Waverley Little Athletics Centre Inc.

Family, Fun and Fitness since 12 November 1968
Victoria's Premier Grass Track

Profile

Steven Lopes

Steven Lopes OAM is a Life Member and Past President of the Waverley Little Athletics Centre Inc., and a Life Governor of Little Athletics Victoria. He is also the recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia. Steven was the 22nd Centre President and has been involved for 22 years, making him one of our longest serving volunteers in the history of our Centre.

22nd Centre President
In office
2003 - 2005

Vice President Ken Knight (2003-2004)
  Vacant (2004-2005)
Preceded by Ed Chinery
Succeeded by Lindsay Harrison

Waverley Little Athletics Centre Inc.
Steven and his family joined the Waverley Little Athletics Centre during the 2000/01 season. His involvement commenced the first week that his children participated, with his first duty raking the Long Jump pits. The following week, he took on the role of High Jump Manager and continued in this role for the remainder of the season. The following season, Steven took over as the U9 Age Group Leader.

Although his tenure on the Committee was short, Steven made a significant contribution, implementing and changing the structure of the Centre, ensuring all Committee Members were fulfilling their roles properly and adding extra activities to the calendar. He joined the Committee in 2002/03 as the Region Delegate, which involved attending SMR Delegate Meetings on a monthly basis and reporting back to the Centre; Team Manager, which involved managing the affairs on behalf of the Centre at all Region and State Championship events, organising athletes, relay teams, entries and fees, parents and information, general and key official duties, arriving at each venue at 6am setting up and packing up the Waverley tents and equipment; and Leader of the "Monash Athletics Facility" Sub Committee, tasked with looking into the use of a new facility due to the significant impact of the drought.

At the 2003 Annual General Meeting, Steven was elected Centre President and served for 2 years. As President, Steven and his team spent countless hours making great changes to the Centre, some of those achievements were: increase in registration numbers, obtaining new Sponsors, reviewing and updating the outdated Centre Constitution, boosting the Centre's coaching profile, holding extra fundraising activities such as the Trivia night, organising the Inaugural Waverley Open Day and winning the VLAA Top Centre of the Year. In addition, he would arrive at 7am every Saturday morning to set up the venue, fill in any gaps or positions required on a week to week basis and ensure that everything ran smoothly. During the Cross Country season, he would arrive an hour early each week to set up the Waverley tents, banner and chairs, all for the Waverley parents to take shelter from the rain and cold weather.

Steven stepped down as President and from the Committee at the conclusion of the 2004/05 season to make way for the next generation of parents to run the Centre. He continued to volunteer at the Centre on a weekly basis in various roles, primarily as Discus Manager from 2005/11 and as a Relay Coach, coaching several teams to the top 8 at the State Championships, including several Gold and Silver medals. He also volunteered at the annual Waverley Open Days and represented the Centre at Association Gala Award Dinners and special events. 

Steven dedicated 8 years his time as a "once off" Key Official and mentor to assist other Centres Open Days or Championship Days. 

For his many years of Outstanding Service to the Waverley Little Athletics Centre Inc., including his services to the Region and State Association, Steven was awarded Life Membership in 2008/09. 

Southern Metro Region (SMR)
Steven joined the SMR Committee in 2004/05 as Controller of Officials and in conjunction with his roles at Centre level, he volunteered as a Key Official at all Region Championship events. He has been involved at SMR for 16 years, attending and sometimes chairing Executive and Delegate Meetings, seeing many changes to how the competitions are conducted, held several Committee and Key Official roles and is still an active volunteer.

Steven has held several Committee positions at SMR: Controller of Officials from 2004/06, responsible for organising Key and General Officials for each Region Championship event; Organising Secretary from 2006/14, responsible for organising the administrative side of Championship events which includes processing entries, creating timetables, printing all necessary paperwork and attending the yearly Region Organising Secretary meetings at LAVic; Vice President from 2011/14, an Executive position to assist the running of the Region; Assistant Competition Secretary, assisting the Competition Secretary with the administrative work in the lead up to Championship events. 

Not only has Steven held several Committee positions within the Region, he has also held the associated Key Official roles, most predominantly Chief Communications, to execute his responsibilities at each Championship event, which includes Relays, Track & Field and Cross Country. This also includes giving up his own time in the weeks and days prior to events, attending the venues, planning, setting up and picking up equipment. Steven runs his own business and as a result, he has only missed a small number of these Region events due to his work commitments. In addition to all other responsibilities, Steven stored the SMR equipment at his warehouse for 7 years and maintained the asset register. He made 800 cross country course flags and, on numerous occasions in his spare time, he set up and tested the Photo Finish equipment with SMR, LAVic and the Photo Finish crew. This initiative ensured that the equipment was tested prior to its use and everyone involved was sufficiently trained.

When Steven stepped down as the Organising Secretary at the conclusion of the 2013/14 season, he offered his support to train someone else into the position and continued on the Committee as the Assistant Competition Secretary from 2014/17. This position was only filled during the 2016/17 season, therefore Steven essentially remained the SMR Competition Secretary, executing the responsibilities of this role, including all planning meetings, organising equipment, paperwork, timetables and technology.

Eastern Metro Region (EMR)
Waverley temporarily moved from SMR to EMR from 2009/11, as part of LAVic's Region re-structure. Steven officiated on behalf of Waverley LAC at the Eastern Metro Region Relays both years, which took place the day after SMR Relays. 

Little Athletics Victoria
Steven commenced as a Key Official in 2007/08 forming part of the Photo Finish crew. He was a valuable team member, stood out to LAVic, progressed very quickly and was appointed Chief of Photo Finish in 2009. Prior to each State Championship, Steven often dedicated his Thursday and Friday, attending the different venues to set up and test the Photo Finish and computer equipment. In the event that there were any issues with software or equipment, Steven and his team would stay up the night before the event, well past midnight, fixing these issues. Half of these events were held at Country venues, such as Moe, Bendigo and Shepparton and they would be fixing issues from their motel rooms.

At Championship events where Photo Finish isn't used, Steven is appointed as Chief Timekeeper or Place Judge, mostly as the Cross Country events. Steven has been involved at State level for 13 years and is still an active volunteer. He also formed part of the LAVic Region Planning meetings, Strategic Planing meetings, Appeals sub-committee meetings as an SMR representative. 

Little Athletics Australia / Australian Little Athletics Championships
Steven was a Key Official when ALAC came to Melbourne in both 2009 and 2014 and was instrumental in running Photo Finish. He was even considered and offered the opportunity to officiate at ALAC when held in one of the other States, but Steven declined due to other commitments. 

Honours and Recognition
Steven Lopes is well respected throughout the Little Athletics Association. He has a calm nature and is dedicated to getting his job done in an efficient manner. Although his children finished Little Athletics in 2007/08, Steven remained dedicated to volunteer at all levels of the association, Centre, Region, State and National Championship events. For his extraordinary effort, Steven won the VLAA Official of the Year award in 2007/08.

On a number of occasions, Steven has been nominated for LAVic Volunteer of the Year.

In 2013/14, Steven was awarded the LAVic Distinguished Service Award, in recognition for his continued support to the Association. He was the second Waverley volunteer to receive this award.

Steven was bestowed Life Governor of Little Athletics Victoria in 2015/16, in recognition of his extensive contribution to the Association at all levels. He was the second Waverley volunteer to receive this award, 31 years after Bruce Reynolds was honoured in 1985.

Honour Board

Qualifications & Courses

Centre Involvement

Outside Centre Involvement

Region Involvement

State Involvement

National Involvement

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Steven Lopes, Dylan Cooper & Nicole Lopes
26/10/13

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Steven Lopes & Gordon Loughnan
LAVic Life Governor Presentation
2015/16

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Stephen Whitehead Life Membership Presentation
With Life Members Steven Lopes, Dylan Cooper (President) & Mal Walker
2017/18

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WLAC Life Member Steven Lopes, President Dylan Cooper & Life Member Nicole Lopes
Waverley Open Day
2014/15