Following Hoe Tonga’s AGM on 1 August, the executive officers for this coming year are as follows:

• President: Jörn Scherzer
• Vice-President: vacant
• Secretary: vacant
• Treasurer: Len Tamapeau
• NKOA rep: Marinna Milantra-Lowry

Congratulations to the elected. A big thank you to Mere Elkington and Chris Fox for their hard work as secretary and vice-president last year. Due to other commitments, they decided to step down. However, they will remain involved in other roles, including as volunteers for event mgmt.

Paddlers and supporters, if you are interested in taking on any of those roles, Hoe Tonga can provide training and support. Please contact any of the current and former exec officers if you wish to help.

This is my second report as President of Hoe Tonga. Key achievements during 2010/11 include the following:

• further expansion of our race resources, this will make running races for clubs easier
• updating our operating guidance and financial reporting procedures, this will help future transitions between executive officers and may improve the quality of races, it can also be used by clubs to help run their affairs
• progress towards better coordination of Waka Ama in secondary schools in the region, this will help grow Waka Ama in schools
• the initial development of a regional asset inventory, this will help us understand what resources are actually available and needed in the region

I would like to thank all paddlers, volunteers, supporters, Hoe Tonga executive and committee members for their work during this last year.

Strategic plan

The key objective of Hoe Tonga’s strategic plan is the growth and development of waka ama in the region. Implementation of the plan is well under way, see Annex 1 for a brief status report.

However, much work remains to be done and progress is relatively slow. As with many things, many hands make little work and I invite paddlers and supporters to assist in any way they can. For instance, work in the future will need to focus on key challenges such as

• further expansion of revenue sources to expand on the services Hoe Tonga can offer
• continued work on the coordination and development of Waka Ama in secondary schools in the region, including making sure that it will benefit the region and clubs
• an investigation into the establishment of a semi-permanent sprint race course lane system as the one we currently use is rapidly approaching its end-of-life

Races

The quality of races has continued to improve last year. Hoe Tonga continues to use surveys following the races it organises, including the regional sprint races held in December each year. Surveys are a good tool to help us get a better understanding of paddlers’ views of the quality of the events we run. Compared to 2009/10, feedback has been more positive. This indicates that the quality of races is improving but there is still room for improvement.

The number of races has also increased further. The region organises and runs three regular regional championships (W1, W6 and secondary schools). There are also other events, including the Mana Island Challenge, the Evans Bay Race, the Matariki Marathon, and the Mana Ocean Challenge, and the W1 Harbour Series. This means that paddlers can get on the water and compete at least once a month in the Hoe Tonga region.

While the region is still lacking a major event that draws in the top teams from the North, NKOA is reviewing its race calendar so there may be an opportunity in 2011/12 to change that. But in the end it comes down to paddlers and volunteers putting their hands up to get involved in race organisation.

Finances

Hoe Tonga’s finances are in healthy state (click to access the accounts). With regard to financial reporting and management, Hoe Tonga is transitioning into the online age. All our accounts are now on xero.com which makes them more visible to executive members. This also simplifies financial reporting.

Notwithstanding the above achievements, Hoe Tonga’s income is still very limited (i.e. affiliation and race fees). This in turn limits our ability to fulfil our aspirations, and cater for growth and an expanded range of services.

While an increase in the club affiliation fees will go some way in addressing this issue, it will by no means be a long term solution. More work is required to tap into currently unused funding sources such as sponsors or community funding organisations, to establish a more sustainable revenue stream.

NKOA

It is fair to say that in the past NKOA, the body representing waka ama at the national level, has been seen as a rather distant entity by some paddlers.

However, many will be aware of a number of developments at the national level, under the leadership of Lara Collins, that have started to take shape over the last year. This includes structural changes (toward a board structure with full-time staff) but it also includes initiatives that will appear more relevant to paddlers, including work to develop coaching certification and policies on sanctioning of races to ensure minimum quality standards.

I am certain that this will increase the ‘visibility’ of our national body to paddlers, and importantly, it will assist us in achieving our goals at the regional level.
Jörn Scherzer
President
Hoe Tonga Pacifica Waka Ama Association

Annex 1: Strategic plan 2009-14: status of strategic initiatives as at June 2011

These are exciting times…NKOA (Waka Ama New Zealand) is making a lot of progress in propelling waka ama into the future.

At parliament yesterday, representatives from NKOA and Hoe Tonga attended the launch of a new community water safety programme, sponsored by NZ Post and TVNZ. You will hear and see more of it in the future.

As you may have heard, on3 July NKOA agreed to the new governance model, click to view the new structure . It will be formally adopted at the AGM in October.

With regard to races, NKOA is currently consulting on a sanctioning process for races. This has implications for both race organisers and paddlers, you may wish to have a look at it, comments back to Marinna or Joern by the end of July. It will ensure minimum safety standards for races in the future.

With regard to the waka ama season(s) and the calendar of waka ama events in NZ, NKOA is also considering some changes. Click here to view the discussion paper. One of the options is to agree on a permanent date for the Long Distance Nationals (for example in mid-April) in order to improve competition pathways and the coordination and timing of national events. Another suggestion is to hold a ‘series’ national title for long distance racing where teams would compete for the national title over a series of events. Feedback is due to Marinna or Joern by the end of July.

With regard to the race rules, NKOA agreed to some changes to the rules, the new consolidated document should become available within the next 3 weeks.

Finally, NKOA is developing a Waka Ama Coaching Accreditation, starting with Level 1. This may look similar to coaching certification in other sport codes such as Rugby. The development of this will commence this July or early August. Assessments of potential coaches is scheduled to start as early as October this year. If you have any views on this initiative, please contact Chris Fox.

Check out local and regional news in this issue. Clubs are welcome to submit articles of interest to hoetonga@gmail.com
We are always interested in club activities, paddlers, volunteers and upcoming events.

Hoe Tonga News – Issue 2