Celebrate our winning of the Australian Sailing (QLD) 2021 "Club of the Year" award

RSVP

• 3 November 2021 (please REGISTER)

Schedule

• 5:00pm Drinks and opening remarks
• 5:10pm Congratulatory speech from dignatories
• 5:15pm BBQ and more drinks

Food and beverages

• First drink for members free
• Sausages for members free
• Gourmet Hamburgers $5

Australian Sailing citation of SBSC's "Club of the Year" award

"South Brisbane Sailing Club has seen a near tripling of their membership and they are still growing. The club is alive and buzzing with racing, training, and volunteering and has a fantastic 'all of family, all of club, all of community’ feel. They provide boats for new participants to use and boats for seasonal charter at low rates to help people with limited finances to join in the fun.

There is now oversubscribed activity on multiple days of the week including after school weekday training. SBSC discuss inclusiveness with a critical eye as an agenda item at regular committee meetings. They work on encouraging every member of the family to participate in some way. They provide a welcoming environment to anyone interested in enjoying time at the club.

The last 12 months have been the culmination of a great deal of planning, thought and effort. Their membership was small and shrinking, and they recognized as a management team that they needed to react or risk troubled times. They decided that all aspects of the club needed to be analysed leaving no stone unturned. They needed new members and that was to be achieved by redefining the way the club was managed and what it offered as a sailing venue for current, and new participants. Too much was falling to too few.

All members of SBSC are now effectively volunteers, and everyone is allocated a task. The theme was that everyone in the club had a role to fulfill and something to contribute no matter how small. Volunteers that go above and beyond are regularly acknowledged and celebrated and there are opportunities to upskill and train volunteers provided, often free of cost to the volunteer.

With all the changes and refinements, the public offering was undoubtedly new, fresh, well supported and run with skill."

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In announcing the win, SBSC President Robert Preston said the award was for all of us because of its inclusive and welcoming approach to our sport. Robert quoted Matt Carrol, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Olympic Committee who has said that all sporting success, even to Olympic level, grows out of grassroots activity.

Our club’s efforts, from Junior Learn to Sail to our Club Championship series are a shining example of this philosophy.

So take a bow, every one of us!