As my second term comes to an end I would like to acknowledge and thank the Executive Committee for their hard work over the previous 12 months, club delegates who make up the WPA committee for their valuable input and to the Clubs for their continuing support.
Special thanks to all of the volunteers who have assisted with running WPA tournaments.
The Association is extremely fortunate in having so many people who are committed and willing to assist in running our regional tournaments, which makes it a lot easier for the tournament committee.
Special thanks to Colleen who performs the Secretary role in a very professional and capable manner and to Michael who has managed the Associations finances extremely well. His prudent management keeps the Association in a good financial position despite the drop off in members regionally that has seen a drop in the income from affiliation fees this year.
The work completed by the tournament committee is hardly ever seen or recognised but they put a huge amount of work in behind the scenes to ensure all tournaments run smoothly and efficiently. Special thanks to Graham and Claire for organising the running of the regional tournaments. To Jan McCarthy who has volunteered to complete the thankless task of scoring at the tournaments, I pass on our gratitude.
Jack Gazzard has performed the role of Arbiter with efficiency, tact and diplomacy. He has the respect of all Petanque players in how he conducts himself during tournaments.
This year has seen a full review of all things Petanque within our region and though at the time of writing this report the outcome of the questionnaire was unknown, I do appreciate the time everyone has taken to respond to the questionnaire and expressing your views. From my perspective the views of players in how we conduct our regional tournaments is extremely important and though we cannot please everyone we will be endeavouring to ensure as many of the suggestions will be implemented where there is a general consensus amongst players.
,p>One of my hobby horses have been trying to get consistency in how we run our regional tournaments. Players must know how the competition is going to be run before they arrive at the venue and if all of the rules were essentially the same for each tournament this takes any tension out of different rules being applied for different tournaments. This is not a criticism of how we have run past tournaments but is a case of trying to provide certainty for players when entering tournaments.The same applies to the Chanticleer, Tri-Star and Haines Cup where the rules of play are clearly identified, documented and agreed with the regions we play. The rules tend to be in the heads of those organising the competitions so I just want to make sure they are in writing and agreed for future use and understanding.
I would like to congratulate all players who have played for the Wellington Association over the past twelve months and a special congratulation for those who have gone on to represent New Zealand. For those players who have represented Wellington or New Zealand for the first time a special congratulations.
The Association appreciates the work club's put in while hosting the various regional tournaments, national tournaments and other tournaments like the Tri-Star, Haines Cup and Chanticleer.
Congratulations to all the winners of the Regional tournaments and also to the Champions of Champion winners.
Thank you to the coaches and selectors of the representative teams for your hard work and dedication in preparing the teams for competitions. Special thanks to Yvonne. At the last AGM we appointed our coaches and selectors for twelve months and agreed to select a training squad early in the year so training sessions can be held prior to tournaments later in the year. This year is the first time we have selected a training squad early to enable a number of training camps to be held so they players are well prepared for representative fixtures.
The main challenge for the Association and all of the clubs is how we recruit new Pétanque players and how the Association can assist to increase playing numbers. This is work in progress.
The past twelve months has seen the Pétanque community lose a number of valued members and on behalf of the Association I would like to pass on our condolences to the families.
I look forward to continuing to work with the Executive Committee and the representatives from clubs to further develop Petanque in the Wellington region.
Thank you all for your support.
Kevin McFadgen