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PRESIDENT’S REPORT
In 2020 I suggested that if that year had been called ‘challenging’ it would have been an understatement. In retrospect the challenges of 2020-21 made the experience of the previous year almost palatable. There was a time whereby the lockdown separated Wollongong and Shellharbour from Kiama, Shoalhaven and Wingecarribee and physical interaction was no longer possible. The necessary restrictions imposed in order to manage a global pandemic in our midst has severely curtailed the opportunity for face-to-face contact between Academy staff and our scholarship holders.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2021 AGM
However, necessity is the mother of invention. Much of our educational content on the wide range of subjects we deliver has been placed online. Whilst we were able to deliver a good portion of strength and conditioning as planned, staff have delivered many outcomes by electronic means. Academy coaches have employed similar educational techniques to facilitate remote learning opportunities. The Academy is indebted to its staff, led by CEO John Armstrong, in endeavouring to deliver a meaningful scholarship experience to the scholarship holders of 2021. Supported in his role initially by Athlete, Coach and Program Manager Dane Robinson and followed in January 2021 by Scott Hatch in the same position following Dane’s departure to Brisbane. Scott is a highly credentialed educator and coach who has added value to all our program offerings. Mitchell Nielsen completes his third year as the Academy’s Head of Performance and welcomed part-time Strength and Conditioning Coach Bradley Genova to assist the team. The Strength and Conditioning team, supported by a bank of casuals, were highly mobile, travelling around the region to conduct sessions in the several councilprovided facilities as well as sessions
ILLAWARRA ACADEMY OF SPORT ANNUAL REPORT
at the Academy’s headquarters at the University of Wollongong. We are all indebted to communications and marketing staffer Emily Robinson who effectively lubricates the link between the Academy, its athletes and the community and drives content on the Academy websites and social media platform and the Academy’s regular newsletters. I particularly extend my thanks to each of the highly accredited squad coaches, assistant coaches and managers for your endeavours throughout the year. I am sure that each of the 300 plus athletes who undertook scholarships this year have substantially benefitted from your knowledge and experience. This was evident in our athletes’ performances in the 2021 Your Local Club Academy Games, held in the Hunter in April. IAS athletes performed creditably, and their behaviour and attitude were exemplary. OLYMPIANS AND PARALYMPIANS A highlight of the year, and some might say the events that have made the latter months bearable have been the delayed 2020 Olympics and Paralympics held in Tokyo, Japan. The Illawarra Academy of Sport had several former scholarship holders in Australia’s Olympic and Paralympic teams. Olympians Emma McKeon (Swimming - 4 gold, 3 bronze); Blake Govers (Hockey – silver); Flynn Ogilvie (Hockey – silver); Sarah Carli; Jye Edwards; Sally Fitzgibbons; Ellen Perez; Grace Stewart; and Kieran Woolley. Paralympians Jasmine Greenwood (Swimming – silver) and Brett Stibners. Each of our athletes performed with distinction, with several winning