Download our NZCBS Newsletter July 2008
Issue 5
NZCBS NEWSLETTER
TO ALL BILLIARD SPORTS PLAYERS - ALL CODES.
Update: Over the last 12 months there has been a hell of a lot happening within the NZCBS and that is why I have not been able to put a new Newsletter on the web site. With so much going on my activities have been somewhat curtailed and for this I apologise to all members and Member Organisations.
Why have I/we been busy:
1/ Personally: I have undertaken a new role in Real Estate in addition to continuing with my Insurance activities. For those who understand Real Estate it takes up lot of time. However it is fun and I am enjoying it with some success. Along with this there have been some health issues.
2/ Masters: As you may also know I am involved as President of NZ Masters B&S Assn. this in itself is very involved ensuring that events go according to plan, sponsorship raising, playing occasionally, installing tables plus a multitude of other matters.
3/ Executive Meetings: There have been several meetings throughout the year for the NZCBS including having our AGM in Christchurch in June. This is time consuming dealing with updating records, minutes, correspondence and finances.
4/ IRD & Constitution: I have had issues during the year with our constitution and with the IRD. I have worked with Allan Paris on these matters, with success, and we now have a constitution that is accepted by IRD to finally get Tax Exemption approval that now allows us to qualify for funding opportunities. I have however yet to complete 8 years of Tax returns that may allow us to get refunds on Tax already paid. Unfortunately records before I took over as Sec/Treasurer are hard to find and recently our Auditor/Accountant Mr. Graeme Clark passed away making this even more difficult. I have recently been able to reconcile accounts for the Companies Office and we should now be fully up to date for their records also this has been a marathon task.
5/ Student Coaching: In conjunction with several committee members we have hosted two coaching schools for junior players - Manurewa and Christchurch. This has involved around 20 students with some exciting young talent coming out of Titirangi - Auckland.
6/ Liaising with SPARC: It is a major task each year to put together a updated Strategic Plan and reports to SPARC along with funding submissions. In addition both Malcolm and I have attended several SPARC initiated conferences and/or study groups mainly in Auckland.
7/ CNZ Issues: Throughout the year I have been in contact with our Executive representative from CNZ Board - Don McLeod and the CEO of CNZ on issues to do with our relationship, associate membership and other matters. Much of which is still unresolved and ongoing.
8/ Coaching Seminar: By far the biggest user of time but hugely important for Billiard Sports. Since July the NZCBS has been actively working on getting an International Coach to NZ to coach some of our player/coaches. We have been successful in obtaining the services of IBSF International Coach Nic Barrow of "the Snooker Gym" England to agree to a 10 day course in Auckland commencing on 4th December. Over the last few months I have been involved in arranging his flights ad transfers to Australia, arrival & departure, accommodation (Nic and coaches), printing of manuals, and making submissions and obtaining sponsorship. The sponsorship requirement alone for this Seminar is $21,000 and thankfully this has been obtained from NZCBS (initial commitment) Coaches commitment fees and from Lion Foundation, The Southern Trust and Cue Sports Foundation our thanks go to all for their support. This will be an exciting initiative and a huge addition to the coaching strengths within the Billiard Sports Code. Until now we have not had coaches within NZ get the opportunity to attain an internationally recognised coaching certificate. With the success of this initiative we are hopeful it will form the backbone of future coaching programs and allow us to have this course recognised by NZQA for Billiard Sports.
The ongoing commitment of the NZ Coaches attending to provide coaching throughout NZ is essential for the sport to continue to grow. All coaches have given this commitment to NZCBS and a future program will be established where their knowledge and skills learned will be passed on to players at all levels.
I am however disappointed that two major billiard sports clubs in the Waikato area were unable to provide funding (of any amount) that would help us achieve the above goal. This is rather negative when they have stated they support billiard sports. Obviously the constitutions of these groups allow them to set the criteria and approve who they wish however if it weren't for billiard sports players initially they may never have existed in the first place and funding for the sport would be a priority especially in the area we are promoting. But for the privacy act I would name these Incorporated Societies.
9/ 2010 Calendar: this is currently being compiled for display on the web site over the next few weeks (with luck) there are however so many events being held throughout NZ that I cannot obtain all the dates and venues from around the country. At present I will be displaying all events held by or for the following Member Organisations: NZBSA, NZMBSA, NZRSA, CNZ (Pool & Snooker) NZPA. I would like to include all NZBSA regional events - B & C Grade events, Pairs events, local billiard and pool events. To do this I need the help of members and Member Organisations. I would like to see on our web site every event held in every club, pub, RSA and wherever on the web site - so if you know of an event email me the details and I will list it. If you know a contact person let me know.
Well I trust you will now understand why there has not been much time to do a newsletter. However I trust that once the coaching seminar is over a regular newsletter will again be done for the web site.
Other Matters that are ongoing but have not advanced further because of insufficient member numbers:
Registered Members: We are still struggling to get any significant increase in member numbers. At present we stand at approx 2300 with only 5 being registered from the web site since its launch. I have heard of several clubs within Auckland and the Waikato area who have as many as 4000 members alone if we had theses names and numbers on our database then many of the other options and benefits that we have been working on will be advanced to a stage where they could get off the ground.
As I stated in the last newsletter we need numbers. Our minimum need for 2009 is 3500 registered members by the end of December. This will allow us to meet one of our goals for continued SPARC recognition as a National Body. We are no where near there, thank goodness another major goal is being realised.
TV: We talked about TV last year: there is no way without paying some huge costs will we get Snooker back on TV. There are still negotiations ongoing with a group in NZ who are interested in putting together a series of programs within NZ. I have not had a recent update on this venture so it will be interesting to see where this is heading.
Petrol Discount Card: this avenue has stalled as we cannot get the required number of members to allow us to get this underway (minimum 7000). The opportunity is still there but there is now a glut of these on the market and we may well have missed the boat. Great shame as the potential income stream for Billiard Sports was huge. The discount per litre was to be around 10c, far better than grocery vouchers.
There are other items still in pipeline and I will continue with updates as time allows after Christmas.
Regards and may you all have a fabulous Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous 2010.
Rob Elvin
Secretary/Treasurer NZCBS
