The 2022 Perth Redbacks AGM was held on Thursday 1 December, at Blasta Brewing in Burswood.
There were three items on the agenda:
1. Ratification of 2022 AGM Minutes
A resolution that the Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 1st December 2021 was accepted.
2. Treasurer’s Report
The 2022 PBA Treasurer, Rob Pyne, presented an overview of the performance for the 2022 financial year. It was noted that the 2022 Audited Financial Statements will be made available on request to Rob.
3. Appointment of Office Bearers
The Constitution of the Perth Basketball Association requires all positions be vacated annually. Before the 2022 AGM, nominations were called for all Board positions. At the 2022 AGM, the following Office Bearers were elected unopposed:
- President: Anthony Nixon
- Vice President: Amien Sym
- Treasurer: Rob Pyne
- Secretary: Jennifer Saliacus
- General Directors:
- Kelly Exeter (Communications)
- Nathan Barns (NBL1)
- Adrian Warner (WABL)
- James Elder (Domestic)
- Simon Woods (Commercial and Sponsorship)
PBA would like to congratulate and thank the 2023 Board Members for their past and upcoming service to the club. PBA would especially like to acknowledge the service of outgoing directors: Sue Hosken, Paul Philpott, Lyndon Brieffies and Karlie Mucjanko.
The AGM concluded after the above, and a General Meeting was then held at which Anthony Nixon presented his President’s Report for 2022. Here is that report.
2022 President’s Report
Thank you for the opportunity to provide the President’s Report on behalf of the Board of the Perth Basketball Association.
I would like to thank the Life Members and the wider club for their incredible support of the board this year.
I would like to thank my amazing board for their support, but also their willingness to challenge me and each other as a board as we strategise and guide this club forward.
The key message of my President’s report this year is that our club is in a great position in all four key areas of focus that I first identified as priorities when I took over as President 8 years ago:
- Financial diligence and financial stability
- Our future and where we will be in 5 years.
- Processes about how we make decisions and run the club
- Club culture and how we treat each other and talk to, and about each other
10 years ago, when I first joined the PBA Board, basketball associations were relatively simple entities able to be run by volunteers and part-time staff. At that time, our club was managing approximately $350,000 in revenue (a quarter of the current size), and we had one part-time staff member. We had approximately 13 WABL teams and 80- 90 domestic teams.
Today, basketball associations are multi-faceted businesses requiring strategic vision and focus across many areas. They require sophisticated communications and marketing as well as stakeholder and political relationship building.
Running them requires a complex blend of paid and unpaid staff, catering to both the professional and amateur athlete across the full spectrum of abilities from entry-level to high performance.
In 2021 the board took the huge step to appoint a full-time CEO in Lyndon Brieffies. The huge growth we experienced in 2021 was a testament to the impact that Lyndon made. It was inspiring to see the way we were able to hit 2022 (post covid) at full pace.
With Lyndon’s short-notice resignation and departure to Brisbane for family reasons, we had some very challenging months as a board and as a club. We had set plans and structures around Lyndon, and when this changed, we had to reset many things.
After a thorough recruitment process, we identified and appointed a new CEO, Ryan Lenegan. As any good new CEO does, Ryan brought a strong strategic and operational focus to the club and challenged us all about structure, operations, staffing and strategy.
The result was a busy year that has put us in a wonderful position for the future.
Key to this year has been a better understanding of the strategic areas in which we operate and what our key priorities in these areas are:
Participation
- Grow the PBA footprint in schools and LGAs
- Create a yearly schedule of club programs for all ages and demographics
- Support community programs through community coach acquisition and upskilling
- Community activations, supported by NBL1 players
Competition
- Domestic competition – growth, sustainability, aligned to values, professionally managed
- WABL competition management – delivering a great experience
- NBL1 game night – increase attendance, grow income, provide a great experience
Development
- PBA players are developed in alignment to the five pillars of Redbacks basketball
- PBA coaches are developed in alignment to the five pillars of Redbacks basketball
- PBA officials (refs/scorers) – and their recruitment, education, retention and recognition
Performance
- Development alignment with all areas of the club
- NBL1 performance measures – culture, results
- Support and development of coaches
- Support and development of officials
Commercial
- Merchandise
- Branding
- Canteen
- Communications
Governance
- PBA board members are strategic in their management of the association, upskilled in their abilities and adhere to standardised processes.
- PBA staff are clear on expectations, collectively and individually, and upskilled in their ability to exceed these expectations.
- Affiliates, including domestic clubs, are aware of and supported with governance requirements.
Facilities
- Current facility arrangements are maintained and leveraged.
- New facility use to support growth is researched, considered and finalised
- The home of the Perth Redbacks is confirmed via community consultation, political lobbying and financial sustainability
Given the strong financial position (cash position) that the club is in, the board made a very clear decision to invest in a staffing restructure to set ourselves up for the future.
This would also allow the board to continue to become more strategic as the staff took on more operations.
The key areas of investment were:
Domestic Competition – dedicated Competitions Manager with the appointment of Harrison Marino.
NBL1 – Dedicated Commercial, PR and Events Coordinator and additional significant investment in our game night experience with the appointment of Amy Osmond.
Participation – dedication participation officer (Austin Clarke) who had an amazing year. When Austin resigned to move to Canberra, we were able to replace him with two amazing humans in Lucy Dowling and Denzel Jackson who are now Participation Officer – South and Participation Officer – North, respectively.
Player and Coach Development with the appointment of two more amazing people in Michelle Fletcher and Ron Flores as Heads of Basketball (Women’s Program and Men’s Program). This has been something the club has been working towards for years, and it is so exciting to see these roles formed and happening.
Facility – a significant investment in a 180-page feasibility report that has allowed us to have very constructive conversations with state and federal governments.
Many of these changes have only been finalised in recent months, but with the focus and dedication of Ryan, they will deliver strong outcomes in the months and years ahead.
I will now briefly cover some of the successes in our key areas:
Participation
- Largest ever school delivery program – more than 3,800 participants in our primary school programs.
- Introduction of the PBA Basketball Careers Program – upskilling of high school-aged students in playing, coaching and refereeing
- Community programs across the LGAs of South Perth, Victoria Park, Belmont, Canning, Perth, Vincent
- Sustained Aussie Hoops participation – second largest provision of Aussie Hoops (Basketball Australia’s official junior development program for 5–10-year-olds) in the state
- Employment of two dedicated Participation Officers (North and South) to continue to grow the outreach of our programs.
- Dozens of new Community Coaches, casually employed by the association in the delivery of our programs.
Competitions
- Largest ever winter domestic competition (151 teams, 1200+ participants)
- Largest ever summer domestic competition (251 teams, 2000+ participants)
- Revamped domestic by-laws, following domestic review consultation
- 29 WABL teams with an average of 14 home games per week during the season
- Establishment of referee pillars (Recruitment, Retention, Education, Recognition)
- Employment of a dedicated and full-time Competition Manager, ensuring ongoing improvement to the quality of all competitions
Development
- Investment in dedicated Heads of Basketball who will deliver:
- Yearly player upskilling schedule, from domestic through to NBL1
- Small group opportunities for upskilling, in a performance-setting (academy)
- Establishment of coaching resources – aligned to the Perth Redbacks Pillars of Basketball
- Individual coaching plans and upskilling
- Targeted coaching identification for development programs WABL / State Champs
Commercial
- Sponsorship revenue maintained in 2022, anticipated significant increase in 2023
- Several new sponsors confirmed for 2023, including NBL1 naming rights and key hospitality partner
- Ongoing improvements to communications across domestic, WABL and NBL1
- NBL1 – 400 average attendance, new record attendance of 612 for our game against the Rockingham Flames
- New records in gate takings and bar takings
- Investment in Commercial, PR and Events Coordinator
Governance
- PBA Board conducted significant strategic work to achieve new structure
- Improved board reporting and governance processes
- Expanded staffing footprint to achieve the strategic plan
- Completed domestic review and phased implementation of outcomes
Facilities
- Expanded usage to 42 different venues across the year
- Average of 24 locations every week
- Strong and public support from the state government (Hannah Beazley, Geoff Baker, Cassie Rowe, Samantha Rowe, Minister Templeman)
- Ongoing support from Zaneta Mascarenhas, including attendance at NBL1 games
- Strong community network support including Curtin University, Como Secondary, Kent Street High, Reds Volleyball, Wesley College
- Ongoing constructive discussions at all levels of government for a new facility
- BWA have declared PBA as the next cab off the rank for govt funding.
To go back to the original four areas of focus I speak to each year:
- Financial diligence and financial stability: We have a strong board with good governance, the best budgeting and financial control in the clubs history and a strong bank balance
- Our future and where we will be in 5 years: We are actively putting ourselves out there in every conversation about new facility. We have strong relationships with local, state and federal members and we are in the middle of complex discussions involving $30-50m!
- Processes about how we make decisions and run the club: We have good people that have stepped up in key roles. Processes across the club have never been more transparent and our communications are now recognised as best practice on many levels (especially WABL).
- Club Culture and how we treat each other and talk to, and about each other: I want to summarise that ‘Club Culture’ for the purpose of this report is how we all work together to create a safe environment as we deliver a ‘great basketball experience’. This year it has become increasingly clear that one of the biggest risks and challenges we face as a club, and our whole sport faces together, is recruiting, training, and developing and then keeping our coaches and referees engaged in our sport and willing to continue to do the very important roles they perform. Together we are a community of humanity and as such none of us are perfect. We will make mistakes and sometimes from the many perspectives within the club – referees, coaches and even the club may get things wrong. It’s important to remember that our culture (who we are) is defined at the very moment when we may think others are not perfect or have made a bad decision and how we react (and how we treat others) in that moment!
This year our club has taken some very clear and strong positions around the way we expect our coaches and referees to be treated … and on behalf of the Board, we make no apologies about this stance.
As a board and as a club, will continue to identify and challenge combative, critical, and divisive behaviour and stand up to any behaviour that challenges our SAFE club. Ultimately, we all want everyone to have a great experience, and I am proud to see the amazing progress we are making every day towards this.
I again want to thank each and every one of you for your commitment to making this year one of our best ever.
In closing, I will say that I sometimes hear the line, “This club is not like it used to be.” People who say that are right. It’s not!
Our club has changed so much in only a few years. 4x growth in 7-8 years is insane! Basketball is going through incredible growth, and other clubs are also growing fast and becoming more and more professional.
I’m so proud that our club has been in the position to INVEST in our future with the right structures and staff to meet that growing demand, and all supported by amazing volunteers, a diligent board and a great club who continue to work to ensure we can all have a great experience in a safe environment.
Thank you for your support in 2023 and here is to great success in all programs in 2023.