C entre Newsletter

1. Visit our WEBSITE: www.portlandlittleaths.com.au Centre Newsletter Royal Children’s Hospital Appeal… Little Athletics Victoria is a major sponsor for the Royal Children’s Hospital, which we all know, does an amazing job for the children of Victoria. Each Centre is asked to make a donation to this appeal, which is presented to the Good Friday Appeal by the Centre raising the most money. There are also other centre prizes that can be won. As a Centre we feel it would be a nice gesture to make a donation so on the 21st February we will be doing a LAP for the RCH appeal. We would ask that as many members / parents and visitors as possible participate and walk a lap. There will be tins to make a gold coin donation. Thank you so much for your support of this amazing Hospital. Finally You will have noticed just how fantastically well the timing gates and software worked this week. This is how we always knew they would operate, so all well that ends well! Thank you to the Deb’s for their persistence; we finally found the intermittent problem that had been causing us so much grief! No more upgrades! This software is provided to us by LAVic as part of our affiliation and it is still being developed to incorporate new ideas each Centre has. Timing Solutions have provided fantastic support and it looks like we are now On Track! Congratulations….. To all the children who did PB’s last week. There were a total of 193 PB’s last week, which is incredible. Keep up the great work guys. The track is fast and you have the opportunity for lots more before the season is out! Walkers It was fantastic to see the improvement in our RACEWALKING this week. We are still only giving points for this event but our technique has improved dramatically. It is fantastic to see our younger walkers competing with the older children in the 800mW. Newsletter 7 - Season 2012/2013 Page: 1 of 4

2. Visit our WEBSITE: www.portlandlittleaths.com.au Centre Newsletter Welcome We have had 3 new members join since the Christmas break. We would like to welcome Dodga Anderson to the Under 6’s, Maya Gallagher to the Under 7’s and Riley Gallagher to the Under 8’s. We really hope you enjoy the rest of the season. Don’t forget guys, it is coming up to school sport time so it’s a fantastic time to practice each of the events. Our additional members bring our numbers up to 123 this season from 82 members last season, a 50% increase. That is amazing and we really appreciate your patience while we have learnt to cater for the much larger groups. It will be interesting to see how many other Centres in Victoria have had such a large increase in membership. . Training Just a reminder that we do offer training on a Monday night from 5-6pm and all athletes are welcome. Mc Donald’s Achievement Award Last weeks award goes to an age group…the Under 6’s, for having a go at the scissor kick for high jump. There is a huge amount that goes into doing a high jump and the Under 6’s made a fantastic start last week. Well done Guys. This week it goes to 5 athletes who all achieved 5 PB’s this week. Well done to Nathan Malady, Emma Warriner, Jesse Victor, JaydonHoggan, ZacHopgood and Angus Simpson- what an incredible effort. Centre Visit Some of you may have seen 2 people walking around with a clip board this week. They were Judy and Fred Wilmshurst, these people have been involved with LAVic for more years than they care to remember. We were audited as a Club for how we followed procedures and how we were doing! We met all of our requirements with flying colours, so well done to all the parent helpers. Newsletter 7 - Season 2012/2013 Page: 2 of 4

3. Visit our WEBSITE: www.portlandlittleaths.com.au Centre Newsletter Regional Championships Regional Championships are being held in Warrnambool on 23rd and 24th February.This year we have our largest team ever competing in the Regional Track and Field Championships. We have 36 athletes competing. On behalf of the whole Centre we would like to wish them the best of luck, have lots of fun and let’s bring home a bag of medals. We will have results in the next newsletter for you all to see. Each of the parents of the attending athletes will be required to do some duty at the event, a roster will be emailed to you this week. A big thank you to John Cramp and Deb Sanders for taking on the roles of Chief Officials at this meet for the Portland Duties, also to Con Driscoll and Michelle Simons who are acting as Team Managers. Committee Member Profile The committee member profile this week is Mark McIntyre, he is our President and also manages the Javelin and Vortex, so you will have all met Mark. He is the quiet achiever!! Mark gets all the behind the scenes stuff sorted so that we are able to access additional money from LAVic. He sources Sponsorship from local businesses, which is invaluable to the everyday running of the Centre. He also keeps the Committee Meetings organized and running smoothly. Mark has done this role now for the past 3 years and seen the Centre go from strength to strength. Harry McIntyre in the U13 boys is his son, and celebrates 7 years in Little Athletics this season. Canteen Again a huge thank you to all the parents and athletes for the fantastic support of the canteen. This is our major fundraiser for the year and your support is excellent. This is how we do things like new sand in the pit and the cover for the jumping pit, which keeps most of the sticks and leaves out! Now we are saving for a second discus area next season to speed things up at this event, as our numbers in some of the age groups make it a bit of a bottle neck! Newsletter 7 - Season 2012/2013 Page: 3 of 4

4. Visit our WEBSITE: www.portlandlittleaths.com.au Centre Newsletter Sponsor Focus The sponsor we would like to highlight this week is Elijah’s Sportspower. A big thank you to Bruce and his Team for their ongoing support of the Portland Little Athletics Centre. Please chose Elijah’s Sportspower for all your sporting equipment needs. You can find Elijah’s at 69 Bentinck Street, or you can phone them on 5523 1464. Store Opening Hours: 8am – 6pm, every day. Newsletter 7 - Season 2012/2013 Page: 4 of 4