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BLIND SPORT NEW ZEALAND
SPOTLIGHT ON SPORT

December 2003
Issue 4

Season’s greetings and welcome to the latest edition of Spotlight On Sport your quarterly newsletter from Blind Sport New Zealand.

In this edition we review the Annual General Meeting of Blind Sport New Zealand and we also have for you a mixture of results and news from our member groups.

We check out what is happening Internationally and we also touch on the subject of governance of Blind Sport New Zealand so read on and enjoy.

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ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
BLIND SPORT NEW ZEALAND

Blind Sport held it’s AGM on Saturday 15 November 2003 in the Recreation Centre of Awhina House in Auckland.

Blind Sport President, John Puhara, presented a thorough report to the meeting setting out what the major achievements have been over the last twelve months. Highlights include our team that went to the World Blind Championships in Quebec, the achievement of Indoor Bowls in having just celebrated their fiftieth year and much, much more.

The results of the election for Executive positions were confirmed and the new Executive is as follows.

John Puhara President
Murray Peat Vice President
Ireane Parker Minutes Secretary
Clive Lansink Treasurer
Phyllis Fox General Member, Executive
Chris Orr General Member, Executive

We welcome Chris and Ireane to the Executive and we are also pleased that Clive has returned after taking a few years away from the action. We believe this team has the skills, energy and motivation to grow Blind Sport and be an effective voice to advocate for the rights of blind and vision impaired athletes.

There was one notice of motion at this year’s AGM. The motion sought approval for Blind Sport to explore options in respect of the organisation’s future governance and report findings of this research back to an AGM along with a recommendation.

It is pleasing to report that this motion was approved. Blind Sport exists in a world where we need to continue to grow and improve in order to meet the demands of our membership and our funders.

Each year our AGM seems to run more smoothly than the year before and this year attendees were pleased the meeting lasted for approximately an hour and there was a positive feeling about the meeting and about the direction of Blind Sport.

ANNUAL REPORT

Blind Sport 2003 Annual Report is available in Word .doc format on our website at www.blindsport.org.nz/publications. It consists of the Annual Report from the President and CEO, along with reports from member groups, and IBSA World Championships. Results of various International and National events. A new approach is the listing of those athletes who have won medals at International competitions. Another lists those who have represented New Zealand at major international events from Oceania through World Championships to the Paralympics. These date back to 1977.

The list will not be complete, so if you know of any errors or omissions please let us know.

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INTERNATIONAL REPORT
By Ray McLeod

The (IBSA) International Blind Sports Federation World Championships are now consigned to history. Previous news flashes have informed you of the successes of our small team. This was the largest blind sporting event ever. 1500 participants from 53 countries.

Blind Sport CEO in his capacity as Oceania Continental representative will be in Madrid in December attending a meeting of the IBSA Executive Committee. At this meeting a review of the Quebec World Championships will be held and the bid process started for the next event in 2007. Additionally, preparations for the four yearly IBSA General Assembly in 2005 will commence.

Future IBSA sports Regional and World Championships will be announced over time. Most of these are held on a two yearly cycle. Member countries have been invited to bid for the 2004 World Blind Powerlifting Championships. 2004 will also see the IBSA Junior World Championships in athletics and swimming in Prague, the Paralympics in Athens and the 2nd World Championships in tenpin bowling in Orlando, Florida.

Athens Paralympics – IBSA Judo Chairman Bruno Carmelli has advised there are some spots open for men in the over 100Kg class and for women up to 70Kg and over 70Kg. Do we have any takers? Contact Blind Sport for further information if interested.

Oceania as a region has many challenges, especially for our South Pacific neighbours.
Plans will be considered at the Madrid meeting to develop a needs assessment for Oceania. This may also be done in consultation and cooperation with the World Blind Union.

Nearly a year ago IBSA and the WBU signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate in the development of sporting opportunities. Another Memorandum of Understanding between IBSA and the ICEVI (International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment) is being considered for the two organisations to work together.

ICEVI President Larry Campbell (USA) believes that sport and recreation are an important element to any comprehensive education program.

Contrary to many people’s belief, people with a vision impairment are “Capable of Everything” as stated on the Blind Sport New Zealand website. The recent World Championships certainly proved that.

With the linking of IBSA with the WBU and ICEVI, the main international bodies working for people with a vision impairment are coming closer together. The benefits of this are obvious and we look forward to more activity.

Blind Sport President and CEO met in October with Australian Blind Sports at their AGM in Melbourne. The objectives being to work to enhance opportunities for blind athletes in Australasia and Oceania. ABSF is planning to stage a national event next year for athletics, swimming and powerlifting. If this goes ahead it will provide another opportunity for New Zealand athletes.

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BLIND INDOOR-BOWLS NEW ZEALAND Inc.
50TH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
REPORT

Blind Indoor-Bowls New Zealand held their 50th National Championships in Lower Hutt over Labour weekend from 24 to 27 October.

The weekend started off on the Friday evening at 6:45 with the Annual General Meeting in a room at the Angus Hotel in Lower Hutt.

The BINZ Executive has a new member on it this time. Mr. Owen Wilson from the Napier Club.
The full list of members of this Executive is, President John Manchester, Vice President Grace Wheeler, Past President, Joe Twomey, Secretary, Phyllis Fox, Treasurer, Joy Thompson.
Committee, Peter McGlinchey, Owen Wilson, Iris Roberts and Owen Palamountain.

Bright and early on the Saturday morning at 8:00 AM, in the Lower Hut Horticultural Hall the Mayor of Lower Hutt opened the tournament and put up the first bowl for us to start the weekend off.
First up, was the open Fours which ran for the whole day.

On Saturday evening at around 8:00 PM,we sat down to our Jubilee dinner which was held in the Lower Hutt Town Hall which is joined onto the other hall we were playing our bowls in.

This was a gathering of about 200 people including some invited guests.
Among these guests were, Paula Daye, the Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation Of The Blind, Don McKenzie, the Chairman of the Foundation’s Board, Gary McCormack, the guest dinner speaker.
Brian Henry, a life member of BINZ, Jim Howe another life member, Jack Shortt, life member, Shane Cuthbert, the President of Indoor Bowls New Zealand and his wife and many more, and if I try to recall them all here, I will be sure to leave someone out.
Our MC for the evening was Greg Morgan from the Foundation’s Library Services who really kept us entertained throughout the evening with his special introductions etc.

After a welcome from myself, Paula Daye was asked to speak for a few minutes.
Then we had a role call which was a huge job to get around all those guests.
There was also a special guest present, MR. Graham Sutherland, the Patron of the Wellington Social Club for the Blind who was a very kind financial contributor to the event from the Trust he had set up many years ago.

After the entrée, we received a short speech from Shane Cuthbert and then Brian Henry spoke to us at some length on the history of the Federation and the many characters who were members all those years ago.
He also spoke on the importance of keeping all minutes and records together in one place maybe on disc or something like that to save them for the future so when we have these kind of celebrations, we can easily look up the information that we need to make up a book of memories etc.

Between the main course and the dessert, Gary McCormack entertained us for 30 minutes or so, with his very special kind of humour, political satire and very funny stories.
Thanks Gary for that.

Just before we were served our desserts, Both Jack Shortt and Eru Winiata, who were competitors in the very first Championships 50 years ago, were asked to come up and cut the Jubilee cake for us.
Jack had a tear in his eye when he spoke to us at this time as he reminisced on the old times.

At this point, Jack told us, he was offering a special gift and a small trophy for all the winners over the weekend in memory of his wife and of course from himself.
Each winner and the runners up received a beautiful towel and a trophy.
My thanks to you Jack for that.

Also this weekend, each person who attended the Jubilee, received a Jubilee pack which contained a book of memories, a pen and a badge with the 50 years and our name on it.

The were also some commemorative wine glasses for sale over the weekend which sold very well.
If anyone wishes to buy one of these lovely glasses, there may be a few left.
Please contact your local Indoor Bowls club for the Blind and asked them for one. You may be lucky.

The Singles were played out over about 12 hours on the Sunday and then came the Pairs on the Monday morning.
By 6:30 or so, we had the winners of the Pairs and then it was time for the Prize Giving.

My thanks must go to the Wellington Social Club for the Blind for all their work in organizing this special tournament and celebration for us.
My special thanks to Jenny and Noel Fitzwater for their work and keeping me in the loop with them throughout the entire weekend.

Following, is a list of the winners.

Thank you

John Robert Manchester
President
Blind Indoor-Bowls New Zealand

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BLIND INDOOR-BOWLS NZ Inc.
50th National Championship Results
Labour Weekend October 2003
Trophy Winners

Fours Championship
Winner: (Rotorua)
Barry Cadman (Skip) Bert Collett (3) Zola Brittain (2) and Kathleen Haira (Lead)
Coach Shirley Teirney

Runners Up (North Taranaki)
Ngaire Jenkins (Skip) Kay Lodge (3) Min Owen (2) and Louie Dethierry (Lead)
Coach, Glenda Osten

Totally Blind Ladies Singles
Winner, (Gisborne) Nola Burgess and the Coach, George Maddren
Runner Up, (Auckland) Marilyn Savage and the Coach Pat Lindsay

Totally Blind Men’s Singles,
Winner, (Manawatu), David Pettigrew and the Coach, Margaret Crawford
Runner up, ( Manawatu) Jack Shortt and the Coach Peter Nesbit

Partially Sighted Ladies Singles,
Winner, (North Taranaki), Ngarie Jenkins and the Coach, Peter Hume
Runner Up, (Wellington), Joan Porter and the Coach Isabel Rodgers

Partially Sighted Men’s Singles
Winner, (Auckland) Ken Joyce and the Coach Des Fisher
Runner Up, (Rotorua) Barry Cadman and the Coach Shirley Teirney

Totally Blind Singles Champ of Champ (Manawatu), David Pettigrew and the Coach Margaret Crawford

Partially Sighted Singles Champ of Champ (North Taranaki), Ngarie Jenkins and the Coach Peter Hume

Pairs
Winner, (Wanganui) Graeme Dennison (Skip and Jack Davis Lead and the Coach, Phyl Jones
Runner Up (Auckland) John Puhara, Skip and Charles Tauhore and the Coach Robyn Fisher

Federation Cup Barry Cadman (Rotorua)

Champion Province Points equal, Manawatu and Rotorua.

The Cox Family Trophy, for the Guide of the Championship Fours Team
Shirley Teirney From Rotorua.

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NEWS FROM BLIND SAILING NEW ZEALAND

NZ National Blind Sailing
Championships Announced

First National blind sailing championship arrangements well under way says Adrian McHardy, Commodore of the Bay of Plenty Trailer Yacht Squadron.

Announced at the Tauranga Match Racing Regatta, the first National Blind Sailing Championship will be held at Lake Rotoiti, Rotorua, NZ, 20th - 22nd February 2004 hosted by the Bay of Plenty Trailer Yacht Squadron.

Crews will consist of two Blind or VIP members and a Sighted Tactician. The fourth crew member will be the boat owner or representative.

The regatta will be sailed in Nolex 25 Trailer yachts and will be sailed over nine races. Bay of Plenty Trailer Yacht Squadron Commodore, Adrian McHardy asks that those wishing to compete, let Blind Sailing NZ have an early indication of your intentions to participate so that the Bay of Plenty Trailer Yacht Squadron can arrange sufficient boats. Interest has been received from competitors in USA and Japan, and five local helmspersons have expressed interest. There have been a number of expressions of interest so far from NZ competitors.

Race Officer, Tony Thompson advises that the Notice of Race and Entry details will be distributed as soon as final arrangements have been made by the Bay of Plenty Trailer Yacht Squadron.
Enquiries to the Race Officer: Tony Thompson

--
Email
tony_thompson@gabrobins.co.nz

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SPORT AND POLITICS

Blind Sport notes with pleasure that our funding from SPARC will be rolled over for the next year. The future of our long term funding from SPARC is not quite so clear and we await, with interest, the results of SPARC’s review of the No Exceptions Policy which will set direction for funding of disability sport in New Zealand for the future. We sincerely hope that sensory disability sports will not end up being the poor cousin to physically disabled sports as has happened historically. You can be assured we will monitor future developments with interest.

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Kia Kaha Blind Hockey Club

Round Robin and Prize giving results for 2003.

Male Player of the Year – Layton Witana (Kia Kaha)
Female Player of the Year – Donna McCaskill (Kia Kaha/Manukau South)
Most Improved Player of the Year – Zane Hammond (Kia Kaha)
Seymour Lambert Award (VIP club member who’s skills exceed on and off the court) – Donna McCaskill
The Chairpersons Award (Sighted members who’s skills exceed on and off the court) – Lafi Te’o
VIP Tournament Player of the Day – Kay Kay-Smith (Waikato)
Sighted Tournament Player of the Day – Zane Hammond (Kia Kaha)
Melinko Trophy (Best and Fairest player of the tournament on and off the court) – James Dunn (Manukau South/Selbys)
VIP Tournament winners;
Ahmu Shield (1st place) – Kia Kaha (VIP Team)
Kamakazee Log (2nd place) – Manukau South
Sighted Tournament;
The Tongalea Shield (1st place) – Selbys
Cleopatra Shield (2nd place) – Kia Kaha (sighted team)
Tournament winning team overall.
Winiata Shield (Tournament points winner) – Kia Kaha (VIP Team)
We would like to thank all our volunteers who helped throughout the season and Round Robin.
Refs – Michael Selby, Lafi Te’o, Andrew Miller, Anthony Rako.
Time Keepers and Scorers – Crystal TeWake, Carrie-Anne Selby
Driver – Kathleen McCaskill.

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NEWS FROM GOALBALL NEW ZEALAND

Hello Fellow Sports Players

The last half of 2003 has been as busy for Goalball as the first, with many events and games up and down the country. The most exciting news is the growth of the game throughout the North Island. The Central Auckland Blind Sports Club is now playing on a regular basis with a good number of male and female players. This along with Dennis Well's great coaching means that there is a new favourite for next years National champions.
Much thanks goes out to Dennis for all his efforts in getting the game up and going in this area.

Mark and Kay Kay-Smith have also organised a game or two in Hamilton and there looks like a strong possibility that there will be a club up and going in the central North Island before much longer.

Rumours have it that Logan McMullen has shifted his family and enthusiasm to Napier so it looks like a give in that there will be yet another North Island club up and running shortly as well.

Wellington have not being playing as regularly as they would like to, but they have a strong core of players and once a venue is sorted out they too should be a growing club with regular events. They are so keen that in October they travelled down to Christchurch as one of over 40 sports teams in the annual Wellington and Canterbury 'Clash of the Provinces' competition. A great game was had and in the second half gave Canterbury a real run for their money.

The GNZ board have made progress this year on the administration front with a strong vision defined and a solid strategic plan for the next 5 years. This along with the contacts and efforts on the international front as far as international competition is concerned, bodes well for the future.

The development of the game culminated this year in a week-end camp in Palmerston North in early November. Much thanks goes out to Troy Ramsay who organised a great weekend that everyone came away from with sore muscles, the odd bruise and an even stronger passion for the game.
Probably the greatest success of the week-end was the sheer number and enthusiasm of the many female players. There looks a very good chance that a women's team could be making it to the Australian National Championships next year, and should be very very competitive.

In fact there has been so much news that this short article cannot really pay it justice, so if you would like to read in more detail about what Goalballers have been up to then please visit our web site at www.Goalball-nz.org and click on the News and Events Link for a more detailed report on all the activity as well as many great photos that have been taken over the last few months.

A happy and safe Christmas and prosperous 2004 to you all , and like the rest of you I await in anticipation for that umpires call, "Play"!

Darryl Sherwood
GNZ Publicity Officer.

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EDITOR’S COLUMN
A VOTE FOR GOVERNANCE REFORM
By Murray Peat

In the previous edition of Spotlight I challenged people to rethink their views about Blind Sport and where we are going. I did not receive any feedback from readers so I guess either people did not read the column or they agree with my thoughts. I sincerely hope it is the latter. Also my Executive colleagues have not sought to have me gagged so I am back again and this time I am going to share some ideas with you about governance.

Most of you will be aware of the Foundation’s recent changes with respect to governance and for those of us who are Foundation members we now get a say as to how the Foundation is governed and who governs it.

So what about Blind Sport. Well we are governed by a Council made up of representatives from our member groups along with Executive members. Individuals do not have a vote although they can certainly make submissions or forward comments or ideas for consideration.

Does the current model work? Well, in the view of some including myself there are flaws in this current system. One of these flaws relates to some Council members believing they represent their own group rather than Blind Sport in general. If this happens then a Councillor may only bring their group’s position to the table and they may not be up to speed or indeed interested in the wider issues that effect how Blind Sport operates.

In July this year Blind Sport asked each member group, informally, if they would prefer a Board of Directors type model as opposed to the current Council model. From this informal discussion a clear majority saw the benefit of a Board model over the current system. A notice of motion based on these informal findings was then put to this year’s AGM and this was approved. This motion seeks to further research the best model of governance for the organization and provide a recommendation for consideration.

I recall past Annual General Meetings when members have expressed frustration that they could not vote and I equally recall frustrating Council meetings where seemingly small issues were hotly debated while wider strategic matters were glossed over or ignored completely.

I hasten to add that we do currently have many good Council members who are hard working and who do choose to be informed. Well I guess what I am saying is that it is probably not unreasonable that we expect all the Governors of this organization to have these attributes and indeed if, in the view of the membership, this is not the case then should there not be a mechanism where those who may under perform can be replaced by more appropriate candidates.

So if a Board model is the way of the future then what of the groups that currently make up the Council. In reality there will probably be little change for groups and they will continue with their activities as they have always done.

I appreciate that not everyone is happy about even considering change and this, in my view, has much to do with comfort zones be they based on funding or otherwise. Who knows a Board may be more demanding in terms of accountability but surely this is not a bad thing.

I am sure there will be a number of discussion papers and meetings where people will debate the issues and I do hope that members take the opportunity to have their say and I would like to think this feedback would take the form of positive contributions rather than just being criticism with no alternatives offered.

We have a wonderful opportunity to review the way we do things and part of this process is to be honest with ourselves and ask the question is our current model working for Blind Sport and our members.

Remember that Foundation members voted overwhelmingly to have a board that represented ALL members so it will be fascinating to see if Blind Sport members share a similar philosophy with respect to governance.

Disclaimer: The thoughts in this article are those of the Editor and are not necessarily those of Blind Sport New Zealand.

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FINAL THOUGHTS FROM THE EDITOR
By Murray Peat

Blind Sport New Zealand would like to publicly thank all those groups and individuals who have supported this publication over the last year. Many contributors have put in a great deal of time and effort into their submissions and this helps to make the newsletter interesting, informative and successful.

We wish each of our readers a safe and happy Christmas break and we look forward to the opportunity to bringing you more news of future success and exciting events in the year ahead.

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Local groups
Blind Sport supports a number of group sports for the blind and vision impaired in New Zealand. These sports include cricket, fishing, goalball, golf, hockey, indoor bowls, lawn bowls and sailing. If you would like information on these sports then please contact Blind Sport.

Many of these sports have opportunities for competition at a local, national or international level or if you just love the game or sport then you will also find a place among friends.

Sports for individuals
Blind Sport also supports sports for the individuals out there who would like to participate in the likes of athletics, swimming, judo, power lifting and many others besides. If you would like to find out more information please contact Blind Sport.

Once again you can compete locally or if you would like to take up the challenge there are many international events and opportunities waiting for you.

Our Website
If you have access to the Internet why not take a look at our Website at www.blindsport.org.nz this site is packed full of interesting information, photos and contact information for all the sports we support.

Our sportsline
By using the Foundation of the Blind’s Telephone Information Service Blind Sport has provided a place where you can listen to what blind sports people are up to and also have your say on our interactive service. If you would like to check it out please take option 5 2 from the main menu. If you would like to know about the Telephone Information Service then please contact the Foundation of the Blind directly on 0800 24 33 33.

The Foundation’s Recreation Service
The Foundation of the Blind provides a recreation service to assist Foundation members become more involved with recreation. This often involves local groups and activities and can help people with fitness advice and rehabilitation where necessary. If you would like to find out where your local Recreation Officer is based please phone the Foundation of the Blind - toll free on 0800 24 33 33.

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HOW TO CONTACT US

If you would like to get involved with Blind Sport or simply want to find out more information please contact us by any of the following methods:

Blind Sport New Zealand
Private Bag 99 802
Newmarket
Auckland
Phone: 09 275 1635
Email: sport@blindsport.org.nz

Web: www.blindsport.org.nz
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Our thanks to the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind and SPARC for their ongoing support.
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