Bayswater Lacrosse Club

2017 Annual Report

Table of Contents

Subject Page

  1. Table of Contents 2
  2. Directors Reports:
  3. President 3-4
  4. Vice President 5
  5. Club Manager 6
  6. Director of Finance 7-8
  7. Director of Senior Men 9
  8. Director of Senior Women10
  9. Director of Junior Men 11
  10. Director of Junior Women 12-14
  11. Director of Recruitment15-16
  12. Director of Development17
  13. Director of Sponsorship 18
  14. Director of Publicity 19
  15. Director of Special Projects 20
  16. Property Officer 21
  17. Bar Manager22
  18. Club Award Winners 23
  19. BLC State & Australian Representatives 24-25
  20. BLC Lacrosse WA Awards Winners 25
  21. BLC Acknowledgement of Volunteers 25-26
  22. BLC Sponsors 27

President’s – Report

The 2017 season was a rewarding season for the Bayswater Lacrosse Club with a real focus on the recruitment of new members. The appointment of a Director of Recruitment this season enabled the Club to infiltrate in to, and build ties with, a number of schools and within our catchment area.

The Club is in a very strong position to continue the recruitment drive in 2018 and implement, for the first time in a long time, a full season Modcrosse program: the program being crucial in attracting and retaining younger players. We look forward to the return of American, Jack Glasbrenner, in February 2018 who will have a significant role in the 2018 recruitment drive.

This season the Club has set out and achieved many of its goals.

Firstly, after a number of years of negotiations, the Club has entered into a lease in favour of our premises, with the City of Bayswater. The negotiation and finalisation of the lease enabled us to undertake much needed repairs, maintenance and facility upgrades to our clubrooms. I would like to extend a huge thank you to the Olofsson family, Mark Graham and all the volunteers involved in the club room upgrades this season.

The Club also spent considerable time in 2017 on the Modcrosse program which was ran by a number of our great volunteers including, Ian, Julian, Emma and a number of junior members. We had approximately 55 new kids over the course of the program which was a great turnout and significant increase in participants when compared to previous years. Gregor Wild has done an outstanding job in organising the program and infiltrating local schools, while the City of Bayswater provided much needed advertising through various social media platforms. With the large expansion in the Modcrosse program the club invested a significant amount of funding for the purchase of helmets, sticks and protective equipment for new players.

To top off a massive season, Bayswater Lacrosse Club was very honoured to host the 2017 ALA Boys and Girls Under 15’s National Tournament in October. In anticipation for the tournament, the Club received further funding for a between-field-net and change room upgrade project. I would like to extend our gratitude to the City of Bayswater for the additional funding and ongoing support in making our Club great. A further thank you to Carole Bowland for her work in managing the projects, including the applications for funding, to ensure they were completed in time for the tournament.

The ALA Under 15’s tournament ran extremely smoothly and was a great success. This would not have been possible without the small, yet dedicated and talented tournament committee, including Paula Olofsson, Faye Beaman and Carole Bowland. The Club was fortunate to be able to call on its Life Members to assist with the Tournament, which required enormous amounts of work. A special thank you to Lloyd Morley, Kel Hollingbery, Rob Taylor, Terry Riordan, Ken Cooper, Margaret Morley, Ian Misich, Murray Gates, Michael Gates, John Keesing who all contributed to the Tournament being such a great success. In addition, heartfelt thanks is extended to all the volunteers who contributed throughout the week with a special mention to Jan Walters, Nicole Clarke, Kylie Cockman, Sue Kirkby, Pam Brown, Penny Sneddon, Lisa Bell, Todd Keen, Narelle Tatlow, Kellie Morley and Sussan Frazer. It was a great week of lacrosse to be involved in and the feedback from lacrosse members across Australia and New Zealand was very positive.

Delivering such a fantastic event for the entire week wouldn’t have been possible without our wonderful volunteers and dedicated committee.

Acknowledgements

On behalf of Bayswater Lacrosse Club, we are especially thankful to the Committee, players and volunteers who made this year a success, namely;

  • Paula Olofsson, Carole Bowland, Yianna & Alexia Christodoulakis in the Canteen;
  • Lloyd Morley and Wayne Hollingbery for their help in maintaining our facilities;
  • Sue Kirkby, Nicole McKenna, Carole Bowland, Evan Walters, Leslie Wild, Julian McGrath and John Keesing for their efforts as officials;
  • Gregor Wild and his development officers for their work in School Clinics and junior development;
  • Glenn Morley, Mike Burton, John Keesing, Murray Gates, Liz Shields, Rachel Anderson, Emma Green, Mark Taylor, Warren Brown, Lloyd Morley & Julian McGrath for their work in coaching;
  • Margaret Morley for making amazing Thursday night meals for Senior Men.

A further thank you is extended to all of the assistant coaches, junior umpires, team managers, scorers and timekeepers who tirelessly help our teams get on the fields each week.

I would like to acknowledge the enormous contribution Carole Bowland has made to the club over a large number of years, and in a variety of Committee positions and club roles, including officiating, canteen manager, event coordinator, cleaning, funding applications and recruitment. The Committee is very sad to be saying goodbye to Carole which has created a tremendous gap in our Club; however, we are looking forward to see what she can achieve with other organizations within the lacrosse community.

We would not be able to achieve the successes we have achieved without the continued support of our incredible sponsors. I would like to acknowledge and thank all of our sponsors, but in particular:

  • Kim from Celebrations at Charlies;
  • Matthew Tatlow from Budget Woodcraft;

It is the commitment of our volunteers and sponsors that makes Bayswater such a strong club now and moving into the future.

Finally, I would like to congratulate all the Bayswater players who were selected to play for state teams and those players who were recognized for their outstanding playing achievements. Bayswater Lacrosse Club was well represented in 2017 state competitions with a large contingent of players competing in the under 15’s, under 18’s and senior state teams. A special congratulation to Thomas Graham, Joshua McDavitt and Max Rowse who remain in the 2018 Senior Australian Men’s Squad. Also congrats to Joshua McDavitt and Rebecca Bowland Curtis who were selected in the All-Star teams at the Lacrosse WA Presentation evening.

Special mention goes to Suzanne Kirkby, who was awarded an FIL Emeritus Award at the 2017 FIL Rathbones Women’s Lacrosse World Cup. The FIL Emeritus Award is given to an individual who is recognised for their exemplary contributions to officiating. Suzanne is only one of two Australians currently holding this title from FIL, the other is Jan Jackson. Congratulations to Suzanne from the Bayswater Lacrosse Club for achieving this award, well deserved.

Thank you again for all your support this season, we look forward to being bigger and better in 2018.

Jesse Bowland Curtis

President

Bayswater Lacrosse Club Inc.

Vice President’s –Report

As a relative newcomer to the club and the sport of lacrosse I was extremely honoured to have been given the opportunity to assist the club as Vice President from April of this year. My motivation in taking on the role was to help the club in any way that I could and it was something I’ve really enjoyed throughout the year. That was despite it being a very steep learning curve, because of my lack of experience and involvement with the club beforehand. Therefore, this almost feels to me as if I am giving an outsiders perspective on the year.

Firstly then, let me say what a wonderful club and a fantastic bunch of people I’ve been privileged to meet and/or work alongside this year. I already understood that a club takes a huge amount of effort to run and is heavily reliant upon volunteers to make it happen successfully. Well, I truly underestimated just how much work it actually takes. Now that I have seen things up close, I would like to express my thanks to any and all volunteers (be they player, parent, coach, committee member or other contributor) for any help they have given the club this year. Each contribution is a sharing of the overall workload and helps lessen the huge effort that I’ve seen from fellow committee members and some other club members.

I have not singled out particular individuals for going ‘above and beyond’ because I fear I would be repeating the thanks delivered by the Club President (and I worry I may miss some just as deserving of the recognition). However, if ever there was an ‘above and beyond’ example needed then special mention must be made of the contribution from those involved with the Under 15’s tournament. What a spectacular week; and I have no doubt it was due to the amazing amount of work and organisation done beforehand and which continued throughout the week.

Aside from the regular tasks involved in being a committee member I would like to mention a specific item I achieved this year - I was glad to be able to complete the Complaints and Grievance Policy for the club. I must mention that this job was made easier for me by the amount of work already done by Des Doherty, the previous Vice President.

Finally, I would like to thank all who represented the Bayswater Lacrosse Club throughout the season. Regardless of where your team finished the season I congratulate you for achieving any goal that you set for yourself personally or as a member of a team. I hope that such success will lead you to your ultimate goal in Lacrosse.

So, I hope that you enjoyed your season and I encourage you to come back for what I hope (and expect) will be an even bigger and better year next year at Bayswater Lacrosse Club.

Terry Farrell

Vice President

Club Managers– Report

This year Bayswater Lacrosse Club began the year with a very successful Modcrosse Program, which resulted in new members for our junior teams. This year we reduced the cost of the program to $10, which attracted over 55 junior modcrosse members.

I would like to formally thank all Coaches, Managers and Scorers for all the teams, in 2017, the majority of teams were supported by dedicated managers, which in turn lessened my load considerably. In 2018 I would like to see the continued drive to have Coaches, Managers & Scorers for all teams. I appreciated the support I received this year from the Managers, especially with Sporting Pulse Results online.

The canteen this year was initially managed by Jaden Hobson, and assisted Yianna Chrtistodoulakis and Carole Bowland. Jaden resigned midway through 2017, which saw both Yianna and I running the canteen, with assistance from Carole. I would like to thank Yianna, for her continued support and delicious food in the canteen, and hopefully we will see Yianna back in the canteen in 2018.I would encourage the 2018 Committee to continue to ensure that the Canteen has a paid manager in this role for 2018.

Unfortunately we had no Social Committee this year, we I believe restricted the quality and quantity of events planned. I would strongly recommend to the new committee that it is imperative that the BLC has a Social Committee in place, to reduce the work load of the other portfolios but also to ensure that the needs of all members are met in a social capacity.

This year we began our focus on recruitment, and in 2018 I believe that this will be a pivotal component of club moving forwards. With the introduction of Lacrosse in the 2018 School Program, and a drive into the northern corridor, hopefully we can strengthen our junior numbers.

Also this year we successfully advertised the clubrooms for hire, which attracted a lot of interest from local community groups. With the clubroom upgrades now completed; painting, window coverings, air-conditioning and the PA System, the clubrooms are now a desired venue for hire. Also with increased bookings, I believe the club should look at hiring a cleaning service, to be used prior to hiring out the clubroom, which would include a price rise for 2018.

The year culminated in the Under 15s National Tournament, a huge congratulations to the U15s Committee, especially Faye Beaman and Carole Bowland. I would also like to say that, although at times it was one of the most stressful events to be involved in, I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of working with the BLC “Grey Army” (apologies if this reference offends). The work ethic of the loyal band “over 60” volunteers was amazing, and it was wonderful to work alongside each and every one of them. Their commitment and stamina was amazing.

2017 was a very difficult year for myself in the role of Club Manager, and it was a year where I felt the stress of managing a large club took a toll on my both my personal and professional wellbeing within the club. During this time a core number of people supported me, and I would like to personally thank them for their guidance and encouragement. Again I would like to thank the rest of the BLC Committee for their support and commitment to the club.

I look forward to supporting the 2018 BLC Club Manager in their role on the BLC Committee, and hope for a successful 2018 for all club members.

Paula Olofsson

BLC Club Manager

Director of Finance – Report

Well what a busy year for Bayswater on behalf of Bayswater I applied for several Capital Works Grants and am glad to say we were successful in receiving $6,000 towards the netting installation project which is finished and looks excellent, I do recommend we try to establish a space to store the middle pole as it is very big and cumbersome so maybe next year someone can source a way to store that item
BLC also secured money for the shower upgrades which now look fantastic and only had to contribute a small amount to the cost for the project.
BLC also applied for the canteen upgrade and were unsuccessful, however it is now on the Bayswater Shire raider and I am sure they will assist with the extension in the future, especially when they visited the ground during the ALA Under 15’s and noticed our restrictions as far as canteen space goes.
BLC have same outstanding fees but this is under $2500, we have $4,000 owing to us from LWA which will be paid to LWA from ALA for as part of the team nomination fees for the ALA Under 15’s National Tournament.
Financially the club has had an excellent year. Well done to all the volunteers that worked the Under 15 ALA Tournament you are a credit to Bayswater Lacrosse Club. The club raised just under $35,000 as a result of hosting the 2017 ALA Under 15’s Tournament.
Some of the other highlights for 2017 included:
  • $21,194 in various grant received and spent during the season;
  • $6,500 invested in lacrosse equipment for new players;
  • $22,891 spend on capital improvements and new equipment
I am mentally exhausted and have decided not to apply for this position next year and to spend same time doing things for myself selfish I know. I am sure I will be around and help out when needed. But to be honest asking people to pay their fees every year can be quiet draining on a person. So maybe a better system need to be put in place as this is one thing I struggled with and do not have the energy to do again.
Carole Bowland
Director of Finance

Director of Senior Men –Report

2017 Director of Senior Lacrosse Report

2017 was a tough year for the senior men’s teams. For most of the season the teams played with 13 or less players due to injuries, people’s work commitments or personal reasons.

We had a few enquiries from international players, but were unable to secure any players to commit to coming out for the season.

Ashton Hobson, Leslie Wild and Donal Wild all made their State League debuts showing they have the ability to play at this level. Hopefully, they get more of an opportunity next year.

Thanks again to the coaches for their efforts this year. Glenn Morley with State League and running Tuesday/Thursday trainings, Mike Burton, assisted by John Keesing, for doing Division 2 on game days and Jesse Bowland-Curtis for looking after Division 3.