Going Forward with a Plan

Strategic Forum

It was a big month for us in Feb. All the hard work, analysing and planning the Board has been doing for the past 4 months was unveiled at the Strategic Forum on the 15th Feb. This was our big chance to present our new Strategic Plan for the next 5 years of squash to the community and make sure that we're on the right track. 34 people attended and it was great to see a range of interested parties from players to court owners, Life Members and representation from Squash Australia. Big thanks to everyone who took the time out to come along and give us their thoughts.

Our President  (Mark Goldstone) and General Manager (Phil Sinnott) gave a great presentation of the plan which is available on the Squash SA website as is the full Strategic Plan - Be sure to check it out! We received some valuable feedback on the night and in emails and letters in the following weeks. The main gist of the feedback has been that the new direction and focus areas are on track. People are happy that we are spending more money on squash, however there is some concern that we may be spending too much if we go ahead and hire all four of the proposed new Development Officers straight away. I'll get back to addressing this concern a little later. We also got some good feedback from Squash Australia to say that our strategic direction is a good fit with the Squash OZ Strategic Plan. It's good to hear that we will be heading in the same direction. We also received some great ideas from the squash community about how to increase participation. Keep those ideas coming.

Board Meeting

Ok so back to that point of worry from the Strategic Forum - too many staff straight away. Well, we heard your concern and spent a good while going over all the numbers again in the Feb Board Meeting (projected cash flow, staffing structure, future project cost etc...) What we ended up with is a more conservative Organisational Chart that drops two of the Development Officers (we will start with just North and South) and reducing   the Marketing Manager position to a  part time role. We also made a few tweaks to the way we run the Racquets SA business to make some savings. The result was a budget that covers the new organisational structure and leaves room for the carpark upgrades at Racquets SA and future investment in new squash facilities, and takes into account conservative gaming trends. We are now in a great position to move forward with recruiting. And yes recruiting has begun for the Marketing  Manager, Membership  Services Manager, Pathways Manager, and  Competitions /  Administration Officer.

To make sure Squash SA and Racquets SA are keeping up with regulations an OH&S audit was performed by Stewart Allan (Board Member). Stewart has extensive experience in OH&S as part of his day job and found a number of items that needed attention including updating the OHS policy for Squash SA, developing policies in some areas and looking at larger work areas for the staff at Squash SA.  Stewart is preparing the official report and then we can get to work making the necessary changes.

The glass court has come up again in this meeting. It's currently being  hired  by Canberra for the Australian Open and that is its first paying gig since it was bought. The question is - should we keep it? The problem is we no longer have a team to put it up and take it down. And getting it up in a public place like a shopping mall or Rundle Mall is logistically very difficult because of the large set-up times and other constraints on structures in public places. We could sell it and use the money to set up more permanent courts... What do you think??

Other items:

• The Racquets SA car park upgrade is under way with demolition plans lodged with the council. 
• The 'Terms of Reference' for the committee restructure are complete and the door is open for all those who would like to get actively involved in squash by joining a committee. Of course all previous committee members are more than welcome. So get your name in and make a difference!
• The Squash Facilities Study has been put on hold in view of the regional facilities opportunities.
• Mark Gold stone (President) and Phil Sinnott (General Manager) will be  attending the Squash Australia AGM. This is a chance to catch up with all the other states and  attend National Workshops.

New squash court opportunities

It's amazing what happens when you start asking around. We are pursuing a number of opportunities to build new squash courts as part of multi-function sports centres. Keep in mind that these are just proposals at this stage but we are actively pursuing them.

• Adelaide Shores was earmarked for a State Squash Facility but we're now looking at a regional facility shared with other sports. We are proposing a build of 6 courts with movable walls. They would provide the shell and we would do the fit out and run the squash activities.
• Playford Council is renovating an existing community rec centre and they are open to putting in some squash courts - the same deal as Adelaide Shores.
• Campbelltown Rec Centre is being upgraded and we have put in a proposal for courts there as well. I know Campbelltown Club would love to have some courts in their area again!