the AusChamps Organising Committee as a meet and greet.
• CEO has reached out to Sports Marketing Australia about potential Expression of Interests from Councils wanting to hold regatta’s in their Council region.
• OM and CEO will look at DBNSW participation trends and social media data to re-look at how to target new group of paddlers and maintain engagement with existing.
• CEO has sent around meeting requests to re-establish regular state/ territory meetings.
• As of 2 Jan 2019, DBNSW has 2937 members, 2744 Adults and 193 juniors (2018 – 2880, 2017 – 2787). We are tracking slightly ahead of the previous season by 57 members up nearly 2%.
• State Squads have been selected and announced via our major handles. 285 people selected across 9 divisions.
• 159 NSW members selected across 6 divisions to represent the Aurora’s on their Thailand Campaign.

Our Business

• Lunar new year event applications have closed. With the same number of entries for both sport clubs and corporate teams as last year and a 15% increase compared to 2 years ago.
• Expressions of interest for the 2020 AusChamps Organising Committee have been called.
• A coaching and first aid course is planned for February and March.

• Content Management templates introduced designed to improve communications and increase engagement with key stakeholders.
• State Champ annual awards to be handed out on March 3^rd.

 Our Governance

• CEO is undergoing a Policy Review. Will develop a policy register to ensure that there is one master spreadsheet of all related policies and guidelines.
• OM and CEO to look at tactics for upcoming grant application with the office of sport for ‘The Move It AUS - Participation Grant Program’ which provides support to help organisations get Australians moving and to support the aspiration to make Australia the world’s most active and healthy nation. This has also been sent to AusDBF.

Moving forward over the coming months DBNSW will focus on key items such as:

• • Policy Review
  • Sponsor templates
  • Club Guide
  • Event facilitation (Lunar New Year, Round 3 @ SIRC and State Champs)
  • Stakeholder meetings
  • State Teams
  • Maintaining Bank Street.

Whilst having only been in the role for a month now, I have been fortunate to engage with some of our members, collaborate with some of our member states and AusDBF as well as work with other sports and the link DBNSW could play with them in the future. I have learnt many new things and thank our supporters, members and the DBNSW staff and Board for their continued support.

Don’t hesitate to reach out at ceo@dbnsw.org.au

Kind Regards,
Shane Knight
Chief Executive Officer
Dragon Boats NSW

KEY HAPPENINGS

Regional Coordinators

The following members have elected as NSW Regional Coordinators:

• Deb Clarke (Western)
• John Holgate (South)
• Geoff Roberts (North)

Congratulations and we look forward to working with these coordinators for the next two years as we review and plan for the future of our sport for both current and potential members in the regions.

Lunar New Year

Many of you who have attended the Chinese New Year Races (now Lunar New Year) in the past will be well aware of the size and scope of the festival. It requires a significant amount of time and effort from the DBNSW staff to deliver the event, which is often an ongoing process throughout the season.

We continue to work successfully with the City of Sydney and look forward to having you at the 2019 edition. The LNY Dragon Boat Races will take place at Darling Harbour, Sydney on Saturday 9^th and Sunday 10^th of February 2019.

State Championships

They Sydney International Regatta Centre will once again host our State Championships on Sunday 3^rd March 2019. We would love to see as many clubs from all across NSW in attendance.

Clubs can register via the regattas section of RevSPORT. Entries open 3 Feb and close on 22 Feb.

Policy Reviews

At DBNSW we have been able to identify a number of policies and guidelines that require a review. Additionally there are a few areas where we believe we can create new procedures that could improve our internal operation as well as those of our clubs.

These reviews will align well with one of the key strategies found in the DBNSW Strategic Plan:

“Align policies, procedures, structure, staffing and committees to support our growing community.”

We will consult with our clubs, members and any other relevant stakeholders as we review these documents.

REMINDER: Whilst policies may be reviewed in time, any current policy that is in place should be adhered too. These include but not limited to ASADA policies, Working with Children and Member Protection Policies. If you have not read these for some time, please familiarize yourselves with them:

https://www.dbnsw.org.au/about/policies-documents/

DBNSW reserves the right conduct random audits from time to time.

2020 AusChamps Organising Committee

The Australian Dragon Boat Federation (AusDBF) has recently appointed Dragon Boats NSW (DBNSW) as the host for the 2020 Australian Dragon Boat Championships which will take place between 6th – 14th April 2020 at the Sydney International Regatta Centre.

DBNSW is now calling for expressions of interest for those wishing to serve on the event’s organising committee. The committee will be made up of between 7 – 10 individuals who will be assigned areas of responsibility for the Championships. These include but are not limited to;

•           AusChamps Chair

•           Site Manager

•           Course Supervisor

•           Volunteer Coordinator

•           Safety and Emergency Officer

•           Media, Branding & Merchandise Coordinator

•           Presentation & Entertainment Coordinator

•           Athlete Representative

A full description of all committee roles and responsibilities can be found at https://bit.ly/2Bq3F32

All positions are voluntary and will involve a significant amount of time and effort being contributed by each committee member. All committee members will be expected to attend potentially up to 10 meetings between January 2019 and April 2020. Meetings will be held both in person (Sydney) and via teleconference.

The deadline for expressions of interest has been extended till Monday 4^th February 2019.

Online Club Resource Share

In December we launched a new page on our website in which clubs can share documents and/or any other useful material that can assist in running a club. These could include member recruitment, grant writing, post season surveys, etc.

You can check it out at www.dbnsw.org.au/our-clubs/resource-sharing/

If you would like to submit something and we encourage you to do so, please send it through to office@dbnsw.org.au

Grants

Remember, from time to time there are grants that could be applicable to your club. Stay in touch with these at:

https://www.sportnsw.com.au/resources--reports/grants/

Events

• Regatta Series – Race 3 - SIRC, Penrith - 27 Jan 2019 - More information here. Volunteer/Officiate here.

• Lunar New Year Dragon Boat Races - Darling Harbour, Sydney - 9-10 Feb 2019 - More information here. Volunteer/Officiate here.

• Lake Jindabyne Snow Festival - Jindabyne - 16-17 Feb 2019 - Accredited Regatta - More information here.

• State Championships - SIRC, Penrith - 3 Mar 2019 - More information here. - Volunteer/Officiate here.

• Shellharbour Festival of Sport - Skiway Park, Oak Flats - 9 Mar 2019 - Accredited Regatta. More information here.

• 2019 Australian Championships - Weston Park, Yarralumla, ACT - 17 – 22 April 2019 - More information here. 

Education

• Level 1 Coaching Course - 5 Bank St, Pyrmont- 23-24 February 2019  - Cost $338 pp. Registration and further info here. Rego closes 23:59 17 Feb.
  

High Performance

The below is a summary of the National High Performance system:

• NSW State Team - 2019 Australian Dragon Boat Championships 17 – 22 April 2019 - Further information here.

• Aurora’s - 14^th World Nations Championships – Pattaya, Thailand – 20-25 Aug 2019 - Full list view here.

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