It is my pleasure as Chairperson to report on behalf of the Otago Badminton Association on another eventful and successful year for Otago Badminton.
We as an association continue to push towards the targets and vision of the newly revised strategic plan which provides a strong road map for our future. I am delighted to report thriving progress towards this plan.
Otago Badminton Highlights:
- Otago won five out of seven categories of South Island Inter Association Team events that we competed in – U13, U17, U19, Seniors Div 3 and Veterans Division 1 and 2.
- We had high level of participation in Inter Association Teams events – 2 teams in Seniors Div 3 (25 players) including a number from Otago Campus badminton, 4 Masters teams including South Otago (40 players) and 3 Veterans teams (24 players), Brooke Cup and Cadbury Cup teams.
- We had players who participated in the Canterbury Open, Southland Open, South Island Open and Masters Tournaments which our players performed well in and in some categories won the event. Besides the usual few who competed in the North Island, we had a few players who travelled to Australia and participated in two separate tournaments – Jim Hoffman, Alison Collister and Di Roberts to the Australian Masters in Adelaide and Ah-Lek Tay, Daniel Dance and Lana Perry to Newcastle.
Two major projects are now underway:
- Work to determine the cost associated with refurbishing the bathrooms and changing rooms. Once the cost has been established we will look at implementing a funding, sponsorship and fundraising plan.
- Work on implementing a sponsorship and marketing strategy framework that will provide a pathway towards the association being financially sustainable and ensuring badminton in Otago is thriving for years to come. We see this project as a critical success factor to the association and is an investment in the association’s future. Hence we have engaged the services of an external marketing business to work with us on this.
Like all regional sporting bodies, we continue to operate in a difficult financial environment. We greatly appreciate the support of our funders and sponsors – The Southern Trust, Bendigo Valley Sports & Charity Foundation, Otago Community Trust, DCC, Alexander McMillan Trust, Cranserco and Little India.
We are planning to operate in a similar environment for the foreseeable future but are focusing on sponsorship and marketing strategies to assist the association in this area.
This year we are reporting a net profit of $22,333 which is a small decrease compared to last year.
I would like to express my gratitude for the work of the supporters, parents and volunteers. The commitment and dedication shown to the association from you all is significant and greatly appreciated.
My thanks also goes to my fellow management committee. The committee has worked well during the year. I really appreciate the energy and commitment each individual of the committee brings to the association.
Our association has continued to look critically at how we operate and how we best serve our stakeholders. We are looking forward to a very positive future for Badminton in Otago.
Nathan Pitcher
Chairperson
Otago Badminton Association
