IrishFreestyle

Dear valued Irish freestyle members and members of the public,

The 2nd attempt at the Irish freestyle AGM will take place on Saturday the 15th of November sometime after 5pm at the registration tent for the Colligan Gorge Games.

Originally we had planned to hold a "come-and-try-it" freestyle session at the Sluice on the same day but we thought that the Gorge Games would result in a low turnout as everybody would be off paddling at that. We hope to have the come-and-try-it session at Sluice at another date.

The last AGM was organised in conjunction with a Sluice rodeo before and talks from prominent members of Irish kayaking giving talks afterwards. The entire day was designed around the AGM and to get paddlers to attend yet despite high turn outs a quorum of only 20 was not reached. This time round we're having free coaching sessions and come-and-try-it sessions but the aim is to get numbers to the AGM.

A minimum of 1 months' notice is necessary to hold the AGM hence the November date.

I've been receiving feedback from the paddling public regarding reasons why people didn't attend the AGM having made the effort to get to the rodeo and the after party after the AGM. One of the reasons is that many people who attended the Sluice rodeo have never really been involved at a committee or national team level and therefore wouldn't really have anything to bring to the meeting. From my point of view these people are in fact the most important people to have at an AGM. They can tell us from an unbiased view what sort of job we're doing and what they'd like to see more of. The timid first-time paddler at the Sluice is an invaluable insight at out AGM to find out what these people want to see happen. This is one of the main reasons for having a come-and-try-it session before the next AGM along with coaching sessions for more experienced paddlers.

Another reason for not attending that came up was that people didn’t know what committee positions were available and what each role involves. To try and dispel this problem I've posted below a list of the various Freestyle committee positions, a brief description of each and who currently holds each position...

Chairperson

The Chairperson shall endeavor that the aims and objectives of the committee be attained. The Chairperson shall be responsible to the committee, and they in turn shall be responsible to the members of the ICU. The Chairperson will represent the Freestyle discipline on the ICU Council. The Chairperson must attend all Council meetings or must appoint a substitute if unable to attend.

Position currently held by: Louis Kelleher (author).

E-mail: chairperson@irishfreestyle.com

Secretary

The Secretary shall record the minutes and decisions made at all meetings, and to deal with all committee correspondence. All minutes and correspondence shall be made available to the members of the committee on request within seven days, or to a General Meeting. The Secretary shall be responsible for the organisation of all meetings. The Secretary shall also be responsible for the maintenance and updating of the Freestyle Committee Website.

Position currently held by: Killian Kelly.

E-mail: secretary@irishfreestyle.com

Treasurer

The Treasurer shall keep a true record of all transactions carried out by or on behalf of the committee, and to endeavor that all such transactions are carried out in the committee’s best interests. This record shall be made available to the committee on request. The Treasurer must present an account of said transactions to the AGM.

Position currently held by: Siobhán McGriskan

E-mail: treasurer@irishfreestyle.com

Competitions Officer/PRO

The Competitions Officer shall be responsible for the promotion of competitions, liaising with competition organisers and with the approval of the committee, for preparing a list of suitable ranking events for the selection of the National Team.

Positions currently held by: Brian Cahill and Jackie Fergusson respectively.

E-mail: competitions@irishfreestyle.com, pro@irishfreestyle.com

Training and development Officer

The Training & Development Officer shall be responsible for the organisation of Training and Coaching sessions, and co-ordinate with the committee and the ICU on any site development. The officer shall liaise with the ICU Coaching Officer and the Training and Development Unit of the ICU. He shall assist other developments as deemed necessary by the committee.

Position currently held by: Kim Siekerman.

E-mail: training@irishfreestyle.com

Ladies and Juniors Officer

The ladies and juniors officer shall be responsible for the development and promotion of freestyle kayaking to junior and female members of the kayaking community. Due to the nature of freestyle kayaking it is often less attractive to female and junior members of the paddling public. The ladies and juniors officers’ role is to develop and promote the sport among the junior and female members of the community.

Position currently held by: Gill Crawley

E-mail: landj@irishfreestyle.com

If you want to send an e-mail to everybody on the committee you should send a mail to committee@irishfreestyle.com.

Just to note that these descriptions (with the exception of Ladies and Juniors officer) were taken from the Irish freestyle constitution which can be found in the resource section of the website.

It must be said that a great job is being done by Pete Barron and Shane Cronin who are almost like committee members as they maintain the upkeep of this website. To contact these guys you should mail webmaster@irishfreestyle.com and shane@irishfreestyle.com respectively. They’re more than happy to receive photos of people off in far off places doing all things kayak related. (ok well almost! and preferably freestyle related)

Being on the committee is generally good craic and you get a buzz from seeing it all working after you’ve put in a bit of effort. This year, thanks to the fundraising efforts of previous committee’s (eg. Alan Leonard’s Huck’d™ DVD), we were in a position to finally purchase some equipment for running competitions. We’ll soon have a new shelter complete with Irish freestyle logos to protect competition organisers, judges, scribes etc. from the wind and rain at the various competitions throughout the year. The Great Outdoors have been generously loaning the committee a shelter up until now. We also bought a PA system and generator which will hopefully be used at freestyle events around the country for years to come.

The incoming committee will now have all this equipment at their disposal for running of competitions and freestyle related events and/or training sessions. Its an excellent resource.

All positions are open this year and so far we have had several nominations. If you feel like directly taking part in shaping the destiny of the Irish freestyle scene in this country then send your name into us. All you then need is somebody to second you at the AGM (being a car-owner would also be useful it must be said). I know that in the UK several members of the Freestyle committee is made up of juniors’ parents.  This setup gives the non-parent members of the committee more time to run and organise events during the year. Whatever your background, don’t think that you are not suitable for a role on the committee, get in contact with us and let us know if you have a vision for any of the above roles.

If you don’t plan on going for a committee position then simply sticking around for a bit after the Boater Cross on the day is all we ask.

Regards,

Louis Kelleher

Irish freestyle committee chairperson.