Today I had the great pleasure of performing Master of Cermony duties at the 2011 Medibank Active Tasmania Awards in Hobart.

There was a high number and standard of entries in this year's awards and the judges had a difficult job selecting the winners in each category.  It is great to see so many innovative, interesting and fun physical activity initiatives that promote and encourage Tasmanian's to be active and healthy as part of everyday life. 

Well done to all the entrants and congratulations to the Triabunna District High School for taking out the overall award for this year.

Well done to Kristy, Michelle, Joy and the team from Premier's Physical Activity Council.  It was a pleasure working with you and a great event.  Thank you also to Medibank, the naming rights sponsor for the seventh year running.

It's not too early to start thinking about entering a physical activity initiative into the 2012 awards.  Check out the website for more information:  www.getmoving.tas.gov.au

The winners in each category for 2011:

Local Government - City Award:
-    Winner:    Burnie City Council,  The Burnie Challenge

Local Government - Other Award:
-     Commendation:    Kingborough Council, Retired Not Expired
-     Winner:  West Coast Council, Renovate and Create for increased Sport and Recreation Opportunities.

School or Group of Schools Award 
- Commendation: Don College, the Kakka Challenge
- Winner: Triabunna District High School, Living and Learning on the Coast

Community Organisation Award:
- Commendation: ParaQuad Association of Tasmania, Sport for Everyone
- Winner: Tasmanian Bicycle Users Group, On Your Bike!

Collaboration and Partnership Award:
- Commendation: Clarendonvale Primary School and Bellerive Police and Citizens club
- Winner: Cradle Coast Authority, Cradle coast Healthy Communities

Judges Awards:
- Whole of Community Award: Circular Head Council
- Innovation Award: General Practice South
- Diversity Award: Claremont College
- Encouragement Award: Tascare Society for Children and TADTAS

Move Well, Eat Well Award: Clarendon Vale Primary School

For a number of years now I have been a presenter at the annual Tasmanian Olympic Council's Pierre De Coubertin Academy.  My role is to provide an overview of the Paralympics and what better way than to proivde the students with the opportunity to try first hand 3 of my favourite Paralympic Sports:

- Goal Ball
- Seated Volleyball
- Boccia

It's always great to see the students and parents getting into involved with the activities and this year was no exception (despite the very wet and sloshy synthetic turf!)   While we did have a lot of fun I hope that the students took away a bit of new knowledge about the Paralympics and some ideas for running inclusive activities in their schools and communities) 

Since 2006 I have had the opportunity to be a guest presenter at Rotary's annual RYPEN seminar.  This year the seminar was held on Tasmania's East Coast and co-ordinated for the first time by the Rotary Club of Spring Bay.

The theme this year was "Your Future Your Choice" and included guest speakers Stuart Clues and Chris Edwards as well as mentors such as Julie Kent. 

Over the course ofthe weekend RYPEN aimed to deliver the following outcomes for the participants:

- Increase motivation and improve life skills
- Improve self esteem and self confidence
- Provide an understanding and awareness ofthe importance of setting goals
- Improve confidence in overcoming fear of failure and take control of their future

My presentation focused on the importance of goal setting and how "stretch' goal setting helped me to stay focused, committed and motivated - especially when things weren't going to plan!   During the presentation I asked participants to identify their own goal statement for this year and to choose how they were going to celebrate their milestones once achieved.  To help create a committment to their goal, the participants were asked to write down their goal statement and hand them to the Rotary Club to look after until the end of the year.   At the end of the school year, the Rotary Club will send the statements to the participants to check how they went.

This year the Rotary Club will be conducting follow ups and provide support and mentoring for the participants with the aim of helping the students put into practice what they have learn over the weekend.

Well done to Spring Bay Rotary for another successful RYPEN seminar!

Tonight I visited Scottsdale as a guest of the Scottsdale Business and Professional Women's Club.  It was quite a special occasion in the Club's calendar where a candle  is lit for each countries involved in the association and I feel quite privileged to have been invited to attend.

BPW is quite a large international organisation with clubs in most States and Territories.  The vision of the organisation is "To be a globally recognised organisation promoting development, education, training and mentoring for all women".  The Scottsdale Club is Tasmania's only BPW club and is very active.  Times are pretty tough in Scottsdale and it's great to see the Club playing such a strong support role in the community. 

Thank you to the members, especially Rae, for the Club's hospitality and for an enjoyable evening.  Scottsdale is really starting to feel like my second home! 

Had a lovely morning attending the Craft Corner meeting as their guest speaker today.  This is the 15th year that the group has been together and has grown to now boast more than 100 members (94 of whom attended today's meeting).  I believe that the group has had to move to a bigger venue to cater for the numbers at each meeting!   Not only is the number of members impressive, so to is the interesting range of crafts represented.  I just think it's great idea and I can see why it's so popular.  It was a great group to talk to and it's certainly inspired me to get out the knitting needles!

Today, I attended the launch by the Premier, Lara Giddings of Tasmania's Plan for Physical Activity 2011 -2021.  It was an excellent turn out for the launch and great to see so many people joining the Premier for a walk before a healthy lunch...

The plan can be downloaded at (well worth a look!):
Physical Activity Plan 2011 - 2021

Today I had the great pleasure and honour to officially open the first ever Swimming Carnival at Newstead Heights College.  The carnival was held at the School pool (which is a lovely pool!) and included a a range of fun events and races and some fantastic half time entertainment.

The opportunity to participate in school sports programs is important for students with benefits such as improved self esteem and self worth and better health.  It was fantastic to the students having an opportunity to participate in their very own school swimming carnival for the first time.  There were some close races and everyone who had a go should be very proud of their efforts.   

The most impressive part of the day was the fact that the carnival was planned by Dana, one of the students.  Dana put a lot of work into the carnival and it all went really well.  Thank you also to the supporters in the water, the teachers and family members and friends who came along and cheered the students on.