New Challenges Ahead
Right at the start I should mention that the National Office is closed for the Christmas/New Year break from midday Tuesday, 23 December 2009 and will re-open on Monday, 05 January 2009. All of us here wish you a very merry Christmas and a great New Year! Let’s hope you succeed with your wishes and plans for 2009. 2008 went by so fast it was easy to miss its highlights .... I will, however, not dwell too much on these as they are already mentioned in other areas, including in the 2008 EFA Annual Report, and in many of our web news items. As far as our High Performance program and the Olympic/Paralympic Games are concerned, you can find a more detailed update on our web. I would like to congratulate all of our achievers on their success and all those others who made an effort to improve. Equine Influenza certainly took up most of our time and is still requiring our attention. Hopefully, by the end of the year or soon thereafter, Australia will be declared EI-free again. This should lead to horse traffic between Australia and New Zealand unfettered by quarantine regulations, enabling ‘real’ international competition again with foreign horses. We can be proud of our effort in eradicating the EI virus so quickly, although freight experts at the recent FEI General Assembly could not understand why we bothered. They thought the transport regime would be much easier if competition horses were generally vaccinated. Say no more. 2009 Australian Youth Olympic Festival (AYOF)We are still looking for suitable loan horses for this event, for both the Jumping and the Dressage competitions of this exciting event in which we we welcome teams from New Zealand, Great Britain, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore and the USA. Please consider making your horse available, particularly if you are based in NSW. You will be surprised how much fun it is to be part of that event that gives young riders an idea of how Olympic Games work and what it is like to compete as a team against riders from a number of nations. Please call Toni Venhaus (02 8824 8065/0418 686 781 - Dressage) or Edwena Mitchell (0419 642 053 - Jumping). For further information and contact details please go to the AYOF page on our web. 2008 EFA Annual General MeetingYou can download the draft minutes from our web. The meeting took place in Adelaide in-between National Board meetings that saw the ‘retirement’ of Geoff Sinclair and Alexi Kentish, the appointment of Graeme Bowker and Natalie Nichols and the election of Mary Seefried as our first female EFA President. You can download summaries of business conducted at Natonal Board meeting. The Branches agreed to a change of name from Equestrian Federation of Australia Ltd. to Equestrian Australia Limited (trading name Equestrian Australia). The AGM also included a lot of discussion about a new constitution. During a ‘Joint Session’ of the National Board, Branch Chairs and Branch Managers later, I introduced the assembly to the new range of logos that all Branches will be happy to use after their launch in February 2009. Before this happens, we need to complete a ‘style manual’ and all the necessary electronic artwork. Once launched, we will update our web and progressively replace our EFA-branded stocks of stationery, workbooks, etc. with the new ‘brand’. The Joint Session also agreed unanimously to accept some changes und updates to the Memorandum of Understanding between Equestrian Australia and its Branches. Human Anti-Doping PolicyThe Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency (ASADA) has been working with National Sporting Organisations since the middle of the year to incorporate changes to the World Anti-Doping Code into the various NSO policies. Apart from changes on the list of Prohibited Substances, there are new arrangements for Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) and sanctioning provisions have become more flexible. For more information, please visit the ASADA web. The new Equestrian Australia Anti-Doping Policy comes into effect 01 January 2009. It applies to all people participating in the sport, including coaches, owners and grooms and reaches into clubs and other affiliated organizations. Please familiarize yourself with its provisions. Note for Horse Anti-Doping and Medication Control: Swabbing also takes place at events of the non-Olympic sports/disciplines, particularly at championships and events with large prize money (see Policy). Where a horse has been administered medication because of illness or injury shortly before the competition, this should be declared before the event to avoid anti-doping charges. FEI horse and rider registrationPlease note that riders and horses participating in FEI-level competition (‘CIs’) must both be registered annually for the respective FEI Discipline. Please renew now to avoid missing out. The FEI is introducing a new entry system that will prevent riders and horses that are not registered from participating in FEI events. You can download a form (PDF or MS Word) from our web. National Sport Achievement AwardsNominations close 02 February 2009, so please think of one or more of the many worthy candidates - persons, clubs & organisations, events - before it is too late. You can find nomination forms on our web. Nathan Holman reports from the Education DepartmentEFA NCAS CommitteeThe EFA NCAS (National Coach Accreditation Scheme) Committee agreed in 2008 to implement a non-representational ('skills-based') structure for 2009 and beyond. The appointment panel met recently and we would like to congratulate the following persons on their appointment to the NCAS 'skills based' committee.
We would also like thank all those who nominated for one of the positions. Each State Branch has a coaching committee / advisory panel and for further details of who is on this committee / panel or how to get involved, please contact your State Branch NCAS Coordinator. Vacancy in the National OfficeDiana Sutherland will be leaving in February/March to spend some time overseas. We are advertising to fill her position of Sport Consultant - Education, Coaching and Officiating. For position descriptions and other details, please go to the National Office Vacancies page. Wish ListBefore the first Christmas and New Year break in this job in 2002, I compiled a wish list of how I wanted to see the sport develop over time. This wish list has, of course, been overtaken by Strategic Plans developed by the National Board with the input of those representing the broader membership and the Branches at the Annual National Forums we introduced in 2005. It is interesting to go back, however, to see what has been achieved and what has changed and where we could and should still make progress. You can have a look at the list here. New ChallengesThe global financial crisis and expected economic downturn will have an impact on sport generally, and we need to prepare for this. The continuing drought in many areas of Australia is making things even worse, also compounding the impact that the Equine Influenza outbreak has had on the sport and related industries. Lower fuel prices and interest rates will be a relief to some but fears of a recession remain. The Australian quarantine system is still under review and will undergo further changes. We hope that what seems to be a (possibly understandable) overreaction to the outbreak will be adjusted once the horse import risk assessment has been completed. Current import conditions are rather onerous and the intent of the Federal Government to ‘recover’ quarantine costs with increased charges may in the end make horse imports unaffordable to many. In a ‘cost recovery’ model, lower traffic leads to increased charges leads to even lower traffic etc. There also the ‘Crawford Inquiry’ into Australia’s sporting system. All sports and the key players like the Australian Sports Commission and the Australian Olympic Committee are keen to see what it will recommend. Australia’s federal structure brings with it many inefficiencies as wheels are reinvented in a number of places and States often underline ttheir 'independence’ by doing things a little differently, sometimes with little consideration of how that might impact on the rest of the nation. What you see and how you see it always depends on your perspective and your background, so it is more likely to get the best possible solution if people from different areas and backgrounds get together and work things out - together. For a small nation such as ours, one wonders why we cannot all pull together and in the same direction. Just look to Europe where diverse cultures and nations, which once were at war with each other, are now able to agree on common policies and systems. No, it’s not perfect but we could and should take a leaf out of their book (and recycle it). We need international success as the basis of our funding. The World Equestrian Games are not far away and other nations are not sitting on their hands. Our next four-year plan (for the next 'quadrennium') is due early next year. This will take into account the direction provided by our National Forums and the lessons learnt during our last Olympic campaign. The Australian Sports Commission had asked for outlines some months ago, as had the Australian Olympic Committee that is working with the Australian Paralympic Committee on a separate funding submission to Government. So a lot a work can be expected in 2009. Let’s work together to make our sport stronger so it can survive the challenges ahead. Supporters and Sponsors
We are also looking forward to working with the Australian Paralympic Committee in the management of the Para-Equestrian high performance program from early 2009. We hope our partnerships with our commercial sponsors can be strengthened further in the next Olympiad. So in summary, we would like to mention
For more news and other information, please visit www.equestrian.org.au or your State Branch web (www.[state].equestrian.org.au). Wishing you a relaxing and rewarding Festive Season, and .... make them good days! Franz Venhaus | ||
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| ISS Sumer Show Jumping Classic It was a great finish to ISS with a sunny day and some very exciting competition. | ||
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