Logo

January 2004 Newsletter

 

Australian Athletes with a Disability

After a brief closure over the Christmas-New Year period the office of Australian Athletes with a Disability is in operation for the year ahead.
The next board meeting will be held on Saturday 14 February 2004.

Australian Sports Commission

The Office of the Status of Women and the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) has released information regarding the 2004 Sport Leadership Grant for Women in Rural and Remote Communities. The program is aimed at providing women with an opportunity to undertake accredited sport leadership training in the areas of coaching, officiating, sports administration and sport management.

The program offers grants in four key areas: Indigenous women, women in disability sport, women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and women in general sports leadership positions - including coaching, officiating, club development and management. The Program provides successful applicants with a one-off grant of up to $5,000 for individuals (applications must be through an incorporated organisation) and up to $10,000 for incorporated organisations.

Applications for the grants close on Friday 30 January 2004. The grant guidelines and application forms are available on the ASC's website www.activeaustralia.org/women/grants/.

The Australian Sports Drug Agency

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has recently released the new 2004 WADC Prohibited List effective from 1 January 2004. The major changes to the 2004 List include the removal of caffeine and pseudoephedrine from the 2004 WADC List; and the banning of cannabinoids and glucocorticosteroids (when administered orally, rectally or by intravenous or intra muscular administration) in all sport in competition.For further information visit http://www.asda.org.au
NSW Wheelchair Sports Association Annual Presentation Dinner

A total of 170 people attended the NSW Wheelchair Sports Association Annual Presentation Dinner held at the Bankstown District Sports Club in Sydney. The MC's for the evening were Angus Wildblood (NSWWSA) and Joy Smithers (best known for her role as Rose in All Saints).

Award Winners include:

Athlete of the Year David Hall
Coach of the Year Evan Bennett
Team of the Year Wollongong Rollerhawks (NWBL)
Official of the Year Judy Simpson
Rookie of the Year Ryley Batt
Clubperson of the Year Angus Wildblood

SPORTS NEWS

Archery

The 2004 Archery Nationals entry form can now be downloaded from www.archerysqas.com.

Athletics

Congratulations to Neil Fuller who won the 120m Paralympic Athletic Race at Adelaide Bay Sheffield Carnival on December 28th 2003.

The official results were:

Bay Sheffield
Placing Surname Given Name Handicap Time
1 Fuller Neil 5.00 13.784
2 Bennett Malcolm 20.00 13.869
3 Benz Paul 4.75 13.901
4 Mathews Andrew 5.75 13.947
5 Webb Katrina 22.00 14.255
6 Hall Ben 12.00 14.265
7 Watkins Luke 14.50 15.089
8 Cowdrey Matt 15.00 15.397

Basketball

Kitakyushu Champions' Cup - Noel Rowsell reports Australia ended their Kitakyushu Champions' Cup campaign undefeated. The Rollers defeated Italy 61-51, Korea 70-52 and Japan 53-50. In the gold medal game the Rollers defeated Italy 63-62. Top tournament scorers for Australia were: Justin Eveson, Brad Ness and Shaun Norris.

Classification - a basketball classification clinic will be conducted in association with the Asia Oceania Cup (Athens qualifying tournament for men) on Sunday the 21st and Monday the 22nd March 2004. For further information Contact Us.

Women's National League - the 2004 Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League dates have been changed to accommodate the changed overseas travelling plans of the Gliders. The new dates are:

Round One 3 / 4 April Brisbane
Round Two 24/ 25 April Sydney
Round Three 10/11 July Melbourne
Finals 31 July /1 August Sydney

2004 National Junior Championships - at the conclusion of the 2004 National Junior Championships, Wheelchair Sports Australia will host an under 20 national junior squad camp led by Barry Barker and Evan Bennett.

Golf

Amputee Golf Australia will host the Inaugural Australian Amputee Open from March 28 - April 1, 2004 at the Coolangatta Tweed Head Golf Club, Tweed Heads, New South Wales. For further information visit http://www.amputeegolfaustralia.asn.au/

Handcycling

The 2004 National Handcycling Championships will be hosted by the Western Australia Wheelchair Sports Association in Perth on the 17th and 18th April 2004.

National Handcycling Head Coach, Andrew Budge, is currently finalising the National Handcycling Development Squad. For further information contact your local wheelchair sports association or Contact Us

Lawn Bowls

Alf Boyle, Bob Cole, Carol Boyle and David Bailey conducted a lawn bowls come and try day in Perth over the weekend of 10-11 January 2004, which looks like it may have unearthed some future bowlers!

Shooting

The National Rifle Championships will be held at the Sydney International Shooting Centre from April 8-11 2004. For further information Contact Us.

Swimming

The Excell Committee sent a development team to the 2003 ParaPanAmerican Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina in December. Head Coach John Ornsby reports the trip was a development trip and the focus was on gaining the skills needed to cope with the pressures of travelling and preparing for a meet in less-than-ideal circumstances, i.e. good team performance rather than individual performances. We were required to compete after arriving in Mar del Plata less than 48 hours before the competition started. Coping with the effect of jetlag as well as getting to know each other were the main issues faced initially and everyone put-in/dug-deep and good team bonding was the result. Skills observed were: respect for each other and enjoyment of each other's company; making good use of 'down time'; leaning on team-mates after a bad performance to turn attitude around quickly; improved race performances after adequate rest and good nutrition.

Tennis

WA Open - held 10-14 December 2003 in Perth had seven Australian athletes compete in the Men's singles: Ben Weekes, Kim Robbins, Warren Boggs, Travis Feakes, Joe Davey, Jeremy Long and Heath Davidson. All athletes competed well throughout the tournament. In the final Ben Weekes defeated Phillip Rowe of Canada 6-3 6-0.

World Team Cup - the Australian team for the World Team Cup in New Zealand 19-24 January 2004 is Anthony Bonaccurso, Daniela Di Toro, Dylan Alcott, Heath Davidson, David Hall, Ben Weekes, Branka Pupovac and Michael Esler.

This year's men's competition marks the beginning of a new format, with 32 nations split into two World Groups. World Group 1 consists of the top 16 nations based on the results of previous year's competition.

February Calendar of Events

4-8 Tennis Sydney International Homebush, NSW
6-8 Athletics NSW State Championships NSW
11-15 Tennis Australian Open Melbourne, VIC
12 Athletics A Series Melbourne, VIC
11-16 Basketball Osaka Cup Osaka, Japan
13-15 Athletics Victorian State Championships VIC
13-15 Athletics Western Australia State Championships WA
26-29 Athletics Telstra A Championships Homebush, NSW

Correct at time of print.