General Manager's Report
Welcome to our Spring edition!
Has Spring really arrived? Flowers are out but it's so cold! Well, at least in Melbourne. Hope you are all doing okay with our lives still managing the lockdowns in some State / Territories while others are doing okay. A difficult time, especially for sports when many sport events have been quite limited in the last two years.
As always, this newsletter is full of interesting developments, not only from myself but from our whole team. We now have 6 paid staff at Deaf Sports Australia! And hopefully soon, another one in Western Australia.
Enjoy the news and stay in touch.
Phil Harper
General Manager
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DEAF SPORTS AUSTRALIA'S NEWS |
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Updates
Many of the work done at Deaf Sports Australia includes the following:
- Contact and discussions with national sport organisations to improve relationship and support for our deaf and hard of hearing sports people:
- Touch Football Australia
- Bowls Australia
- AFL
- Cricket Australia
- Tennis Australia
- Cycling Australia
- Basketball Australia
- Athletics Australia
- Providing support and advice to all those associated with the 2021 Australian Deaf Games
- Negotiating with Sport WA, a funding agreement WA in alliance with West Australian Deaf Recreation Association (WADA)
- International Deaf Sports discussions about the 2022 Deaflympics, International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD), Asian Pacific Deaf Sports Confederation and other developments
- Sport Australia and Sport Integrity Australia discussion to make their information and policies accessible, including Auslan translation
- DSA 2021 - 2022 audit preparations now completed
- Oceania region - Oceania Rugby and support for a new deaf rugby program in PNG and recently a Netball Australia on a netball development program in the Pacific
- Regular chats with our NDSO members including a recent Zoom meeting to catch up on what’s happening in deaf sports.
- DSA and AFL conducted a survey to investigate deaf and hard of hearing Australian's participation and interest in AFL. 75 responses were received which provided excellent information for a funding submission to Sport Australia's Participation grant program. If successful, DSA will partner with AFL to improve access to and support AusKick, staff awareness of inclusion practices as well as piloting an AFL Deaf Program.
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2022 Australian Deaf Games'
Update Report
Planning is progressing very well, with many of our discussions with our key partners being positive and supportive of the Games.
We have an updated list of current sponsors and key partners available in our button below.
The Games website is also full of information including the latest sports program schedule that now includes chess and walking netball. The Social Program draft has been embedded into the site with a great and varied selections of events that can be enjoyed by a large cross-section of the Games attendees.
The ADG volunteer applications are being reviewed for coverage and gaps - the GOC volunteer coordinators will be providing ongoing updates to the database over the coming weeks.
Garry West-Bail
Project Manager
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New staff welcomed
by Deaf Sports Australia
Deaf Sports Australia welcomes a new staff. Rosalie Kassulke is working part time as a Finance Officer and started in July. The team is pleased to have her experience, knowledge and enthusiasm on board.
The last few months has been about managing funding agreements with various Federal and State governments. Deaf Sports Australia is pleased to say they are almost done with only one to go.
An exciting development is in Western Australia where DSA / WADRA has recently received State Sport Association status, which means funding to have staff and sport programs in Western Australia can be applied. This will mean DSA now have agreements in 4 States.
DeafACT have a sport program agreement for a 12 month project in the ACT, which hopefully will continue.
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Exclusive interview with Olympian Meg Harris
Upon her return home with a Gold Medal and a new World Record with her relay swim team, Meg Harris were interviewed by Deaf Sports Australia's selected hosts.
They are Board member Hannah Britton and Deaflympian Alex Kirchner.
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Annual General Meeting
6th November 2021
The 2021 Annual General Meeting will be on Saturday 6th November 2021. It will be via Zoom only and both Auslan interpreters and captions will be provided.
The Annual General Meeting, which will include a member's forum with two important topics. One will be where members will vote on a recommendation about the Australian Deaf Games and its future.
Further details of the AGM has been sent to all our members. If you are interested in attending our AGM via Zoom, keep an eye out for an invite on our Facebook site.
To all our National Deaf Sport Organisation and State Deaf Organisation members - please lock in this weekend to attend the AGM.
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Deaf woman awarded for her distinguished services
in deaf sports
On Queen's Birthday in June 2021, Melburnian Anne Bremner AM was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
She is recognised for her "significant service to people who are deaf or hard of hearing through sporting associations."
Deaf Sports Australia organised for Deaf Netball Australia's Marnie Kerridge to host an exclusive interview with Anne Bremner.
Read about Anne Bremner's life here. Click on the button below to see a video interview between Anne and Marnie.
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Individual grant opportunity now available at Sport Australia
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Organisation grant opportunity now available at Sport Australia
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Deaf Sports Australia has a number of social media channels. Please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn to stay up to date. |
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Julie Lyons
Sports Development Officer
Deaf Sports & Recreation Queensland
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Regional Tour
Mackay & Townsville regions
We've been busy with the regional tour in July which was fantastic. We visited sporting organisations / clubs, schools, and the deaf communities in the regional – Mackay and Townsville.
From 20th - 22nd July, we visited to watch our players at the Multi-Disability Lawn Bowls where our deaf players from Mareeba, Cairns, Townsville, Toowoomba, Brisbane including Gold Coast, gather in Mackay (QLD). These players did really well and some of them won some trophies. Congratulations to everyone who participated in this competition.
We also visited various organisations – Hearing Services, sport organisations, local sport clubs and schools. We also visited many schools to meet the deaf and hard of hearing students who loved playing sports. I ran our Active Deaf Kids' program in these schools and they loved it.
These students have the potential to be great sporting athletes of Australia.
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Sporting events
We've also been busy with organising our annual event (Deaf Sports Day) earlier this month. We had over 82 from 11 different schools, in attendance - it was one of the largest numbers we've ever had since 2008.
We will be busy again for next month's event – an annual Deaf Futsal Gala on Thursday 14th October. This sport is for all schools to participate to compete with other schools. It will be fun to watch the students get serious they did last year. No doubt, they'll come away with new friends.
We also working with various state sporting organisations to organise their programs such as Diving Clinic, Auslan Footy program, and Tennis.
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DSRQ Futsal Gala Day
When: Thursday 14th October 2021
Where: Hibiscus Sports Complex, 90 Klumpp Road, Upper Mt Gravatt
Time: 9am - 2.30pm
RSVP: 4th October 2021
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Toowong Hearts and Hands Festival
When: Sunday 10th October 2021
Venue: Toowong State School
Time: 10.30am - 6pm
All deaf sports clubs will be there to promote their clubs as part of Australian Deaf Games. If you want to be a part of the QLD Team for the Australian Deaf Games, please come to find out more about their clubs.
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Diving Clinic
It has been a popular activity for our deaf young children trying out this water sport - Diving in the past. This year was a difficult time for us to organise the clinics due to snap COVID-19 situations.
Diving Queensland has decided to run the diving clinic for deaf and hard of hearing children again for this year, hopefully in October. The date will be decided soon.
Please contact Diving Queensland directly for the registration.
Event: https://www.divingqld.org.au/events/
Date: TBC
Where: Sleeman Sports Complex
Time: 1.30pm - 3pm (check in by 1pm for registration)
The clinic will be held at Sleeman Sports Complex.
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Deaf Sports Awareness Training (DSAT) - all sport clubs
Julie has organised DSAT to Tennis clubs at Tennis Queensland (Tennyson) early this year which was great. They have learnt Auslan in sport. They also learnt how to communicate with deaf people through the Deaf Deaf Sport World workshop for 45 minutes. It was an enjoyable workshop.
Julie will organise another DSAT session to any sporting organisations. For more information, please contact Julie Lyons by email: qld@deafsports.org.au.
If your organisation want to learn Auslan and understand deaf sports, please contact Deaf Sports Australia by email: info@deafsports.org.au.
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Jesse Cattach
Sports Development Officer
Deaf Sports Recreation Victoria
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Victoria saw itself go into lockdown twice since the last edition. As a result, many of our plans has to be cancelled.
The Primary and Secondary Deaf Sports Days have been cancelled until further notice.
Deaf Sports Recreation has also recently collaborated with DeafVictoria and participated in workshops with Parks Victoria, sharing input to help develop Victoria's community engagement plan for their Disability Action Plan.
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2022 Australian Deaf Games
Preparation for our Victorian team heading to the 2022 Australian Deaf Games has started. We also would like to thank the following organisations for their sponsoring;
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Echo interpreting was established in February 2006 with the aim of providing a more personalised interpreter booking agency to service the needs of the Deaf and wider community.
As part of an on-going commitment to customer satisfaction and professional integrity Echo Interpreting only employs NAATI certified interpreter/s.
Echo interpreting is a specialist in the field of Auslan interpreting and endeavours to meet the individual language requirements for each of our clients by adhering to our core values: – Personalised, Professional, Prompt, Preferred.
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Expression Australia’s purpose is to empower Deaf and hard of hearing people to connect, contribute and participate in the wider community in all aspects of their life.
Since 1884, as an iconic and progressive community organisation, our service delivery and supports continue to evolve and adapt to the changing needs of our Deaf and hard of hearing people.
We’re very involved with our Deaf community and have been a long time sponsor Deaf Sports Recreation Victoria and we’re extremely proud to be a major sponsor of the Australian Deaf Games 2022.
Check out our website to see our bi-lingual and multi-cultural in action.
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Word of Mouth Technology is Australia's leading supplier of assistive technology for Deaf and hard of hearing people. We are proud to sponsor the 2022 Australian Deaf Games.
Founded in 1993 by Bob and Bette Willis our company is proudly Australian owned and operated.
We are the Australian distributor for Bellman & Symfon including the popular Bellman Visit Alerting system. Our business can help you with technology needs anywhere around Australia.
We wish all of the competitors, volunteers and organising committee the very best for this event and cannot wait to see you all there in Newcastle 2022!
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In October 2020 Deaf Services Limited and the Deaf Society officially merged to form a new entity - Australia’s largest provider of whole-of-life support for the Deaf, hard of hearing and deafblind communities.
With shared history, vision and strengths, as well as over 200 years of proven community support, Deaf Services and the Deaf Society stands with the Deaf community, delivering services in Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory, and the Northern Territory with Auslan interpreting services delivered nationally.
Deaf Services and the Deaf Society is proud to be the major sponsor of the Australian Deaf Games 2021, and the sponsor of many of the teams attending.
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Deaf Community Sports Day
A Deaf Community Sports Day is planned for Sunday 28th November at Hay's Paddock. Preparations are still being completed including possible COVID-19 restrictions. More information will be provided on our Facebook page. It will be wonderful to see everyone there.
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Lauren Townsend
Sports Development Officer
NSW Deaf Sports
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New South Wales has been in lockdown for over 13 weeks now. Obviously, the majority of these school students were home-schooling and with NSW schools closing itself to the public, our Active Deaf programs were also put on hold. This means we are now working from home until restrictions lift. Our time are spent on answering enquiries and taking video calls from the deaf community, getting involved in meetings, doing administration work and more importantly, getting everyone ready for the 2022 Australian Deaf Games.
As a mum at home, this meant juggling the multiple roles of being a teacher, a mum and a staff. But my boys have been absolutely amazing and we even fostered a beautiful dog to keep the boys entertained in this challenging time. Kiara (the dog) enjoyed being my office buddy and she was also my excuse to go out for walks. She has been adopted by a wonderful family. We now have a Bull Arab cross in our foster care. We all adore her!
I'd like to use this opportunity to praise the efforts shown by the Committee of NSW Deaf Sports. There is great leadership, humility, excellent transparency and communication and they get the work done. I do not wish to take credit for the work of NSW Deaf Sports - it is these people working in the background. Being a volunteer can often be a thankless role but these people really need to be acknowledged for their unity moving forward. My sincerest regards also goes to those who volunteered at NSW Deaf Sports in the past.
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New clubs join NSW Deaf Sports
Before I started working at NSW Deaf Sports, there were 11 clubs with us. We now have 16 clubs affiliated. The following listed are our new club Members:
- Auslan on Wheels (when our previous Chair and Secretary were on the Committee)
- NSW Deaf Futsal
- Deaf Mountain Biking NSW
- Deaf Table Tennis NSW
- Deaf Rugby NSW
No doubt the number of sporting interest has grown due to advancing technology, more awareness of deaf sports and especially of the 2018 Australian Deaf Games having had a positive impact, making people looking forward to the one coming up next year.
Being of NZ descent, I am particularly excited for the Deaf Rugby NSW. Since announcing their affiliation, they attracted a lot of interest as well. I sincerely hope other states/territories will follow suit!
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New polo design revealed
for the Australian Deaf Games
Credible Clothing is a sportswear business based in NSW. We approached them and asked if they could design a NSW polo with an Indigenous feel.
According to the Aboriginal designer, the dot artwork on the side represent a collection of campfires and an additional design (not shown) on the back of the polo resembles paths between communities.
Note the logos belonging to our sponsors has yet to be added. This part is a work in progress.
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2022 Australian Deaf Games:
our first Sponsor
Interior Woodworks Pty Ltd is our first sponsor (Bronze) and NSW Deaf Sports wishes to thank them for their generous support.
Interior Woodworks employs deaf staff, including a drafts manager and a cabinet maker/installer.
The business pride itself in providing top quality interior woodwork in commercial and residential buildings.
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Events upcoming:
- Deaf Sports Gala Day - 27th November 2021
This is currently being planned. Clubs are expected to run stalls and host their sports there, with activities throughout the day ranging from family fun activities to actual deaf sports games for spectators to enjoy. NSW Deaf Sports will also be selling BBQ to help fundraise towards their 2022 Australian Deaf Games (ADG).
- Filming Opportunity - Date TBC (possibly December)
Depending on the current climate, one of our sponsors (Silver - TBC), is very interested in helping us promote our NSW teams going to the 2022 ADG. There is discussion that their photographer will likely attend the Games.
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International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD)
In the last few months, Deaf Sports Australia shared information and updates through our multiple social media platforms. We are frustrated that the Deaflympics has been moved three times (from December 2021 to May 2022 and now to November 2022).
The current ICSD Board is split and has no elected President since Kang (Taiwan) resigned in 2020. The current vice-President Gustavo Pezzarolo, from Brazil has broken away from the other five elected Board members that include Rebecca Adam. Pezzarolo declared himself acting President and the current secretariat (paid staff) has sided with him.
This also led to the confusion about the Brazil Deaflympics which Pezzarolo, despite conflict of interest, managed to organise a Games Organising Committee to hold the Games in December 2021 only later to change to May 2022. This was not supported by the full ICSD Board. Last May, without any formal notification, the Organising committee disbanded. The Brazilian Deaf Sport Organisation decided to step in and re-work organising the major event for Rio de Janiero in November 2022. They received support from the 5 elected ICSD Board members.
The Board of 5 are supporting an ICSD Congress to be held in Rio de Janiero in late November.
DSA and member countries are receiving emails and information from both sides of the ICSD Board claiming they 'are the legitimate’ Board. Both have also organised separate Congresses!! Confused enough? We are - and at this point in time we are supporting the Board of 5 elected members who have liaised with IOC for advice and also from an esteemed ICSD honorary member, Donalda Ammons.
Donalda as a past ICSD President and honorary member (including during the 2005 Melbourne Deaflympics) recently wrote to the ICSD members recently raising serious concerns about how the ICSD is managing their responsibilities. Here is her observation of ICSD:
ICSD’s Positive Achievements since early 2020 (+)
- Hosting several World Championships in 2021
- Qualifiers in several sports for 2021 Deaflympics
- Celebration of ICSD’s 97th birthday
- 4 active Associate Members
ICSD’s Missed Opportunities:
- No face-to-face Executive Board meetings since December 2019
- Inactive Commissions
- Legal Commission
- Anti-Doping & Medical Commission
- Athletes Commission
- Sports Commission
- Women in Sport Commission
- Eligibility & Audiology Commission
- Award & Recognition Commission
- Disciplinary Commission
- Games Preparation Coordination Commission as ad-hoc (since 2015)
- Discharge of ICSD Sport Reform Commission (work still incomplete since 2009)
- Inadequate Communication from the Secretariat - due to limited English?
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Not yet restoring IOC Patronage (lost it in 2019 Winter Deaflympics - Italy)
- Selection of 2023, 2025, and 2027 Deaflympics
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Restoring IOC funding failure
DSA will keep you closely up to date as we try to work through this unfortunate situation and hopefully we can get back to showcasing the best of deaf sport internationally. If the Deaflympics plan to be located in Rio de Janiero is confirmed, we will advise and the DSA Board will consider whether to send an Australian team.
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