Old Salty, our Retiring President Nominated for Sport & Recreation Victoria Award

If for some reason you’ve been under a rock these past few months you may not have heard but our former esteemed leader has retired from the presidency.

As the clubs foundation leader the  committee thought long and hard about a fitting tribute to ‘Old Salty’ as he takes up a newly formed position on the IWC committee as past president, aiding new president Kato to steer the club off onto bigger and better things.  Now we thought of all sorts of things, an award for continuing to set the standard for best catapult – week in/week out, an award for person to spend the least amount of Time On Water at club events due to not shutting up (geez he can talk!!)!!  But no, none of these were sufficient.

So instead, we’re proud to announce that we’ve nominated Doug for the following:

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Doug’s nomination is in the category: 2013 Community Coach, Administrator, Referee or Official of the Year.  We were asked to answer three questions in 200 words or less.  Following is our submission to Sport & Recreation Victoria on why we think, Doug ‘Old Salty’ Hocken should be the 2013 Community Administrator of the year:

A. Briefly describe the nominee, their involvement in sport and recreation and why they have been nominated for this award?
Doug Hocken is the Inverloch Windsurfing Clubs foundation President.  Windsurfing is traditionally a nomadic and socially isolated sport, through Doug’s leadership and determination, an idea that was just thrown around and joked about on a sand bar in 2007 has grown into the formation of a windsurfing club that is recognised as the largest and most established in its governance structure in Australia.

What separates Doug from other Administrators is his passion and advocacy for our sport – in particular the IWC and further, the town of Inverloch – our location of Anderson Inlet.  Doug has tirelessly promoted our club worldwide, through this we’ve had Inverloch recently rated within the top 50 flat water locations for windsurfing in Surfer today online magazine (http://www.surfertoday.com/windsurfing/9199-the-best-flat-water-spots-in-the-world).  Last year, Doug secured Guy Cribb the worlds best instructor from the UK to run clinics for the IWC, and having loved the place and the club so much Guy is coming back for the 2013-14 season.  Finally our crazy winter event, the Brass Monkeys challenge, which through Doug’s promotion went viral and our video ended up on air on ABC2 and News24 TV network, as well as online in Boards Magazine: http://boards.mpora.com/news/brass-monkeys.html

B. What makes the nominee unique and special?
Sacrificing his own time on water, Doug ensures he speaks to every person, member or not, about what is happening around the club, and most importantly with that particular individual.  he has worked tirelessly behind the scenes, at the sacrifice of his own business and time with his family, promoting the joys of windsurfing to the broader community.

Ensuring the sustainability of our club led him to oversee the decision IWC made to buck the trend and affiliate with Yachting Victoria (a recognised SSA) rather than Windsurfing Victoria and the Australian Windsurfing Association (as unrecognised SSA/NSOs).  This led to the club having support to establish a development stream for our members and has opened the door to grant & funding opportunities that otherwise would not have been available.

His voice as an advocate has seen the IWC represented in discussions with local & state water-use management policies, as well as securing access to 24/7 public liability insurance which our sport hasn’t had access to for over a decade.

Whilst Doug’s work goes unrewarded in terms of material benefits, his nature allows his reward to have been the establishment of a successful sports club that he is immensely proud.

C. How has the nominee been a role model and had a positive influence on others?
Doug has been an exceptional foundation president.  Under his leadership he has set high standards for the administration of the club.  he has provided an opportunity for committee members to develop their individual management and leadership skills in areas such as risk management, event management, public relations, training & development as well as media promotion.

Under his leadership the IWC has been proactive in trying to set best practice examples to other clubs in the region by:

  • Signing up to VicHealth’s Healthy Sporting Environments program;
  • Actively worked with GippSport’s AAA program in providing opportunities for people with disability to try windsurfing;
  • Encouraged & mentored female participation on the club committee and encouraged these individuals to successfully run a ‘women on water’ day trying to increase the percentage of female members in the club;
  • Been successful in attaining Bass Coast Council Community Grant and a VicHealth Active Club Grant to purchase specialised equipment to enable our beginner members to improve exponentially under the club’s coaches.

Doug’s legacy with the IWC will be one of striving to achieve high standards around participation and developing a welcoming environment within the club that will see the IWC flourish into the future.

NOTE: This morning 8th Nov we have received an email from Sport & Recreation Victoria:

Thank you for submitting a nomination for the Victorian Government’s 2013 Community Sport and Recreation Awards.

We received 200 nominations across the seven Award categories and the difficult judging process of selecting the winners and finalists is now underway.

The Awards will be announced at a ceremony to be held at the MCG on 4 December 2013.  We will be contacting all finalists in the next few weeks with invitations to attend the night.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to recognise and encourage significant contributions made by Victorians in shaping our community sport and recreation landscape.

 Regards

 Susan George

Director, Community Sport and Recreation, Sport and Recreation Victoria

Fingers crossed, lets hope Old Salty gets the recognition he deserves!!  Better keep that night the 4th Dec free Doug, because if it was up to us, you’d be a certainty!!! Congratulations Doug!!!