Achievements 2002 and Plans 2003

In December 2000, we convened Budokan's inaugural AGM, at a time when I said that our club was at the very point of exploding with ideas, enthusiasm, and growth. We had 31 members at the time. We now have 86 plus 6 Associate Members. I had some personal objectives which I thought we were well on the way to achieving, objectives which related to player and parent confidence in the club's Coaches and in its Committee, in having the Committee run the club like a business, and having all issues concerning the club highly visible and well communicated to its members. 12 months later, we were pleased to see that through the hard work of the Committee and Sub-Committees, we achieved massive club growth, development , and profile in both the Judo and to the general communities. The club continues to mature and grow with many achievements and still more new goals.

• The 9 person Committee has implemented many initiatives through good communication and planning, albeit that we have had less formal meetings than planned.
• The 7 Sub-Committees continue to achieve significant results although some are more active than others. I encourage these groups to take the initiative rather than wait for Committee direction.
• The club remains one of only a few in NSW which has been incorporated and other clubs have sought our assistance to achieve the same status.
• Continuous improvement of member services with high quality communications, merchandising, more training sessions, more exposure to other clubs, and a more comprehensive Club Information Kit which continues to be highly regarded by all new members and parents.
• Although the rate of increase in club membership has slowed, there is still active and encouraging growth:
  From 31 at the 2000 AGM, to 73 at the 2001 AGM and now 86 (almost a 20% increase on Dec '01 figures, which is a net result & includes an attrition of about 25-30 people or 40% of Dec '01 figures)

• Exposure. 24 of our athletes and coaches performed a demonstration at the Castle Hill Show. A planned schools demo was cancelled due to bad weather
  
• Newsletter. Continuing distribution of the club's now famous Newsletter to a growing email population in Australia and overseas (of 350) via an internet link. December's will be the 8^th Newsletter, the 5^th distributed electronically, the 4^th posted to the web, and the 1^st on our brand new web site.
  
• Visits. Hosting 2 visits from clubs from New Caledonia, as well as to/from a number of other local clubs. We are planning a visit during the July 2003 school holidays to New Caledonia (now over 20 club and family members interested). Fianally, we have been very fortunate that Anja von Rekowski (former World Champion Silver medallist) has been teaching and training at the club during November and December

  Kids at the MonsTer event. Click here to see more MonsTer photos

  
  
• Another Session. Commencing a highly successful dedicated U/10s MONs session onWednesdays 6:30-7:30pm with now over 20 regular participants
  
• Sessions Extended. Extending the Tuesday and Thursday session times for our Juniors by 25%
  
• Publicity Continuing our strong relationship with the "Hills News" paper resulting in a number of articles published
  
• Hosting Competitions. Running the most successful JFA(NSW) "MONS"ter event for 2002 on 29 Sept 2002, providing more trophies, and still making a good profit
  
• Equipment. Procured a gas heater for the parents and spectators, a set of accurate scales for the athletes, a competition scoreboard, and a BBQ

Most importantly, we have put our money where our mouth is with our athletes:

• Competition Participation. Having our athletes achieve notable participation and results at every level of the competitive spectrum (refer to the Coaching Coordinator's Report)
  
• Athlete Sponsorship. Sponsoring 15 of our elite junior and senior athletes of between $50 and $150 (totalling $1200) to support travel and accommodation costs to national and international competitions

• Continuing and refining our agreement with Tumbletime Gymnastics
• Merchandising Judogis (both new and second-hand), key rings, T-Shirts, Judo bags, including MONSter merchandise during the MONs competition. This has also enhanced the club's profile. A Polo Shirt would be a nice addition and its viability will now be considered.
• Running the Nationally-funded State Squad Training session until the SISC opened in May.
• Maintaining relationships with a number of sponsors and achieving another major sponsor in Acron Building Services - Thank you Joe and Cathy Bracks!!
• Running successful fundraising ventures like the chocolate and lolly drive
• Reaping the benefits of the State's club participation scheme by assisting in the running of numerous State competitions. I am looking for people interested in learning how to do weigh-ins, run scoreboards, or update draws to help run these events and generate more income for the club.

• Building. We have insulated, ventilated and sealed the roof at a cost to the club of $2000 from our building fund (about 1/3 of the total cost) in a shared project with the Showground Society, and have plans for the long bench on the south wall, a change room, and better window covers. We are also negotiating formal agreements for a longer term lease with the Showground Society
• Club Base. We have expanded the Budokan base by forming an agreement with Makotokan Aikido Club
• Web Site. We have established the Budokan web-site virtually completed last week. The URL address will be www.ourdetails.com/budokan, but whilst being finalised, you can review it at: http://users.tpg.com.au/trend/budokan/. It will shortly be transferred across to the hosted site and then we'll be officially on the internet world wide web. Trend Marking Systems have kindly offered to continue its sponsorship of the club by paying for hosting the club website under the "ourdetails" URL. Thank you Guido.
• Education. We have been working on the education of, and greater involvement by our parents, especially in the running of the MONster event, in their involvement with the U/10s class, and in providing educational information to them (eg competition rules) and their children (techniques and terminology in the U/10s group). The long awaited parents "Come & Try" sessions will be implemented next year. The insurance issues have been pursued vigorously and temporary membership of the JFA does not seem to be a problem. Arrangements should be finalised this year.
• Safety. Our only real concern now is effectively implementing the club rules designed to ensure the provision of a safe environment for all our members and their families. Accordingly, we will be involving our parents to accept a greater responsibility for the supervision of their children when off the mat. We will also be attempting to provide some safe methods of entertainment for children waiting for parents or siblings to finish the senior session.

2002 has been challenging yet satisfying. I would like to thank my fellow Coaching Coordinator and partner, Kerrye, our assistants Barbara and Dale, and those athletes who help to run the U/10s and Junior sessions, in particular Alexandra, Ben, Patrick, Kevin, and Guido. As in 2001, I owe a special congratulations to Kerrye who continues to demonstrate a unique patience and ability to mentor the juniors, and this has resulted in huge growth of new members in that area.

Finally, thank you to my fellow Committee and Sub-Committee members, on whom I continue to make significant demands. I thank these people and those supporting the sub-committees most sincerely for giving so much of their time and for working so hard for our common goal. You obviously all have a similar vision to Kerrye and I in seeing Budokan reach great heights in Australian Judo and still remain a family-oriented club. At the same time, I hope that we can persuade many more parents and members to become involved in the running of the club.

We look forward to more training and more socialising next year, to travel interstate and overseas together, and to reap the rewards of hard work both on and off the mat.

We were proud that we had achieved some success in the following aims set for 2001. We have updated them slightly so that they are enduring:

• To provide internationally benchmarked innovative training and sound technical input to the club's players;
• To satisfy the desire of our athletes to develop and learn, and to assist them to set and achieve their personal goals for the sport, whether they be fitness and recreation, coaching, refereeing, or competition performance at the international level;
• To help the athletes take Judo's values and traditions into their daily lives to help make them better people;
• To instil a high level of confidence and trust by all members and parents in all club coaches; and
• To plan and act in such a way that everyone in the club becomes infected with a passion and enthusiasm for Judo so that the sport and the club are attractive both to all existing and to new members.

In these ways the profile and image of Judo and the club will be enhanced in the community.

In the end, if we lose any focus at all, all we need to do is remember that the club is there for the athletes, and we are there to provide a service to them and to encourage their active participation and achievement of goals. The participation and results of our athletes in competitions has been nothing short of outstanding, even compared to those of 2001.

We have participated at every level of the competitive spectrum from every MONSter and RSL event, to the State Selections, NSW International Open, National Titles, Oceania Championships, Commonwealth Games, Junior World Championships, US Open, Canada Cup, and shortly we will have 4 representatives competing in the 2002 QINGDAO Tournament in China (27/11-1/12), 20^th Fukuoka International Women's Ch/ship (5-9/12), 2002 KRA Korean Open (11-14/12), and 2003 Jigoro Kano Cup for men (9-13/1/03).

Congratulations to the members of our club who represented NSW at the first combined Junior and Senior National Championships in 2002 and also distinguished themselves internationally.

Special mention should be made of Jessica Malone winning 3 Gold medals at the Nationals, and Gold and Bronze at Oceania; Janelle Shepherd winning National Gold and Bronze Medals, SILVER Bronze at Oceania, and 9th at the Junior World Championships; Frankie Serrano winning Gold at the Nationals, Bronze at Oceania, and 7th at the Commonwealth Games; Morgan Endicott-Davies winning a National Bronze medal, Silver and 5th at Oceania, and 5th at the Commonwealth Games; and Julia Serrano winning Gold at Oceania.

Congratulations also to Ben Zellner winning a Bronze medal in his first Nationals, Daniel Mitchell for his first National Silver medal, Yvonne Mitchell for her National Bronze medal, and to Rory Waite, Nikola and Jovan Pejic, William Hunter, Chad Trethowan, and Kylie Augustinsen who represented at Nationals or Oceania Championships.

Finally congratulations to the many athletes especially the juniors who participated in their first competition during 2002, and in particular to our U/10 Mons athletes who during 2002 have exploded onto the competition scene with their energy and spirit. We hope that this represents the start of a rewarding competitive career for you - our senior champions of the future.

In addition to the competitions mentioned above, to give you an idea of our total participation, the club attended 18 tournaments in NSW alone as well as the ACT Open and the Victorian International Open. We had 15 members attend the Illawarra training camp, 7 (of the total 30 athletes attending) to the Olympic Solidarity Camp at the AIS in March, and 9 (of the 35 attending) at the National Training Camp at the AIS which ended yesterday (24^th November).

The following statistics give you an idea of our depth of participation in events:

• 12 athletes competed in the ACT Open in 15 divisions with 8 Gold, 2 Silver, and 2 Bronze medals;
• 14 athletes in the NSW Open in 21 divisions with 5 Gold, 4 Silver, and 3 Bronze medals;
• 13 athletes in the Nationals in 17 divisions with 5 Gold, 1 Silver, 4 Bronze medals and 3 x 5^th's;
• 7 athletes in the Oceania Ch/Ships in 9 divisions with 2 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze, and 2 x 5^th's;
• 11 athletes in the final "MONS"ter event at Budokan, 8 for the first time, with 2 Gold, 3 Silver, 2 Bronze medals, and 2 x 4^th places. At the RSL on 17^th November, another 8 of our MONS participated with 2 Gold, 5 Silver, and a Bronze.

In the coaching arena, we had Barbara Stratford and Kylie Koenig (nee Augustinsen) participate in the NSW Competition Rules seminar and Rob attended the IJF Organisational Seminar in Egypt in April. Congratulations to Kerrye in her role as National Junior Women's Coach to Oceania, to Dale Keogh as the State Coach for the Junior Women and Junior Girls Teams to the Nationals, and to Barbara Stratford as her Assistant Coach. These ladies have been selected in the same roles for the Junior Women's Team for 2003.

Kerrye and Kylie have also been selected as Junior Girls Teams Coach and Assistant Coach respectively for the 2003 Nationals. Kerrye and Rob will continue to coordinate the National Squad training in NSW on Wednesdays at Olympic Park.

The club's involvement across a myriad of activities at State, National, and International levels provides enormous benefit to the club as a whole. There is no substitute for this involvement in terms of developing the club's image and profile, and the education and benefit to it's athletes. We continue to encourage our members to train at other clubs, to attend courses and camps, and to travel overseas with teams wherever possible. In return, we ask that our members encourage other athletes to train with us at our club, so that all our members can reap the benefits of different training partners.

We have run 4 gradings this year and approved over 30 promotions. We have established a dedicated U/10s "MONS"ter session, and extended the training times for our junior sessions. Finally, the club's membership continues to grow, almost 20% since December last year.

Without the athletes there would be no club; without the coaches, there would be no athletes. We would like to thank our assistants Barbara and Dale, and those athletes who help to run the U/10s and Junior sessions, in particular Alexandra, Ben, Patrick, Kevin, and Guido. It is very encouraging to see our athletes take an active interest in the development of the juniors. This help is very much appreciated.

We appeal to all parents and non-coaching senior athletes to assist us in the club's administrative functions such as member's payment of fees, merchandising, Judogi purchases, in the running of fundraising ventures, and other social activities, and in controlling the children whilst off the mat. This will ensure that the coaches can provide an undistracted service to the athletes.

In the early part of 2002, we look forward to two large interstate and one overseas club trips, firstly to Canberra, for the ACT Open (15-16 Feb), and then to Melbourne for the Nationals (7-8 June), and finally to New Caledonia in July. In 2003, we will also offer a 5 or 6 session "Come and Try" course targeted for parents and other beginner seniors, and we will also run the U/10s "MONSter" event. We look forward to increased participation in technical courses, tournament management functions at State and Club level, State Squads, novice tournaments, in international events, and of course we look forward to building on the immense achievements made in 2002 by helping our members achieve their goals.