Fencing North Committee - Minutes - 20 March 2021

Fencing North Inc. Committee Meeting – 29.03.2021

 Meeting Opened:  7:00pm (In person – Simpson Grierson offices.  By phone – Dial in)

Present: David Elder (President), Ben Upton (Secretary), Maja Saran (Head of Tournaments), Judit Fliszar, Sunnie Sun (Vice President, Massey University), Peter Butler (Auckland Swords), Mary Black (Tuatahi), Amanda Hopkins (Treasurer)

Apologies:  Rhys Greensill (Fund Raising), Matt Stanley (Whangarei Swords),

Confirmation of the Previous Minutes:  Minutes approved.

Matters Arising – No matters arising.   

Competitions

Maja Saran presented her report.  Late fees not working.  More than a third of entries are late.  Need to incentivise early entry (Suggestion - Early bird rate - $25, Standard - $35, Late - $45).  Would like to pay referees.  This was discussed.

There was discussion about raising fees generally, to ensure tournaments do not run at a loss.

Dave Elder proposed to raise fees to $50 standard to alleviate this problem.

There was opposition to this and the motion was not passed.

There is nonetheless an issue around late enrolment which causes problems around whether to proceed or not and with the organisation of the event. 

There is a concern about U14 being left unsupervised.  There needs to be a direction that this cannot happen.  U14s must be under supervision of a parent or guardian.

 There is a preference for Courts 5 and 6 at Trusts.

Some data is being collated about tournaments and participation.  This will assist in the future as more data is gathered.

There is a view that there should be no refunds, subject to discretion based on common sense.

Maja presented a fulsome report about the current state of play around tournaments.  This report was well received.  There needs to be greater support and a better attitude towards the DT. 

Mary to draft up an information sheet with guidelines for fencers, parents and coaches to outline where they can help and assist.  There will also be effort to ensure the DT is not disturbed during the organisation of the tournament.   

There was brief discussion around gender separation.  There is a feeling that the current approach is working appropriately, albeit this is driven by lack of entries.  The preference is to run separate gender events when this is possible.  The threshold is currently 6.

Treasurer’s Report

There current position is positive.  Payment for $4,000 is due from FENZ.  Payment to Oliver Agnew is still due, but he is yet to invoice for the website.

The purchase of pistes (2) is under way.  There is an option of ribbons instead of medals.  Ben Upton to inquire around this.

Report was approved.

Permanent Venue

Peter Butler reported.  FN is in a process about how to take this forward.  Rhys and Peter have received some club feedback (5) which is being processed.  Thanks were extended to those who have reported in.  A discussion document will be produced and this will be presented to the FN executive.  A proposal will then be presented to the wider club membership.  The key issues will be the governing structure and the funding model.

Hoping to be in a position to report more fully in June.

Health and Safety

Nothing to report.  FN is still looking for a welfare officer.

FeNZ News

FENZ AGM took place and was reported on.  There was an outline of FIE events.

School Sponsorship

There is an offer from Daniel Chan at Mainland Fencing for equipment prizes at school tournaments.  He would set up a stall.  There is potentially a scoring box on offer (or equivalent) for the top school.  That proposal was accepted.   

Coaching Report

There is a coaching course coming up which is a trial.  A coaching database needs to be established which records FN accepted coaches so they can be supported.

There needs to be some place on the FN website for coaches.  Judith to provide a list of currently registered fencers.

 

 

Equipment

Of the 9 there are 7 working boxes.  There is one box missing – This needs to be found.  Another is under repair – Permission given to progress this.    

Confirmation of next meeting date – Tuesday, 27 April 2021.

Other Business:  No other business.

 

Meeting Closed:   9:26 pm

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