Fencing North Committee Meeting – 28th September 2020
Meeting Opened: 7:05pm
Present: David Elder, Sunnie Sun, Amanda Hopkins, Katie Logan, Rhys Greensill, Maja Saran, Neil Young, Vicky Fan, James Harwood, Matt Houtman, Matt Stanley.
Apologies: Rory Ogg
Confirmation of the Previous Minutes: Katie moved that the minutes for August be accepted as correct. Rhys seconded. Motion carried.
Treasurer’s Report: Amanda gave the Treasurer’s Report. The Society has around $40,000 in the account and $6,800 currently owing.
She reported that we have not yet received our grant money from Auckland Council, which is subject to Rhys sending in the final agreed outputs for the grant.
Amanda moved that her report be accepted. Sunnie seconded. Motion carried.
Competitions: There are two regional tournaments in the upcoming month: the Secondary School Sabre and Epee Teams (17th October) and the Fencing North Open Championship (24th October).
Health and Safety at Events: Under Covid Alert Level 2, Fencing North can still hold competitions. We are following the regulations required by Trusts, which include: registration of all entrants, volunteers and spectators for contact tracing; social distancing of non-competitors; reserved toilets and entries for this event; sanitiser and masks available if required; and ensuring that anyone who is symptomatic does not attend.
National Events: Earlier this month, Fencing New Zealand announced that all remaining National events this year would be cancelled, as the situation was too uncertain to guarantee that they could be held. Instead, each region will hold their regional open event on Labour weekend.
Fundraising: Rhys reported that we have received $1000 from the Albert Edent board to go towards a first aid course for developing coaches. This is roughly enough to cover 10 people, but we will likely put in additional funds to increase that number.
We have received $4,700 from Aktive Auckland from the Sport NZ funding round. This can be spent on any expenses that are required. Rhys has also put in an application to Aktive Auckland for $23,000 to purchase aluminium pistes and fund coaching/promotional events at schools to increase participation.
He has also put in an application to Four Winds of $18,000 for four aluminium pistes. An application for funds for the coaching development course went into the Lion Foundation 6 weeks ago.
Rhys noted that there is still a lot of funding available, and perhaps fewer organisations are applying for it. Since the National event has been cancelled, it is no longer a funding priority for this year. David will work on providing a new list of funding priorities for applications.
FeNZ News: David and Amanda reported the news from Fencing New Zealand.
Anya Kamynina has been appointed to the FIE Referee Master List as a second reserve for foil refereeing. Congratulations to Anya for this impressive achievement.
FeNZ has decided that all members who fully affiliated this year would receive a $20 discount for affiliating in 2021.
It was decided that national rankings would take into account the previous two years of results, since some regions have not held many tournaments this year.
The FIE has announced that there will not be any more international tournaments held until 2021.
Other Business:
Mediaeval Madness: Matt Stanley discussed the Mediaeval Madness event which is held in Whangarei each year. He requested Fencing North’s help to create a demonstration as a recruitment event.
Administration: There was some discussion about whether it would be feasible for Fencing North to hire a part-time administrator. Rhys noted that it might be possible to apply for funding to employ an administrator, which would free up volunteer time to grow the sport further. The administrator’s time could also be offered to FeNZ to improve the administration of the sport in general.
Permanent Venue: Rhys reported that, together with Peter Butler from Auckland Swords, he has begun looking at options for a permanent venue for fencing. There are two main options: venues that are available immediately, which are largely commercial leases, and longer term Council-funded options. The latter would require a long-term strategic plan for the sport, which will take time and money to create. At the moment, Rhys and Peter will focus on short-term opportunities which are available within the shared budget of Fencing North and Auckland Swords.
Auckland Special Needs Christmas Party: David discussed this event, which will be held on 5th December at the Greenlane Events Centre. He would like bring the plastic equipment and a few fencers to do a demonstration. The committee agreed that this would be a good thing to do, even though it does clash with our planned Christmas tournament.
Meeting Closed: 8:37pm.