Dear Water Polo players, officials,
and stakeholders,
When I started
in the role of GM, I was made aware of a few challenges facing our sport. One
of these was the shortage of pool space for our current and future programs.
Of course, WPWA
does not have its own facility, but we almost got there on the weekend.
I arrived on
Sunday morning to find a massive flood in the Royal Life Saving building and
over 1 inch of water in our offices. Perhaps not suitable for a full water polo
game, but a modified version?
You be the
judge.
We have had industrial drying
machines going full blast since and are hoping for a full return to office use later
this week.
Go Go Polo
I was invited to attend a strategic planning session in Mandurah
last weekend with the Mandurah Water Polo Association. It was a great pleasure
not only to meet the members and the committee, but to witness the enthusiasm
and forward thinking that took place at the gathering. There are a few great
ideas brewing to get more people to play the game and to take up volunteering
positions.
This aligns very strongly not just with WPWA Strategic Priorities
but with the strategic initiatives being generated through Water Polo
Australia.
My thanks to President Sam Broadbent for the kind invitation.
Wishing you and your members every success.
Back in Perth, the WPWA staff have taken advantage of the
offseason to undertake an audit of the equipment stored at HBF Stadium. Some of
the goodies found included a stock of polo shirts from the 2015 18’s National
Championships.
The shirts have been donated to Direct Reach Ethiopia (DRE), a charity that supports the Hope for Children Organization of Ethiopia (HFCOE) assisting some of the worlds most vulnerable children. The DRE vision is to educate and empower with direct assistance from the ground up. For further information please visit the DRE website.
Some pictures were provided by DRE of the children in their new
shirts which they were thrilled to receive (check out the smiles). Great to see
our shirts being put to such good use.
Some people prefer not to have a
big fuss made over the great things they do but thanks CB for this great idea
and for making it happen.
Events on the Horizon!!
Water Polo
WA Charity Quiz Night
Save the date,
the Quiz Night is coming!
Please save Friday 18 November in your calendars and start to brush up on your
general knowledge and trivia.
We will be sending out a formal save the date flyer shortly with more information to follow.
WPWA Photo
Polo
The risk of not
sending me your photo entries as per my earlier call out, is that I will choose
some photos from my files here at WPWA!
Please take
some time to have a look at your water polo images and send through any that
you believe speak to our values. Your help and engagement with this project is
much appreciated.
Vale Eddy
Brooks
WPWAI is deeply saddened at the passing
of Montreal 1976 Water Polo Olympian Edmond “Eddy” Brooks. Eddy
was a kind, generous and popular member of the water polo community in Western
Australia. Eddy was a highly respected player and coach at Triton and Dolphins
Water Polo Clubs and as a player for Western Australia and Australia.
More recently Eddy was very active in the
master’s community as coach of the Pinkies and Cockatoos teams at the FINA
World Masters Championships in 2019.
Our sympathy goes to his daughter
Belinda (Water Polo Olympian Athens 2004), sons Garth and Jarrad and their
families.
Eddy fought his health battles with great dignity and courage and was highly respected and loved by all who knew him.
Performance
Pathway Program Review
Over 200 online
survey responses, 25+ strategic and operational documents reviewed and 12
supporting (in person) interviews conducted.
I would like to
thank everyone for engaging in the review process and for providing the
information the consultant needed to compile his report and recommendations.
There will be
some further work and engagement conducted with the Board and members of the
Performance Pathway Program Management Committee and then results and
associated recommendations/actions will be communicated to everyone.
I am looking
forward to celebrating our successes to date and to addressing any areas for
improvement.
Staff
Bruno Barna arrives
back in Perth next week (his office area should no longer be under water by
then!).
Natalie
Eastwell has joined us in a consultancy role to drive positive change across
our social media platforms, websites, and events. I will provide a more
detailed profile of Natalie in the next On the Ball with the GM.
You will also have
seen a post regarding my intention to engage two new Growth and Participation
Officers. Participation growth is a key strategic objective of our sport both
locally and nationally. I will be engaging two people to focus on metropolitan
and regional participation growth. These people will have extensive water polo
experience and will drive several initiatives to support member growth in our
clubs. Please check out the website for more information.
WPWA State Teams
We have over 130
nominees for our upcoming trials where the athletes will be competing for a
place in one of 8 teams that we are sending to the National State
Championships.
We will be
locking in the coaches/managers and selectors over the next week or so.
I just wanted
to take this opportunity to wish you all (and especially the athletes) every
success. Taking part in trials is exciting, a little daunting and comes with
joy as well as disappointment.
My advice to
you all is to stay true to your values and come away feeling that you have
given it your all.
Best of
success.
Reflection
When you play a game of cards,
you have no control over the hand that you are dealt, but you have full control
over how you play that hand. You also know that before you get dealt a new
hand, the pack gets shuffled.
Kevin Knapp
GM Water Polo WA
6
JUL
2022