Technology conference boosts community sport

July 1, 2012

Delegates from almost 300 sporting clubs from around NSW have attended the SportsTech 2012 conference and exhibition.

The event, held yesterday (Saturday 30th June) at the Sutherland Entertainment Centre, represented over 50 codes of sport from netball and football: dragon boating to croquet showcasing new technologies designed to help community sports manage their operations. The event was opened by NSW Minister for Sport and Recreation, Graham Annesley who stated "the inaugural SportsTech 2012 Conference is a rare event which will focus on assisting grassroots community sport primarily run by volunteers.

"The community sports sector is the largest volunteer sector in NSW where people of all ages come together, either as players, spectators or volunteers.

"Grassroots sports teach young people vital skills such as teamwork, determination, respect, perseverance and discipline.

"While there are many positive benefits associated with grassroots sports, there are also challenges for those who help run the clubs and provide services to its members.

"SportsTech is a unique conference as it is aimed at helping clubs at this level to use technology which will potentially streamline and help them to be run more efficiently and effectively."

Alex Mednis, Director of event organiser thinkrelativity, added "today is the first opportunity that grass roots sports have had to truly connect with information to help them manage their sport, businesses showcasing solutions to help their sport, and other clubs who can share their experience and expertise.

"There are over 12,000 sporting clubs and associations in New South Wales, and it has been an absolute pleasure to see so many businesses and attendees come today to share their expertise and connect with one another to improve sport state wide."

Guest speakers at the event included:

• Prof. Keith Lyons, National Institute of Sport Studies
• Alex Mednis, thinkrelativity
• Chris Woutersz, Aware Education
• Rex Levi, Sutherland Shire Junior Water Polo Association (SSJWPA)
• Nadia Di Lorenzo, yogabody
• Kerry Turner, NSW Department of Sport & Recreation
• Kelly Dowling-Jones, Clayton Utz
• Jeff Vlahovich, Cancer Council NSW
• Assoc. Prof. Paul Jonson, UTS
• John Reid, Australian Drug Foundation
• Joshua Sprake, SSJWPA

Exhibitors included NSW Sporting Injuries Committee, Wholesale Trophies, thinkrelativity, ezidebit, Australian Lifesaving Academy, Australian Sports Commission, BillBuddy, D-Fence Mouthguards, Mr Scoreboards, Hot Designs, Coca-Cola, Goodbuddy Sports, Elastoplast Sport, Light Magic Electronics, UTS, Quick Response, Teresa Simonetti Photography, mobiPOST, eDebit, ACPE, SSJWPA, Futsal NSW, Futsal Plus, St John NSW, NSW Department of Sport & Recreation and Good Sports.

The event also heralded the launch of revolutionise, a sports management solution that allows sport to manage their competition effectively and intuitively. Built by a team with backgrounds in computer science, design and grass roots sport administration, revolutionise has been developed to be as easy as possible for clubs to use, while still being powerful and highly customisable something that has long eluded the sporting community.

Organisers thinkrelativity plan a SportsTech conference in Melbourne in 2013.

For more information contact Alex Mednis on 0425 251 204, E: alex.mednis@thinkrelativity.com.au, http://syd.sportstech.com.au/

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