Archery Australia Board News – June 2020

Archery Australia Board News – June 2020

The Archery Australia Board would like to take a moment to thank all of our archery family (members, clubs, RGBs, the Archery Australia team) for the incredible effort shown during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We understand the sacrifices that have been made during this lockdown, the loss of participation in the sport we love, missing those special friendships that we have created, and postponement in achieving the goals we have set ourselves, in order that we can do our part to arrest this global crisis.

While the need to celebrate the achievements of our volunteers is never far from our minds throughout any given year, we recognise these past six months or so have been particularly challenging for many of our members and volunteers, especially after facing bushfires, air quality issues and now the COVID-19 pandemic.

Going forward, I thank you in advance for your patience and understanding as many states will start to emerge from lockdowns at different rates.

Archery Australia will get all services and programs back online as soon as practicable. Please be aware that many of these programs are at a national level and can only be delivered when all states come out of lockdown and borders become open.

We are already seeing club activity returning in some states. This will be followed by cross-club participation and State/RGB based activities, then flow into national and finally international events. In the meantime, we will be announcing activities for the country that can be achieved at club level via our electronic scoring platforms to enable you to enjoy the rivalries of old.

I look forward to welcoming you all back to normal competition soon, but until then stay healthy and stay safe.

Kind regards

Grant Cole

Archery Australia President

Archery Road to Recovery

As we are all aware, archery activities throughout Australia, like most sports, were suspended for a period of time due to the Covid-19 situation. As the situation regarding infections is being brought under control, many states have allowed some training and club based activities to resume.

Each state has set conditions and limits on numbers etc that can participate at their clubs and these must be strictly followed by all clubs.

In regards to Archery Australia events (QREs, Registered Tournaments, National Tournaments, etc) consideration to national guidelines must be examined and followed.

Archery Australia Guidelines for Rebooting Archery

AIS Guidelines for Rebooting Sport

As per the above AA and AIS Executive summary, club and state competition cannot resume until we are at level C.

Once permitted and as each state allows, we will be restarting competitions in AA and will be following the steps below.

• QREs will be allowed to be registered and conducted when all states allow at least 20 people to participate at a venue and Sport Australia has declared that level 3 has been reached.  As these events affect National ranking lists and team selections they will not be conducted until all states/RGBs can participate.)
• Once the States and Sport Australia have allowed full competition to resume then state-based Tournaments can once again be registered with AA.
• National level events will then be considered for recommencement. However, this will most likely not happen before 2021.

(Possible online multi-venue events are being considered as a first step)

Archery Australia National Tournaments

As a result of the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainty about interstate travel, the 2020 Youth National Championships, 2020 National Para Championships, the 2020 National Crossbow Championships, 2020 National Match Play Series and the 2020 National Championships have been postponed until 2021.

This was not an easy decision. However, after discussions with the host clubs and the RGBs involved and taking into consideration the uncertainty of travel and the welfare of the entrants and the many wonderful volunteers involved, this difficult decision has had to made.

We are grateful for the support and cooperation of the host clubs, Mount Petrie Bowmen and Burnie Bowmen during this process. We are very much looking forward to commencing the National Tournament Calendar again in early 2021.

We would also like to announce that an online National Club Challenge style event will take place in October 2020. The competition is designed for all members to compete against each other from their own Club environment. Further information, including dates, entries and prizes and the 2021 Calendar will be distributed soon.

EOI – Elected Board Members Nominations and Timeline – Call for Nominations

Nominations are called for Archery Australia Inc Board of Directors, Elected Board Member Positions. There are two positions available on the Board.

Timeframe and process

• No later than 30th June 2020 call for nominations
• No later than 5pm (AEST) on the 31st July 2020 nominations close
• No later than 15th August 2020 distribute ballot papers and candidate’s statements to RGBs.
• No later than 5pm (AEST) 30th September 2020 ballet papers are to be received.
• No later than 15th October 2020 the CEO will be advised of the result of the ballot.
• Elected Board members will take office on the 1st November 2020.

For information on the positions – Click HERE

2020 Board Nominations Form – Click Here

Welcome to Stuart Russell as Interim Appointed Board Member

Stuart joined the Board as an interim appointed Board member in late May 2020.  He is based in Brisbane and brings over 25 years’ governance, risk and compliance experience to the Board.  Since 2002, he has run his own risk and compliance consulting business in the financial services sector. He is also on the Board of a not-for-profit social and affordable housing company which provides housing to over 2,000 at risk people each year.

Stuart has a strong regulatory background and enjoys learning.  He has formal qualifications in law, business, finance, investment, and risk and compliance.  Stuart has a passion for involvement in sport at all levels and is really looking forward to getting involved in and contributing to Archery Australia.