BKSA AGM Minutes

Agenda:
• What we do
• Board Members & Team
• What we do
• Memberships update & overview
• Accounts update
• Training overview
• Youth Kite & SUP Tour
• Youth Olympic Games
• Disabled Access Course
• New Junior Scheme
• Events overview & BKC
• Clubs
• New Association Partners
• Membership fees
• 2018
• Any other business & questions

Attendees:
Andy Gratwick
Will R
Phil R
Steph Bridge
Chris Johnson
Lewis Crathen
Craig Smith
Lizzie Byrnes
Bradshaw

Late arrivals:
Harry calvert
Rou chater

Information of the clubs accounts we laid out in the room for people to view

What we do:
Andy introduced the BKSA and explained its role is to promote and sustain kitesurfing, to support and inspect training and schools and to organise national events. Furthermore, to make sure all safety, instructor/student ratios etc are being maintained and up held to a high level at all times and to promote the sport across the UK and further.

Membership update and overview:
Andy detailed there are 4000 + members
43 schools
26 clubs
1060 instructors

Will- Further explained that the BKSA has brought in partners such as Blue Fin for insurance and Nelson, Quay Crew and Burn helmets would all give discounts to BKSA members.

The BKSA Committee were introduced alongside the Training team.

Committee:
Chairman- Will Richards
Andy Gratwick
Dan Charlish
Steph Bridge
Pete Stephens
Richard Stoneman – Finance
Training Team:
Andy G – day to day
Louise- membership
Jim Gaunt -media
Rosie- Graphic design
Richard Stoneman- accounts
Robbie- IT
Craig, Will, Robin, Russell, Ned, Ali and Brad- Events
Andy, Jon, Will, Eric, Jason-Events
Louise/Nicky- Dry Land Events
Blue fin – Insurance

Membership:
Andy shared that membership was at 3968 and has risen over the last 3 months and that its at + 36 members from previous years. However, it is still low and it should be going up by 5 %- 10 % a year. He thinks this is happening because people forget to re-new their memberships and do not respond to e-mail or phone call reminders/ updates.
It was the view of the room that more should be done to promote the benefits of membership to others such as blue fin insurance discount for example.

Actions-
• To create a direct debit payment system in order that existing members can renew their membership annually more easily.
• Inform members of the extra benefits to membership such as discounts from Nelson, Burn and Quay Crew.

The association has a 3 year fixed deal with Blue fin but needs 500 members for it to work, so the association does not make a further loss.
Steph- Raised the fact that having a family membership should negate the need to send out 4 different whole packs of the same information to the same family, and that by not doing so this could save the BKSA money year on year.
Will- In response, detailed that in a recent survey of what the members wished for, they actually wanted the whole individual information pack. It was suggested that flyers from Steph and Lewis for example were maybe added for an extra more interesting dynamic on the packs sent to members.
Steph- Suggested that when you join the BKSA, you should have a drop down menu to click to show what school recommended you to the BKSA. As an example, they select Edge Watersports, then Edge would get a 5% discount off next year’s BKSA schools fees for a certain amount of recommendations. This is to encourage kitesurfing schools to promote membership of the BKSA to students.
Will- Informed everyone that the old membership system is not sustainable and that the BKSA are moving to a package deal.

Actions-

BKSA membership system to be updated.
A drop down menu should be added to the membership internet page in order that members can select in which kite school they trained.

Finances:
Finances were shared and it was explained that the BKSA has been running at a loss for a third year running. The ball cost £9000 and the events cost appx £11000.
Andy shared some examples of sponsorship packs to everyone to show what will be pitched to councils over the UK to help sell/ promote kitesurfing. It is suggested that some funding should come from them for some events and not all from the BKSA finances.
Stepth- Recommended lots of smaller events across the clubs that may lead to larger national events.

Actions-
• To pitch to councils for events ie the BKC tour etc to reduce the BKSA’s losses
Training:
30% of instructors are valid and active with a total of 1060 instructors trained.
The new level 2 qualification is more accessible to up-skill current instructors in 2018
More advanced coaches are now trained and certified
43 kite schools in the uk
News kite schools this year are Ocean High and The Hoxton Special
Land kitesurfing has dropped off and no power/landkite kite courses are being asked for except by the Military.
BKSA/BSUPA Youth and Sup tour:
In Spring 2017 over 1000 children were given a free kite or SUP lesson in 8 locations across the UK funded by the Armada Trust.

Olympics:
Steph – Explained that 1 boy and 1 girl, aged 15-17 yrs old, from each country, up to a maximum of 12 boys and 12 girls in total can take part.
Qualification for the Olympics starts in Feb in Morocco followed by Brazil.
You must use only registered equipment.
If you do qualify then you might get support from Sport England but until that point there is no help from the UK at all. Other nations are offering support funding before this point.
This is the last youth Olympics
The BKSA have tried to run a series of twin tip racing/ boarder x events to build numbers and interest in competing.

Accidents:
NO major accidents have been reported this year
Fortunately, only a few deaths have happened within the UK and all in similar conditions i.e. unexpected gusty conditions. This has raised the question of do the BKSA need to do more to educate less experienced kitesurfers who would attempt these conditions? As a suggestion, magazine articles maybe the best medium.
International safety systems have now been brought in with the support of the BKSA.
The BKSA is now the biggest governing body for instructors across the UK and internationally.
Andy detailed the new inspection process of BKSA toward kite schools, which is random spot checks on windy days. Out of these checks, so far 90% of schools have upheld the standards and rules. 10% received a disciplinary and a re-inspection. It was detailed that schools only have three strikes and then they are banned from being a BKSA recognised school and have to close.

New Youth Scheme:
Youth kite tours will continue next year due to its growing interest.
The BKSA explains the new youth scheme to everyone in the room showing the instructor information as teaching children is different.
Everyone was informed that licences are needed to cover teaching children and that 5-6 schools are getting money off their BKSA fees to use to run children’s coaching. Schools have to show what they are doing to prove they are worthy of the funding.
Andy- Suggested more coaching and that education needs to be given to children before attending the tour ie the Jo Willison clinics this year.
The question was asked how do the BKSA get funding? Will UK Sport help fund these clinics?

Actions-
• Gain more sponsorship for such events
• Find more funding routes
• Look in to Sport England funding
Disabled Access Course:
Andy detailed that the BKSA have introduced 8 disabled people into kitesurfing and ran a weekend in Poole with Access Adventures and a number of different disabled adults attended. 3 persons then went to Greece to carry on kitesurfing and two BKSA instructors who did the training in Poole also went with them. Plans are to carry this forward to 2018.

Actions-
• Organise disabled kitesurfing day with Access Adventures for 2018

Events:
The BKSA have supported and organised many national and regional events such as Legend of the bay, Edge Cup, PKA buggy racing Europeans, BKC Freestyle Tour and Wavemasters.
Club events such as BPKC,SPKA and Lancing.
Events has been running at a loss for 3 years.
It is projected that in 2018 the BKSA will break even on events due to sponsorship and location choices.

Clubs:
All re-affiliation of clubs has now been fully completed
26 clubs nationwide are affiliated
All subs and refunds are now to be paid quarterly
Clubs are receiving a fair rate for race kite to run club events

Actions-
• To grow more support within clubs and to get more clubs affiliated
Fees:
The BKSA membership fees will increase every two years which is a 3% increase which makes a single membership £42. This is due to no membership increase since 2016.
Action-
• To set new membership fees up on the system accordingly.

Where is the BKSA heading?
Most kitesurfers in Britain are insured and with the upgrade of the BKSA renewals system and direct debit options this should over-come the slow growth of memberships.
The BKSA will continue to support events and gain stature. In previous years, short falls by finding suitable sponsors and locations to hold these events are to gain maximum revenue.
The BKSA will support the European Buggy Racing Championships
The BKSA will continue to offer good value memberships with extra customer benefits by building on its partner relationships.
Kitesurfing is a growing sport and is now more inclusive with the likes of the Youth Olympics and its activities with Diverse Abilities.

AGM ended 1 hour 17 minutes.