Finalists Announced in Inaugural Award

Squash NZ are delighted to announce the finalists for the inaugural national Volunteer of the Year Award.

This award, being presented for the first time this year, will be made annually by Squash New Zealand and recognises outstanding contribution from a volunteer, to the sport of squash within New Zealand over the previous year. The initiative aims to encourage clubs to recognise their volunteers and provide an opportunity to do so.

Three finalists and a winner have been selected by a judging panel and the winner will be announced at the Squash New Zealand Awards Ceremony on Friday 30 November in Auckland. The winner will be awarded a trophy and will receive a Visa Prezzy Card voucher to the value of $200.

This award was run in collaboration with the Squash Districts, most of who ran their own Regional Volunteer of the Year Award to select regional finalists to be nominated for the national award. Clubs were asked to nominate volunteers whose contribution set them apart from their peers, in areas such as administration, promotion, membership initiatives, club maintenance and other general roles.

The three finalists are, in alphabetical order

• Christine Barnett (Mitchell Park and Squash Wellington)
• Deb Boyd-Collins (Devoy Squash and Fitness Centre)
• Simon Flett (Squash City Invercargill)

Christine Barnett has achieved a lot within her Lower Hutt club, Mitchell Park as statistician, midweek ladies convenor and junior convenor. In addition, she also plays an active volunteering role in the District, particularly in the area of junior development. In the words of her club and district, “Christine has continued to work tirelessly for the benefit of all squash players in Wellington”.

Deb Boyd-Collins’ club have recognised that her time spent engaging with the members, organising women’s squash events, as a mentor, involving the club in community activities and general promotion of the club are “a great example of how much one person can accomplish as an impassioned volunteer”.

Simon Flett, “a true icon of our sport in Southland”, has many roles at his Invercargill club, including coaching multiple players and teams, running club competitions and organising Thirsty Thursday. His role as Tournament Controller lead to a very successful South Island Open which received letters of praise from NZ’s top players.

Squash New Zealand would like to congratulate all those volunteers you on their nomination for the National Award and thank them for the hours of volunteer time that they contributed to the development of our sport. And would like to extend special congratulations to the three finalists announced.

The Regional Award winners and National Award nominees were:

• Northland: Greg Clarke
• Auckland: Hohaia whanau
• Waikato: Annette Houghton
• Bay of Plenty: Deb Boyd-Collins
• Central: Mike Jack
• Eastern: Wayne Kempton
• Wellington: Christine Barnett
• Canterbury: Wayne Seebeck
• Midlands: Karen Gawn
• Otago: no nomination received
• Southland: Simon Flett