Southern Highlands Polocrosse
Sub Association Inc

FEBRUARY 2000 NEWSLETTER

STATE NEWS
Special General Meeting NSW PA
held at Mudgee 22/23 January 2000

Umpiring
The State Chief Umpire, Colin Parkinson, has expressed interest in holding umpiring schools in the northern & southern regions prior to the commencement of the season in order to get some uniformity established throughout the State for enforcing and standardising the consistency of rule interpretation.

Pending Colin's availability, the umpire's school for our region will be held at Bungendore on 11/12 March (in conjunction with the Jnr/Int Coaching weekend) with invitations being extended to South West Slopes, Central West, Western Districts and Hunter Valley. The northern region's school will be held at Inverell, New England zone on 8/9 April with North West Plains and North Coast zones attending.

Coaching
Implementation of the "Poole Plan" is in progress, all club secretaries, selectors and coaches have been issued a copy and Janet Sillis, Zone Coaching Director, is busy organising the coaches.

Pony Crosse
The Coaching Directors would like to trial an easier form of polocrosse rules to introduce to young beginners. Some ideas put forward were:

• Half size field
• Instead of a 10m throw, reduce it to 5m
• Put ball on ground 10m in front of player who then has first call on it
• Rotation of positions to ensure each child gets a chance to throw a goal
• No specific age, just ability

If you have some more ideas for "Pony Crosse" please contact Janet Sillis on 02 6238 1550

Grading
The State Grading Committee will be trialing a new scheme of grading this season. To allow for more flexibility, grading points have been increased from 10 to 20. A lot of time and effort went into reviewing each and every player (per zone), you can imagine how long that took. However, the grading officers are satisfied with the outcome and it will be a requirement for host clubs to display all teams with the individual points listed at carnivals.

9^th Chukka – Publicity Officers
Jean Still, editor 9th Chukka, would like to feature one zone each issue. Jean would like it to include photos and it could cover a human interest story, maybe on a player or some character within a club (most of us have one of those). She is also encouraging "opinions" from each zone, I can tell you there were plenty of opinions flying at the State Meeting, but at least people were able to get things off their chest!!

I also told Jean that clubs are sending me their newsletters, I'm finding this a great way of keeping in touch with individual clubs and their goings on. Jean thought this was an excellent idea, and would welcome receiving a copy as well. If every club in New South Wales (there's 64 of them) produced a club newsletter and sent a copy to Jean, she would have more than enough material for the State Magazine.

Jean will also be featuring a "Swap and Sell" section. For more information or to place an ad contact Jean Still on 02 6331 7199, PO Box 163, BATHURST, NSW, 2795. Deadline for next issue 20^th February.

Alcohol and Drug Testing
A Code of Ethics is to be prepared and distributed to all Clubs. This is to address not only drugs and alcohol, but also unruly behaviour. However, there was also a recommendation that to discourage underage drinking, parents or guardians are to accompany children under the age of eighteen at polocrosse functions.

There was also a warning to the Nationals teams that random drug testing was a possibility at Naracoorte as a trial run for the Olympics.

National Insurance Scheme
The increase in the accident cover from the original estimate of $35.00 to $40.00 for seniors includes $3.00 additional premium to raise the death cover from $100,000 to $200,000 (at the request of the State) and $2.00 GST for 6 months from 1^st July. Similarly for juniors from $25.00 to $30.00.

The matter was discussed at great length and the majority of delegates believed the overall increase from the previous insurance was well worth it as the new scheme offered a much better coverage. Accordingly, the new insurance scheme was endorsed

To offset a shortfall of some $6,000 as a result of bridging finance the State will need to take out in order to pay the premium in a lump sum, the delegates agreed that an approximate amount of $80.00 be added to the Club Affiliation Fee. This in itself is not too bad as under the new policy there is no Public Liability payment required from either the Clubs or Zones. So at the end of the day, Clubs will be paying approximately the same amount for affiliation as they did previously for affiliation and public liability combined.

PAA Ruling – NO DOGS
The PAA has ruled a banning of dogs at all tournaments Australia wide. With public liability, duty of care etc at the forefront these days it was only a matter of time before the PAA took this position. What it means is that all invitations will need to state this ruling and it will be up to individual clubs how they will police this. It is also suggested a sign be placed on the gate stating "NO DOGS ALLOWED".

It will also be a requirement that after the gatekeeper has finished for the night, or at any time the gate is unattended, the gate must be shut. There are insurance claims pending regarding damage/injuries etc caused by horses that have escaped from grounds. The host club could be in a lot of hot water if they do not comply with the above.

STATE NEWS
Selection Carnivals
NSW Zone Championships
Muswellbrook 10-11 June

The selection carnivals for the above championships will be Lake George 13-14 May and Burradoo 20-21 May with names being announced at Burradoo.

Nomination forms will be distributed to Club Secretaries closer to the date. Remember, it is a requirement that all nominations are signed by the person nominating.

Canberra Show Exhibition Match
26 & 27 February

Teams competing as follows:

Southern Highlands
Kylie Goatham, Kristen Thistleton, Allison Mathie, Anthony Yeo, Tim Thistleton, Neville Gilpin

Central West
Rebecca Matthews, Julia Frean, Georgina Summers, Brendan Summers, Peter Ryan, Bruce Greenslade

Western Districts
Rachelle Hogden, Gail Donnelly, Tanya Hollow, Morris Donnelly, Chris Bredhauer, Kevin Dwyer

South West Slopes
Wendy Barlow, Nichole Amey, Donna Weston, Will Weston, Darren Maurer, Charlie Grills

Reserves: Belinda Hallam and Peter Blyth

Congratulations to the selected players, we are sure this will be an exciting event and a real showcase for polocrosse.

CLUB NEWS
Lake George
Junior/Intermediate
Coaching Clinic
11 & 12 March 2000

Please apply for a registration form from the Lake George Club for the above clinic. If you cannot use the form yourself, but know of someone who may be interested, please pass one on.

It is proposed that an umpiring clinic will be held at the same time, run by the State Chief Umpire. If you would be interested in attending a session in relation to umpiring, please contact Helen Mathie on 02 4473 5488 or Jill Clarke on 0418 977475.

This is an excellent weekend for all juniors and intermediates as the States top coaches will be there to help improve your skills.

VALENTINE'S BALL
SATURDAY 12th FEBRUARY 2000

The Bungendore Club will be holding it's annual "Valentine's Ball" at the showground on 12^th February 2000.

Tickets available from Taylor's Hardware 6238 1282 and Bungendore Cellars 6238 1735. Cost $30.00 per person (includes recovery breakfast on Sunday), BYOG. Dress is formal. Any further inquiries contact Jane Devine on 6238 1432.

CANBERRA ROYALS CLUB
REGISTRATION & BBQ
CLUB GROUNDS, SAT. 19th FEB.

All Southern Highlands members would have received a flier from the Canberra Club advertising their registration day.

If any player is thinking of moving clubs, for whatever reason, consider Canberra Royals as an option.

Some of the features of playing with Canberra are:

• We have our own club grounds
• Great facilities
• One of the oldest running polocrosse clubs
• Financially strong
• Offering subsidised playing fees

So come along to our Club Grounds from 6pm on Saturday 19^th February and join us for a BBQ dinner and drinks. Camping overnight is welcome.

If you would like to find out more about our club and what we have to offer please contact the Secretary – Carol Howell on 02 6236 6276.

HOT GOSS' CORNER
WEDDING BELLS

Congratulations to Allan Gilpin & Alina Schunke who were married on 22^nd October.

Congratulations also to Chris Coulton & Lorraine Heldon who were married on 30^th October.

ENGAGEMENT

Jane Devine & John Woodward celebrated their engagement on 13th November.

SPORTING AWARDS

Elke Neumann was awarded a certificate from the Southern Colleges Sports Association for being the most valuable player in equestrian competition for Narrabundah College in 1999.

Jillian Sibley was awarded Best Sports Person – Young, NSW.

SHPSA PUBLICITY OFFICER:

Deadline for next issue - SATURDAY 26^th February 2000