2017 Annual Awards - Club of the Year Awards Part 1

We start to take a look at our finalists for the Club of the Year Awards in preparation for the 2017 Annual Awards that will take place on 25th November, 6.30pm at JetPark in Auckland.

The District Winners for the Club of the Year Awards are as follow:

• Northland - Whangarei Squash Club
• Auckland - North Shore Squash Club
• Waikato - Awards Night Not Happened
• Bay of Plenty - Devoy Squash & Fitness Centre
• Central - Awards Night Not Happened
• Wellington - Tawa Squash Club
• Canterbury - Malvern Squash Club
• Midlands - Temuka Squash Club
• Southland - Makarewa Squash Club

Winners from each of the 11 regional District Associations are put forward as contenders for the coveted National Award, which is aligned with the Squash New Zealand Strategic Plan: 'Squash on the Move'.

When deciding a judging panel considers the contribution to and achievements in the following objectives:

• Participation Growth - increasing the number of people playing and participating in community squash
• International Success - club members achieving success at significant regional / national events
• Welcoming Facilities - improving the condition, accessibility and utilisation of club spaces and places
• Financial Health - governing and managing the club to provide financial sustainability
• Unified Delivery - working with the District and Squash New Zealand to deliver squash in the community

Our first finalist for the Club of the Year is Devoy Squash & Fitness Centre. Devoy Squash & Fitness Centre (DSFC) is currently the largest participation squash club in the country with a current membership of 630 with over 250 of these being Junior’s. An additional 1100 players throughout the year participate in various other activities including Business House, casual visitors, community users and local schools.

The clubs membership has held at over 600 members for the last 2 years with the bulk of new members coming from word of mouth referral from existing members. An on-site professional coach and development officer provides individual and group coaching along with various development programs ranging from Introduction Coaching to High Performance Training Modules.

In July 2017 DSFC co-hosted the World Junior Squash Championships and achieved exceptionally high media coverage and exposure by association with this event. 2017 was also our 50th Anniversary and a reunion was held alongside the World Junior Squash Championships.

The major achievement for 2017 was the co-hosting of the World Junior Squash Championships in July and was the culmination of a 2 year major planning and logistics process. This major WSF World Squash Event significantly profiled squash to our members, the greater squash community both local and international and to the general public with a prolonged and concerted media effort via multiple mediums leading up to and during the event. The event attracted over 10,000,000 impressions via Facebook, over 4,000,000 unique users saw any content associated with the event. The $750,000 budget event boosted the regional economy by $1,000,000. Overall a massive exposure for DSFC and the game of squash.

2017 was the first year in the clubs 50 year history that they won the Cousins Shield. Other members to achieve success included Ben Grindrod selected for the NZ Worlds Men’s Team, Jo Shanks winning a Gold medal in the Australian Masters, Jo Shanks was also a member of the BOP Women’s team to win the National Teams title. This team was further coached and managed by DSFC members Kylie Lindsay & Michel Galloway with Robbie Wyatt as coach of the Senior BOP Men’s Team.

With full time onsite management DSFC is able to fully manage all aspects of financial viability to what has now become a small business with a turnover in excess of $400k and managing a facility valued at $3.2m. A critical component to financial health is the ability to channel surplus funds into a capital reserve account matching annual depreciation. These capital reserve funds ensure future maintenance or expansion activities can be adequately catered for. The club is financially sound and viable and returns an annual surplus in excess of $60k p.a

DSFC works closely with Squash BOP & Squash NZ to deliver events and activity that aligns with their visions. Co-hosting a major World Event was a significant contribution to these goals. DSFC further hosted the NZ Doubles in August and is always looking to host National Events. In 2018 the clubs is hosting a PSA event for both Men & Women. Throughout the year the club fielded a number of enquiries from clubs looking to upgrade facilities and considerable time was spent sharing prior construction experiences and current operational structures to assist in their decision making.

Congratulations to Devoy Squash and Fitness Centre on being a finalist for the Club of the Year Award.