Panthers Basketball Albury Inc
President’s report AGM November 8th, 2023
Hello and welcome to the Panthers Basketball Albury Annual General Meeting for 2023.
I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the Wiradjuri lands on which we are meeting today. I pay my respects to their Elders, past and present, and Aboriginal Elders of other communities who may be here today.
It was fantastic to be back playing and training without any Covid interruptions or isolation requirements this year. In 2023 Panthers Basketball Albury ran 31 teams in the Albury Basketball Association Junior Basketball competition; represented by 22 Boys and 9 Girls teams, competing over 5 weeknights.
We started our year with a launch of our new singlets – made possible by our sponsors; Findex Albury, Ray White Albury North and Kreativ Dental Albury together with Howlong Butchers, KBC Plumbing & Pipe Relining, Albury Return & Earn and Thurgoona Training Academy. We also took the opportunity to thank Lorraine Crawford in person and present her with a gift for all the years of service she has given our club.
The ability to replace our previous 6 combinations of singlets with one unisex reversible has made the job of allocating singlets so much easier. We also took the opportunity to uniquely assign the number and size combination so that we can track all our singlets with the aim of significantly reducing the number of singlets not returned each season. We also introduced training tops and shorts, polos for community members and new polos for coaches and committee. Mid year we had made hoodies and further items available soon – so watch this space!
On the committee front, our aim this year has been to incorporate as many volunteers as possible – with the aim of many hands making light work. After a call out for new committee members and age coordinators mid year we were very appreciative of the response we received. This saw Aaron Weathers and Kris McKenna joining our committee as general committee members and Greer Ashby as our Registrar. We also welcomed our age group co-ordinations of Darcy Irving, Dana Mackie, Rachelle Lowe, Sam Vagg, Justine Finlayson, Rob Sharpe and together with our committee members; Kylie, Kye, Aaron & Kris also taking on age groups.
Our secondary aim was to improve our sense of community. To support this we try to gain input from as many of our community members as possible, build our community spirit in the availability of our Panthers merchandise, fundraising through Bunnings BBQs in June and September and the commencement of our Development Days in October. Our first Development Day was a huge success with 75 kids attending in addition to older players in support and coaches and team managers. It was a great day enjoyed by all present and we are very grateful to continue to have the support of Craig Robinson and Dave McKinlay in running the sessions on these days. We aim to continue to run these so that we can further develop both the kids and coaches skills while providing an opportunity for our older kids to be involved – and potentially coach in the future. The kids also get the opportunity to make friends with kids in their age groups in other teams so we can better grade our teams in the future. We have a thank you evening planned for our volunteers so they can get to know each other better allowing for more interaction between teams and members with the aim of providing opportunity for further development through subbing and easier to manage teams for our coaches.
On behalf of the committee and Panthers community I would like to thank all of our age coordinators and team managers and a huge thanks to our coaches for the time, effort and passion that they have put into coaching and getting our Panther Teams onto the courts each week.
A thanks to Murray High School as well who again have made their indoor and outdoor courts available for us to use for training which is greatly appreciated.
As I conclude my third year as president, personally, I would like to extend a huge thankyou to our Panthers committee for their support and commitment to our club;
• Bernadette for your stringent running of our financials, being team manager for an 18&u team as well as coordinating our two fundraising BBQs this year – and all that onion chopping!
• To Andrew for your back up when required, publicity officer role work, barbecuing skills, recon for sausages and locations and ongoing support whenever needed.
• Kye for his amazing contribution to all of the boys u14, u16 and 18&U competitions. In all Kye has taken on 5 teams this year to coach in addition to coordinating our u16 & 18&u teams. Kye is a huge asset to our club and is greatly valued by our players and their families.
• Thank you Greer for taking on the registrar role this year. You have been a great addition to our club in providing updates each month of our membership movements and managing our teams within SportsTG.
• Aaron also joined the committee this year and also took on the u12 boys coordinator role. Aaron has been pivotal in introducing our Development Days, designing merchandise, representing Panthers at ABA club meetings as well as coaching two teams. We are very grateful to have your enthusiasm and experience of working within other clubs available to us.
• Kris is our third new committee member and his ideas of improving communication and community has been appreciated and looking outside our current systems.
• And last but definitely not least, Kylie. Thank you Kylie, our valued secretary, for your behind the scenes running of our club, managing our correspondence, coordinating the 9 girls teams, coaching our Div 2 18&u team and your willingness to help out anywhere where needed; but especially for your ongoing support throughout my time as president. After 14 years involved with Panthers Basketball, Kylie has decided to retire from the club. Your support and dedication to this club as well as your common sense approach and sense of humor will be greatly missed by all.
I would like to extend on behalf of our club members a thank you to each of you for the commitment and enthusiasm that you have given to Panthers Basketball Albury – it is invaluable.
As we continue to develop our club community we are actively looking for further assistance to take over vacant positions on the committee as well as singlet management and coach coordinator to further streamline our processes. All of these roles can be mostly done from home and you would be well supported by the whole committee. Nothing is done alone and we work as a team on all aspects of running our club. If you are interested in joining our committee, we would be very grateful for your assistance.
I have decided that it is a good time for me to step back from an executive role on the committee. It’s time for new people to bring forward the next round of ideas. I’ll be hanging around in the background as support of the new committee and look forward to seeing the path Panthers take. It has been a pleasure working with such a dedicated, passionate, and efficient group of people. I hope that other committee members have enjoyed the friendships made and ability to give back to our community as much as I have.
I would like to say a big thank you to all of the Panthers community – our players, coaches, parents and families – as well as the other clubs and Albury Basketball Association for all of your time and effort that you have put into our domestic competition this year.
A reminder to check fixtures and our website calendar on our website for final weeks of play. We wish all teams the best for the remainder of the season, and to those making finals. We ask that all players return their singlet tops to their coaches at the completion of their final game this season – these will then be marked off our singlets register and enable you to be allocated to teams next season.
On behalf of the Panthers Committee we wish all the best for the remainder of the year, a safe and enjoyable Christmas, and we look forward to seeing you all again next year.
Many thanks.
Beth Howard
President 2023
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2023-AGM-notice.pdf
