Fencing North Committee Meeting – 3rd August 2020
(Note: The July meeting was held in ealy August due to an administrative error.)
Meeting Opened: 7:04pm
Present: Sunnie Sun, Katie Logan, Amanda Hopkins, Rhys Greensill, Mary Black, Maja Saran, Matt Stanley, Matt Houtman.
Apologies: David Elder, Kyle Nankivell, Neil Young.
Confirmation of the Previous Minutes: Katie moved that the minutes for June be accepted as correct. Rhys seconded. Motion carried.
Matters Arising: The two fabric pistes that were ordered have arrived in the country, but one of them was damaged in transit. We have paid for the undamaged one and requested a replacement for the damaged one.
Treasurer’s Report: Amanda gave the Treasurer’s Report. Fencing North is currently up c. $6500 for the year, but we still owe some money for the fabric pistes and hall hire. Amanda thanked the competition organisers for doing such a good job of increasing the turnout at competitions so we can continue to break even or make a profit.
We still do not have payment details from Oliver for our website fees. We need to transfer the website hosting costs to Fencing North.
Amanda moved that her report be accepted. Sunnie seconded. Motion carried.
Competitions:
SS Individuals and Foil Teams: Maja reported that the competitions were very successful. She is working on a report for the executive and will send Katie the details of team entries for invoicing.
Larsen Open: The Larsen Open will be held in Hamilton on the 8th of August. Nicole Martin is coming up from Wellington to DT the tournament. We plan to run this tournament in Whangarei next year and continue moving it around the region. Maja noted that next time it would be better to create clear expectations for who is doing what, as currently it is a bit confusing.
SS Sabre/Epee Teams: This tournament is coming up on the 23rd of August. This time Maja will use a late fee to encourage people to enter teams earlier, as in the previous competition there were entries coming in the night before.
North Opens: This is currently scheduled for the 18th of October, but this is only a week before the weekend of National Opens. Maja suggested moving the competition earlier in October, or later to the start of December. The committee agreed in principle that the tournament should be moved; the tournament team will work out the details and communicate this with Fencing North members.
Oceanic/National U20s: The Oceanic Fencing Commission has decided that Oceanic U20s will not be held this year, as there is no guarantee that the borders will be open. FeNZ has also decided that the end of this year is too busy to hold the NZ U20s competitions, so the competition may be moved to early next year. Fencers who qualified for the tournament in 2020 would be permitted to enter this event. Katie will communicate with our members about these changes.
Regional Teams at NZSS: Fencing North has again been invited to select and send teams to the NZ Secondary Schools championship. Following resolutions from previous years (see the minutes from August 2018 and July 2019), we initially invited schools only to nominate teams. However, many club representatives wished to change the policy so that composite teams (from more than one school) would be allowed.
Following discussion, Katie proposed the following: That Fencing North will allow nominations of both school and composite teams. Students will be expected to join a school team if that is possible, and may form a composite team only if they cannot create a school team. If selection is required, the A teams of each school will be preferred in the selection. If there are more team slots available, then composite teams and any additional school teams may be selected to fill them.
Maja seconded. Motion carried.
More information about our team selection policy is available here.
Referee Development at NZSS: The committee went over a proposal from David to send development referees to the NZSS competition. This is a valuable opportunity, as it gives referees the chance to become ‘qualified’ as national level referees, which is beneficial for running national competitions in the North region. However, Amanda was concerned about going over budget by sending too many referees.
Rhys proposed that Fencing North send three referees for development, and take advice from our senior referees (Anya, Neil and Laura) about who those should be. Amanda seconded. Motion carried.
Health and Safety: This month there were no reported incidents at Fencing North competitions. Maja noted that we still do not have a health and safety officer. For now, Maja is keeping any incident forms that are filled out.
Fundraising: Rhys reported that he has put through and application to the Albert-Eden board for money to run a first aid course, and that he has prepared applications for aluminium pistes (to Four Winds) and the coaching course (to the Lion Foundation). He needs new quotes to complete these applications.
FeNZ News: Amanda reported the news from Fencing New Zealand. FeNZ has received some money from Sport NZ and the FIE, which will go towards covering operating costs such as insurance and website fees. There may be some additional funding available to the regions. FeNZ will also receive the regular equipment grant from the FIE, which will go towards a top end scoring box and new reels.
Although the national body has received money from Sport NZ, we are still not officially partnered with them, so there is no money available to clubs through them currently.
FeNZ is still looking for nominations for the Officiating Commission and a Health and Safety Officer.
Other Business:
Officers: Maja suggested that Fencing North should look for a Welfare Officer: the first point of contact for anyone who is in distress, with a protocol to follow when members have personal issues.
Katie suggested that she might put a ‘Volunteers Wanted’ page on the website.
Meeting Closed: 9:05pm.