President's Report to the 2005 Annual General Meeting

I would like to thank the following for their work on behalf of the Association:

• Louise Sligo, the Association's Secretary for the last three years. Louise is stepping down tonight as she is moving to Wanganui on March 1. I would like to thank for her work and her support during my time as President. I am sure you will join me in wishing Louise all the best for the future.
• Brian Smith, Treasurer and Tournament Director, performs an amazing amount of work at club, regional and national level. I am pleased to see that he is willing to stand again as Treasurer.
• Margret Fleck as web administrator.

Finally, I would like to thank the regional delegates and all the club members who were involved in running Regional events over the last 12 months.

Regional Tournaments

Congratulations to the players and clubs who have won the various championships and tournaments.

Women's Singles

Jan McHardy (Kapiti)

Regional Singles

Brian Smith (Khandallah)

Regional Doubles

Michael Rocks, Roy Zeier (Khandallah)

Regional Triples

Michael Rocks, Brian Smith, Dirk Winnie (Khandallah)

Open Triples

Michael Rocks, Brian Smith, Dirk Winnie (Khandallah)

Champion of Champions - Singles

Claire Bradburn (Silverstream)

Champion of Champions - Doubles

Dean Norman, Susan Norman (Windy Hills)

Champion of Champions - Triples

Gerald Bryan, Peter Dennett, John Moss (Hataitai)

Winter League

Masterton

Two non-Championship events were run prior to the Oceania selection weekend.

Women's Doubles

Barbara Johnston, Elizabeth Rocks

Women's Triples

Barbara Johnston, Joan Miller, Claire Wilson

Jacques Cochonnet Trophy

After 32 months and 28 consecutive victories, Masterton finally lost a challenge match. Next month Khandallah hopes to set its own club record of 7 consecutive matches when it takes on Upper Hutt. One should never say never, but the record set by Masterton seems unlikely to be broken.

National Tournaments

2004 was the last year in which individual clubs bid to host a national tournament. From 2005, the Wellington region has been allocated a national tournament each year. Hopefully, this will ease the burden on the host club, as the WPA will be able to provide more resources. Park Avenue, as hosts for the National Triples in April will be the guinea pig for this process.

Congratulations to:

• Michael Rocks, Brian Smith and Dirk Winnie for winning the National Triples. Danila Carducci, Neil Dykes and Margret Fleck were third equal.
• Tony Chin, Oskar de Jong and Dirk Winnie all reached the quarterfinals of the National Singles.
• Doug Hay and Peter van Heusden were third equal in the National Doubles. Claire Bradburn, Myles Cowper, Oskar de Jong, Peter Dennett, Brian Smith and Dirk Winnie all reached the quarterfinals.

Inter-region matches

Kath Alison (Kapiti), Kaye Alison (Kapiti), Enoka Smiler (Park Avenue), Monica Smiler (Park Avenue), Harl Stevens (Kapiti) and Peter van Heusden (Khandallah) were selected to compete in the annual Clash competition against Canterbury. Wellington triumphed in the pétanque for the third year in a row winning 26 points to 10.

In the Wellington-Hawke's Bay match the Wellington Gold team of Dean Norman (Windy Hills), Joan Miller (Masterton), Graeme Morris (Masterton), Brian Smith (Khandallah), Claire Wilson (Masterton), and Dirk Winnie (Khandallah) lost to Hawke's Bay 'A' by 20 points to 21.

The Wellington Black team of Claire Bradburn (Silverstream), Ernie Chu (Kapiti), Peter Dennett (Hataitai), Andrew Joe (Hataitai), Susan Norman (Windy Hills), and Pat Scholes (Kapiti), defeated Hawke's Bay 'B' by 29 points to 12.

Wellington won the overall match by 49 points to 33.

International Representation

The return Trans-Tasman test match took place in Clareville in June. Michael Rocks (Khandallah) and Dirk Winnie (Khandallah) were both selected for the team. Unfortunately, the Australians proved too strong in the test winning 54-42. Congratulations to the Masterton club for showing the Australians how to host a visiting international team.

Earlier this month Tony Chin (Khandallah), Margret Fleck (Hataitai), Andrew Joe (Hataitai), Barbara Johnston (Masterton) and Dirk Winnie (Khandallah) were members of the victorious New Zealand team at the Oceania Championship staged in Rotorua. Congratulations to Margret and Barbara who along with Fiona Browne (Napier) won the silver medal in the Women's Triples.

Next month Dirk Winnie will be representing New Zealand in Vietnam at the Pan-Pacific Championships.

Umpiring

Barbara Whittington became the region's first fully qualified umpire and has gone on to officiate at the National Doubles and the Oceania Championship. Now that Umpires exams are being set and marked in New Zealand (previously England), the process to become an umpire should be much quicker.

Club affiliation

Unfortunately, the Porirua club has withdrawn from the WPA. There are several reasons for this as they have stated in their letter. We need to be careful that in planning our competitive programme that we are not excluding the smaller and/or less competitive clubs.

On the plus side, it is hoped that the request for affiliation from the Wanganui East club will arrive in the very near future.

Outside Participation in Regional Tournaments

This topic generated more interest than any other that I have seen in the last four years. The topic was referred to the PNZ for a ruling. They declined on the basis that it is a regional matter. We do have an option of forcing the PNZ to make a ruling under their Constitution. However, I would prefer that we sorted this out ourselves.

Conclusion

I would like to conclude with the words that I used last year:

Finally, I would like to invite anyone who is interested in the development of organised pétanque in the region to put their name forward for positions as Club delegates, officers of the Association, or as coaches, umpires or tournament directors. Your club, your region and even your country, needs you.