<strong>Squash</strong> <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong> <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2012</strong> new zealand <strong>2012</strong> Senior national Champions L-R: Joelle King and Campbell Grayson 10
<strong>Squash</strong> <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong> <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2012</strong> Chief Executive’s <strong>Report</strong> With the current <strong>Squash</strong> <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong> strategic plan expiring this year, the development of a new plan is a good opportunity for us to look at what we do, why we do it and how successful we have been. We started with a review of the old plan evaluating its strengths and weaknesses and then took a look at what opportunities and risks we might face in the future. The old plan has served us well for the last four years and the key priorities have been consistent with what we wanted to achieve and are largely still relevant to our current goals. Some of the targets were ambitious but in most respects we have made good progress toward achieving those goals. After consultation with various stakeholders in the squash community, the proposed new plan for 2013 – 2015 focuses on four main pillars – connection, pathways, clubs and leadership – each with a number of strategic and operational goals linked to performance indicators. Sport <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong> tell us that 123,443 people play squash but only 19,000 are members of clubs and the aim of our strategic plan is to specifically identify opportunities for enabling significant growth in the number of squash players nationwide and the number of players affiliated to <strong>Squash</strong> <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>. Key priorities include • Improving Technology - Working with clubs to remove barriers to participation • Increasing Profile – Developing and promoting a new image for squash • Developing Commercial Opportunities – Providing financial sustainability for the sport • Winning – To be the best we can be in everything we do. Ultimately we all want more people playing squash and this will be best achieved through enduring partnerships at all levels and a willingness to head in the same direction, underpinned by good governance, sound management and capable people. Within the office the focus has been on the development and delivery of national programmes and services and I believe that we have made significant progress in most areas as highlighted in the individual reports from the programme directors. The new strategic plan continues this theme of development with planned improvements to i<strong>Squash</strong> and a national <strong>Squash</strong> in Schools programme to be introduced in 2013. A new website, a year of women’s squash campaign and better communication in all forms have given squash an improved profile which will be further complimented by the development of national branding. The support of our partners, funders and sponsors is vital to the on-going delivery of our programmes and services to the squash community. Sport NZ is our major partner and the support we receive for our high performance and community sport programmes is highly valued. We are grateful for the support we have received from the Lion Foundation, <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong> Community Trust, Pelorus Trust, Pub Charity, Endeavour Community Foundation, First Sovereign and Air Rescue Community Services to assist with our programmes and to our sponsors including Dunlop, Honda, NZ Internet Services, Alsco, Prince and PB Technologies. I would like to thank a number of people for their contribution to squash - Dame Susan Devoy (patron), Neil McAra (Chair) and the board of <strong>Squash</strong> <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong>, Michael Sumpter (honorary solicitor), Rob Walker (Club Kelburn), the National <strong>Squash</strong> Centre Trustees and Trevor Colyer(centre manager), Don Cotter and the Hall of Fame committee, programme directors Chris Buckland (referees), Wayne Seebeck (masters), our referees, selectors, coaches and all the volunteers who are the lifeblood of our sport. Finally a special thanks to my staff - Pennie, Michelle, Paul, Michael and Dave. They are a great team who have done an outstanding job this year and it is a pleasure to work alongside such talented and enthusiastic people. Jim O’Grady Chief Executive, <strong>Squash</strong> <strong>New</strong> <strong>Zealand</strong> 11