Conference Speakers
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Andrew Gaze
Regarded as the greatest basketballer Australia has ever produced, Andrew Gaze has played in a record five Olympic Games, and is the highest point scorer in Olympic history. He was a flag bearer at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Outside of the Olympics Andrew led the Melbourne Tigers to victory in the 1993 and 1997 Championships. He made his NBA debut with the Washington Bullets in 1994 and won the Championship with the San Antonio Spurs in 1999. Since that time he has won the NBL scoring title 10 times and been awarded the Most Valuable Player 7 times. During his NBL career Andrew played 612 games in which he scored a total of 18,908 points, for an average of over 30 points per game.
Andrew will share his Olympic experience and how it has shaped the way he thinks and tackles challenges. He will discuss what he has observed are the common denominators to success individually, and as a team, and highlight key strategies for approaching opportunities or challenges at work, with family and in the sports arena.
Andrew has been involved in the development of the Victorian University Basketball Program which now offers a Diploma of Sport Development with a basketball option, and is also a commentator. This combined with his stellar career spanning five Olympic Games makes Andrew eminently qualified to speak about the important role recreation and leisure facilities play in providing opportunities for active recreation. Be inspired by Andrew's life stories and insights as he sets the scene for the day.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Dr Emma Sherry
Emma Sherry is a Senior Lecturer within the LaTrobe University Centre for Sport and Social Impact, specialising in the area of sport development. Emma's PhD studies at Deakin University investigated conflict of interest in the Australian Football League. Emma's current research interests include community development through sport activities, access and equity in sport participation, sport in correctional facilities, sport and recreation for at-risk and marginalised communities, and she has undertaken research projects with national and regional sports organisations including Netball Australia, National Rugby League, Australian Football League, Tennis Australia and Hockey Victoria.
Emma is co-editor for the Journal of Sport and Development and is on the editorial board of Communications and Sport Journal. Outside of her academic career Emma has worked in roles in the area of sport facility and event management and recreation management within the local government and university sport sectors. Emma also sits as a Director on the vicsport Board and was recently appointed to the board of Tennis Victoria.
"Changing Face of Sport and Recreation Participation and Delivery"
Social inclusion is acknowledged as a fundamental step in improving people's social situations, and active recreation and sport is argued to be a viable medium for promoting social inclusion. Dr Emma Sherry will discuss diversity and inclusion from a whole-of-organisation approach, highlighting the economic and commercial benefits of inclusion which will lead to long term sustainability. This presentation will be supported by a case study "The Huddle" supported by the Scanlon Foundation, in conjunction with the North Melbourne Football Club.
Recreation SA Awards of Excellence Speaker
Brent Reilly
Brent is a former AFL player who played 203 games for the Adelaide Crows before his career was cut short by a serious head injury received during a training accident in February 2015, leaving him with multiple fractures on the left side of his skull. He is now employed as a Project Officer at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) in the Wellbeing and Resilience Unit. He is also a Project Manager for Project Discovery in the Mind and Brain Research Unit - Neil Sachse Foundation, which aims to find a cure for spinal cord injury.
SPEAKERS
Bronwyn Klei
The Big Bash League is Australia's newest sporting phenomenon and the Adelaide Strikers are one of the competition's great success stories both on and off the field. As the Striker's inaugural General Manager, Bronwyn has played a vital role in helping the team set attendance, membership and ratings records.
Responsible for all off-field activities including marketing, sponsorship, event presentation and the administration of player contracts, Bronwyn will take you through the history of the Strikers and the team's journey to becoming SA's most popular summer spectator sport. Bronwyn will discuss creating and building the Adelaide Strikers brand, generating and retaining membership through effective engagement strategies, securing the significant sponsorship deals that support the team, and the creation of the franchise's iconic New Year's Eve spectacular.
Shona Pallas
Shona Pallas is the Marketing, PR and Communications Manager for Paul Sadler Swimland. She has worked in the aquatic industry for 22 years having started as a work experience student in 1993. Shona holds a degree in Sports Coaching and Business Administration and has presented at numerous national and international swim conferences. Since 2003 Shona has owned and managed her own swim school facilities. Shona is a Bronze licensed swim coach, infant swim teacher and Level 2 advanced netball coach. "I love being a working mum and find I can offer a greater perspective in the workplace now that I am living what our customers do."
Trends in Aquatic and Recreation Centres - A Community Hub
Shona will share with delegates her insights from a recent visit top the US and discuss the latest trends in the aquatic industry. She will compare the design features and development of Amercian Centres against those of Australian Centres. She will also discuss a noticeable move towards customer engagement and the formation of Community Hubs which incorporate a number of other services that increase the customer's dollar spend. Shona will also discuss her views on staff engagement and price increases versus cost cutting.
Shane Farley
Shane Farley has had a diverse career to date, working specifically in the areas of community development, corporate social responsibility and sponsorship. He joined the team at Beyond Bank Australia in 2013 and through his role is working closely with many community organisations to further develop the Beyond Bank Community Development Program. The role also includes the management of the Beyond Bank Australia Sponsorship and Community Grants Program.
Shane is a former Vice-President of Recreation South Australia and a current member of the UniSA Sport Advisory Board. He is also an active volunteer with several community based organisations.
Sponsorship - What are Corporates Looking For?
Shane interacts on a daily basis with a large number or organisations right across Australia, providing him with a deeper understanding of the partnership model many community and leisure based organisations are seeking with the corporate sector. Additionally, in a former role Shane worked with the Adelaide Football Club responsible for new business sponsorship acquisition. In his presentation Shane will describe to delegates the formula for finding and keeping a long term sponsorship.
Paul Vandenbergh
Paul Vandenbergh is part of the Wirrangu people of the Far West Coast of South Australia. Paul is a very keen sportsman and is believed to be the first Aboriginal person from South Australia to play professional basketball notching up over 300 games in the Australian Basketball League for the Canberra Cannons.
Paul currently works for the Port Adelaide Football Club (PAFC) as the Aboriginal Programs Manager. He manages a number of school-based programs that use sport to engage young people and encourage students to be healthy, stay in school, learn more about their culture and identity as well as assisting them to transition in further education and/or employment. Paul and his team spend a lot of time on the Far West Coast, Maralinga Lands, APY Lands and Barkley Region of Northern Territory delivering highly regarded programs to young Aboriginal students. Paul has worked across the corporate, community and government sectors in the planning and delivery of services for Aboriginal people and communities.
Cultural Awareness - Building Opportunities for Indigenous Communities
Increasing participation at South Australian recreation and aquatic facilities is the key to sustainability. Providing access to programs for Indigenous people will provide a win-win solution for them and the facilities involved. Paul gives delegates a deeper understanding of Indigenous culture and strategies outlining how to work with and access this community. He will also examine the positive impact of diversity in the workplace and provide many examples of his involvement with setting up programs that give opportunities to Indigenous communities.
Ross Wait
Ross Wait is the Port Adelaide Football Club Senior Youth Programs Manager
Community Engagement through Active Recreation and Sport
Power Community is the community development arm of the Port Adelaide Football Club. Ross will discuss his involvement with a range of programs run through Power Community designed to empower youth, multicultural groups and women. He will share his experience of connecting with other agencies and groups to access a range of multicultural communities. The programs include a cultural awareness program for African male and female students aged 5 to 17 years, a program to end violence against women, and 'Power to be Positive', a well-being and resilience program developed with SAHMRI that identifies the basis of happiness and well being.
Tom Williamson
After winning two consecutive marketing awards, Tom started his own digital agency in Adelaide. Upon moving to Sydney, he managed social media strategies for Panasonic Australia and a selection of Nestlé’s sub-brands. After which, he joined Professional Public Relations (PPR) as its National Senior Social Media Strategist. It was at PPR where he led the national agency's integrated approach to social media and worked alongside Emirates, Tourism Northern Territory, Unilever Australia and McDonalds client teams.
In Tom’s current role a Head of Social for KWP! Advertising, he has combined his deep knowledge of social media with his passion for advertising to provide the agency with a fresh, strategic approach to its repertoire of challenger brand clients.
Tom’s passion for social media spills into his down time and has resulted in a strong personal online brand. Sharing and writing blogs and articles, interacting with peers and networking with industry role models lead his social media presence to grow every day.
Joanne Chadwick
Joanne is the Business Operations Manager at Events South Australia, the events arm of the South Australian Tourism Commission and the South Australian Government, with over 15 years of experience in the tourism and events industry. Joanne is currently responsible for the management of the Santos Tour Down Under, Tasting Australia and Credit Union Christmas Pageant. She also has experience in attracting events to South Australia and working with existing events in the State to support their growth.
Legacy from Events for Recreation Facilities
Tourism SA plays a major role in bringing major events to South Australia. Joanne will expand on the trends and types of events being attracted to South Australia. Balancing the needs of recreational facilities and major events is always a challenging task. However, the benefits of attracting mass participation events and how we can leverage off this is the key to remaining sustainable in the recreation and leisure sector.
Cathy Zesers
Cathy Zesers is the Executive Officer at Active Ageing Australia. She has spent thirty years working across health as a Registered Nurse and Health Program, Manager where she developed a passion for prevention and health promotion including the development of physical activity initiatives such as RAH Get Active and the state oversight of Lifescripts. Her most recent role was as Manager of Health Provider Support at Central Adelaide and Hills Medicare Local and Deputy CEO of Healthfirst Network where projects and sector experience around aged and community care led to her move to Active Ageing Australia in April 2015.
Cathy and Active Ageing Australia have a commitment to supporting Australians to be active, any age, anywhere through a range of opportunities and through building the capacity of settings and communities.
Geoff Diver
Geoff is the Principal Urban Sustainability Analyst for KASA Consulting. He has over 20 years experience in his field and has become recognised as an expert in the sustainable management of nonresidential sites having carried out over 300 water or energy audits in his career. He has worked at all three tiers of government and in the private sector. In recent years Geoff has worked closely with WA's peak body for aquatic centres, LIWA, conducting sustainability reviews of aquatic and recreation centres across WA. He has also worked with a number of local government bodies carrying out irrigation reviews of town ovals and other public open spaces. Geoff's presentation will cover sustainability options for sporting and recreation facilities with a focus on energy and water efficiency. The presentation will cover aspects such as the cost effectiveness of the various options, developing a business case for upgrading facilities, and involving the patrons in the sustainable management of recreation facilities.
Richard Mellon
Richard is the Manager Industry Support at the Office for Recreation and Sport. Richard started in recreation and sport when he joined YMCA in 1979 as as Program Director, and went on to manage several of the Y's Community Recreation Centres before becoming the Recreation Services Manager for the then YMCA of Adelaide in 1994. Richard joined the Office for Recreation and Sport in 1999 as a Client Consultant. He has been Manager Industry Support since 2003 and is the delegate on NARWG (National Active Recreation Working Group).
David Nash
David is the Senior Project Officer, Recreation and Sport Planning at the Office for Recreation and Sport. David has over 30 years experience working within the recreation and sport sector at state and national sporting organisations, local government and for the past 16 years state government. For the past 12 months David has been managing, in collaboration with local government, the development of the 'Regional Level' Recreation and Sport Facilities Planning Guidelines.
Sean O'Brien
Sean is Community Facility Planner at the City of Marion and has over 20 years experience in sport and recreation planning and management roles in local government, private organisations and peak sporting bodies. As Chair of the Local Government Recreation Forum Sean played a key role in initiating the 'Regional Level' Recreation and Sporting Facilities Planning Guidelines and has been a key member of the project team.
'Regional Level' Recreation and Sport Facilities Planning Guidelines
Many recreation and sporting facilities are ageing and in need of major redevelopment or replacement to remain fit-for-purpose. This, combined with increasing demand and expectation from sports and communities for higher quality facilities, is placing significant pressure on individual Councils to manage and maintain facilities now and into the future.
Jointly funded by the Local Government Association of South Australia and Office for Recreation and Sport, the 'Regional Level' Recreation and Sport Facilities Planning Guidelines aims to provide Councils with a guide on how to plan, design, develop and manage 'Regional Level' sporting facilities - facilities that due to their location and characteristics attract users from a large council area and/or across multiple council areas and meet the standards required to host major regional/state level competitions, events and/or training.
In this presentation David and Sean will walk delegates through the Guidelines and highlight the key factors identified through the project for Councils to consider when developing 'Regional Level' facilities that are well-planned, fit-for-purpose, sustainable and meet the current and changing needs of sports, users and communities.
Peter Stokes
Peter is a Project Manager at the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, facilitating the South Australian Government's commitment to establish the Mt Lofty Ranges as an International Mountain Bike Destination. With ten years background in policy and planning, Peter has been part of the changing attitudes of land managers towards active recreation in natural areas.
Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges as a mountain biking tourist destination
As recently as ten years ago many land managers around the country believed that mountain biking was incompatible with conservation goals. Unauthorised and unsustainable trail construction, perceived increases in spread of weeds, and fears of user conflict all added to the 'evidence' that mountain bikes should not be allowed in parks. Since that time the South Australian Government has gone through a gradual but emphatic policy shift. By running a 'controlled access' trial for a local tour provider, followed by careful implementation of shared use trails designed by and for mountain bikers, the Government has been able to largely contradict earlier 'evidence'. Today mountain bikes are allowed and encouraged in many of the State's protected areas. Furthermore, the Government has launched an ambitious plan to establish the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges as an international Mountain Bike Destination. In his presentation Peter will outline how DEWNR was able to provide for community use of natural spaces in ways that were previously considered inappropriate.
Mike McGrath
Mike is a uniquely skilled architect who has in depth knowledge of complex sporting facilities, specialising in all types of projects for sport, recreation, aquatics and community. he works on both the re-imagining of existing facilities and the development of new facilities for grass roots sports to elite athletes. As leader of dwpsuters' Sport + Leisure team, Mike is currently working on several elite sports projects across Australia, including stadiums and facilities for international cricket, AFL football, netball, tennis and aquatics. Mike's projects have achieved recognition with awards for excellence in Australia and internationally.
Innovative and sustainable aquatic facility design and development
Sustainability is becoming increasingly important for the development of community leisure infrastructure. Mike explores economic, social and environmental sustainability drivers via case study of the Fleurieu Regional Aquatic Centre currently under construction for Alexandrina Council and the City of Victor Harbor.
John Wilkinson
John is a Sport and Recreation Planner at the City of Unley and is also the current Regional President of Parks and Leisure SA/NT. Working for the City of Unley which has a low provision of open space under Council's care and control, a key part of John's role has been to work with stakeholders such as the Department of Education and Child Development (DECD) to open up community access to new space. His experiences have thrown up some interesting challenges and rewarding outcomes.
