AU 6 Month Activity Update
A: Introduction —
1- Foreword from the President
Welcome to our Auckland Ultimate 6 Month Activity Update for the 2018-19 year! The purpose of this Update is to provide you, our members and partners, with an insight into what our organisation has done over the course of the past six months, and where we are headed for the next six months.
Ultimate is awesome. It is not just an excellent sport by design, but also a wholesome community of fun, compassionate, and driven people. Our mission at Auckland Ultimate is to grow and develop this sport and community, so that more people can enjoy the experiences that we do, and also so that, with scale, we can experiment with and deliver new and exciting offerings for you.
Our strategic focus over the past six months has been on capability development. This means building the strength of Auckland Ultimate – by strengthening our people, our policies, our processes, our practices, and our relationships – to ensure that our organisation is in the best position to grow and develop ultimate for years to come. Although this focus has occasionally diverted our attention and resources away from our operational activities, capability development is an important investment in our future and I am very proud of the progress that we have achieved in this endeavour.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank our incumbent executive members for their excellent service to date. The dedication, passion, and talent that Coral, Dylan, James, Joe, Jono, and Rory have all brought into their roles and into Auckland Ultimate have been central to the success of our work over the past six months, and will no doubt ripple benefits into the next six months and beyond. They are all volunteers, and our organisation is immensely fortunate to benefit from their service.
We hope you enjoy the Update. If you have any questions, or would like to be involved or help out, please reach out. We would love to hear from you!
Ian Lim
B: 6 Month Review —
1- Leagues, Tournaments & Events
(a) Winter Leagues
2018 Winter Indoor Epsom had 14 teams registered, with 150 people participating in the league. Winner of A-grade division went to Potato Bake, followed by Weeb Force in second place. Winner of Spirit tied between Potato Bake and Weeb Force.
Winner of B-grade division went to GoT- S07, followed by Milk Train in second place. Winner of Spirit went to Huck Tha Police.
2018 Winter Indoor Kohi had 7 teams registered, with 62 people participating in the league. Winner of this league went to Llamanati, followed by AUUC Shield in second place.. Winner of Spirit went to Stall Out Boy.
2018 Winter league had 11 teams registered, with 204 people participating in the league. Winner of this league went to AUUC Flood, followed by Old Boys Sports Club in second place. Winner of Spirit went to Old Boys Sports Club.
(b) Spring Leagues
2018 Spring Mixed Social had 17 teams registered, with 177 people participating in the league. Winner of this league A and B grade consolidated went to Dreaded Unicorns, followed by The Family Table in second place. Winner of Spirit went to Aurecon.
2018 Spring Sevens had 8 teams registered, with 140 people participating in the league. Winner of this league went Zoot, followed by Llamanati in second place. Winner of Spirit went to AUUC Flash.
(c) Taupo Hat
This year Taupo Hat was once again held in Owen Delany Park, with the theme being Outer Space. The total amount of people participating was 224 players. Finals was between Crab Nebula and Jupiter, with Crab Nebula coming in first place. Spirit was won by planet Earth. Winner of MVP went to Rory Hammond and Sheena Wejendorp.
(d) Women Social Nights
This year we ran 3 Women Social Nights, with the first being facilitated by Blueberries, second by Zodiac and last by Vixenz. The purpose of these sessions were to teach beginner players new skills in Ultimate. This was done by doing drills, with each session building on to the last. Each session finished with a full game to end the night. The individual participation numbers for this event was around 15-20 per night.
In the pipeline for the next 6 months…
(e) Summer Leagues
This year we will continue to run Summer Mixed Social due to success from the previous year. The league will once again be split into A and B grade. Game format will be 5-a-side, and games will be 60 minutes in duration.
This year we decided to run a Summer Kings and Queens hat league. Players register as individuals, and are placed into different teams every league. Wins and losses are counted against each individual player. The goal is to finish the league with the most number of wins to your name. The male and female players who accomplish this are crowned the “King(s)” and “Queen(s)” of the league.
(f) Autumn Leagues
Following from the previous years, we will continue to run Autumn Indoor Leagues in both Epsom during Thursday evenings, and Kohimarama during Wednesday evenings. Epsom will be 5-a-side with a maximum capacity of 16 teams for an 8 week season. Kohi will be 4-a-side with a maximum capacity of 12 teams for an 8 week season.
2- Transformation Projects
(a) Recruitment of League Director
The executive team decided it was important to recruit an overall League Director for the leagues ran by AU. The primary roles of the League Director would be (1) Sourcing and booking playing facilities, (2) Creating Ultimate Central events, promoting and designing the draws, (3) Responding to league queries and maintaining relationships within the league. We have promoted this position via the AU Facebook page and Seek. While the search for the right candidate has had its up and downs, we will be hoping to recruit a suitable candidate soon.
(b) Financial Review & Reform
Last year we commissioned a financial review from Battley & Johnson, the report of which was completed in December. The purpose of the review was to provide high level advice on our accounting practices, financial reporting and tax compliances. We are acting on the recommendations provided to improve our practices, reporting and compliances going forward.
We also engaged Battley & Johnson for an ongoing bookkeeping service, tax return administration, and preparation of annual accounts.
In the pipeline for the next 6 months…
(c) Website Upgrade
For the next 6 months, we are planning to review and upgrade the AU website as a response to the feedback we have received. We are looking to have a full-suite upgrade including platform, layout, design, and content enhancements. If anyone is interested in assisting with this, please contact our president, Ian Lim. We are looking for content writers and web developers.
3- Community Outreach & Support
(a) Kelston Girls College Sports Day
A member from Kelston Girls College got in contact with AU in regards to holding a couple of sessions to teach ultimate to their year 9 and 10 students for their junior sports day. On 12th December, Rory and 4 volunteers ran a couple of 1 hour sessions for them as proposed, both consisting of roughly 80 students. The sessions covered basic throwing and catching techniques, explanation of the rules, which finished off with a couple of standard games.
(b) Events supported through prize sponsorships
Events supported through prize sponsorships consist of Tamaki Throwdown, Spring Daze and Santa’s Hat.
(c) Events supported through equipment lending
Events supported through equipment lending consists of NZMUC, Spring Daze, Santa’s Hat, John Bai Annual Hat Tournament.
In the pipeline for the next 6 months…
(d) Community Fund
We are planning to revise and re-implement the Community Fund, which has to date only disbursed $1,000 between 5 grants through a single funding round in 2017.
The purpose of the revision will be to:
-better define the purpose and scope of the fund
-Improve the structure of the fund
-Improve the operational processes of the fund
-Promotion
-Application
-Assessment
-Disbursement
-Reporting
We will be holding a workshop to develop these policies and processes. If anyone would like to be involved, please contact our president, Ian Lim.
4- Club Forum
This year Club Forum was held on the 20th January. There were 2 separate sessions, where the Opens and Mixed clubs were invited for the morning session, and the Women’s clubs were invited to the afternoon session. The clubs who attended in the first session were AUUC, Nomads, Flex, Old Boys Sports Club, and Hive. Clubs who attended the second sessions were Blueberries, Zodiac and Vixenz. The purpose the club forum was to (i) To identify regional issues; and (ii) To develop actionable solutions to those issues; and (iii) To foster a culture of collaboration. All the clubs brought forward 3 main issues they each face playing ultimate in Auckland, and those issues were collated and discussed within the respective sessions in detail with the purpose of finding solutions for the issues. The official club forum report will be available on the 10th February.
C: Upcoming —
1- Schools & Youth
To put in motion a plan to make school ultimate clubs more sustainable through delegating leadership and coaching roles to students in so the club can continue to grow without the constant need for an outside coaching source.
Building over the next three years, schools should start to initiate a hierarchy including a TIC (teacher in command), followed by ex students coaches, student club leaders, senior student coaches and finally the club’s players. This foundation is expected to hold the schools clubs soundly so they can be allowed or continue to send teams to inter-school competitions. From that point students will be encouraged to take up opportunities in the wider Auckland Ultimate community to expand their skill set and knowledge, in the hopes of finding young talent to go towards playing in representative teams e.g. Katipo/Kahu.
The schools plan for 2019 will also look to expand ultimate widely into other schools by planting club activators in the form of ex students to increase the number of participating schools in Auckland.
2- Annual General Meeting
The 2019 AGM will be held in June, at a central city venue TBD. The purpose of the AGM (as stipulated in the constitution) will be to:
-Receive the Society’s Annual Report
-Receive the Society’s Annual Financial Statements
-Elect officers for the new year
-Recognise and award significant achievements from the year
-Decide on any notice of motion proposed by any members
D: Conclusion —
1- Executive Team
(a) Profiles & Contact Details
Ian Lim- President (president@aucklandultimate.org.nz)
Joe Seebeck- Secretary (au@aucklandultimate.org.nz)
Jono Steele- Treasurer (treasurer@aucklandultimate.org.nz)
Rory Moore- Student Representative (rory@aucklandultimate.org.nz)
Coral Huang- Executive Member (coral@aucklandultimate.org.nz)
James Holth- Executive Member (james@aucklandultimate.org.nz)
Dylan Lie- Executive Member (dylan@aucklandultimate.org.nz)
(b) Meeting Minutes