Northern Ireland CEO Report

Director’s Report for Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland Powerlifting Federation (NIPF) has seen positive growth on many fronts in the last
year. From increases in membership, to progression down the national and international athlete pathways,
to increases in the quality of our competitions, the NIPF is extremely proud of the hard work that all our
volunteers have put in to deliver such a successful year. There's been a lot of focus on the importance of
volunteering as of late, with good reason, because volunteering is the lifeblood of our sport. With around
50% of our membership volunteering, it's incredible encouraging to see so many people willing to give back
to the sport. From spotting and loading, refereeing, running the admin table or the MC, providing
commentary on the livestream, setting up and tearing down at venues and more, we wouldn't be able to do
any of this without you all. So, a heartfelt thank you to everyone who volunteered this year.

With only half the year through, our membership has already matched that of the previous year, and we're
on track to exceed that, with three popular competitions still to open for entry. While the last year hasn't
been without its challenges, overall participation in local competitions has seen an 18% increase. The
growth in local competitions has also shown new talent come through, sending our largest number of
athletes (35!) through to British national level competitions. This has also helped facilitate a record number
of 13 athletes being selected for the GB National team, sending them to international competitions in
Poland, South Africa, Lithuania, Czechia and Finland. In the NI Team, the squad showed up, placing third at
Home Nations, and fielding a strong team for the Small Nations Championship in Luxembourg. Many
athletes were selected for their first international with Team NI and we're eager to see them take to the
platform again later this year in Canada.

We're incredibly proud of everything that our members have achieved this year. For a relatively small
federation, we're making ourselves known and showing off everything that our region has to offer.

We've developed strategic partnerships with local councils, charities, gyms and businesses and forged a
closer relationship with British Powerlifting. All this has helped us begin to scale up and provides us with the
resources, funding and expertise to provide even more opportunities for our members. Even better than
that, it has helped us give back to our local communities, running fundraisers, and even raising over £2,200
in a single event!

We provided opportunities for 14 coaches to achieve their Level 1 British Powerlifting qualifications and
welcomed 11 new divisional referees into our ranks. It's been a couple of years since we last offered Level 1
qualifications and we're hoping to be able provide this more regularly moving forward. Likewise, on the
refereeing front, we're eager to focus on upskilling and developing our referees and helping them progress
down the pathway to achieving national referee status.

Our financial position remains strong this year. Despite inflationary pressures across society, thanks to
careful cost controls and developing new income streams from our strategic partnerships, we have made
sure to be able to continue to operate and also reinvest back into growing the sport, improving what we
have to offer our members and elevating the standard of our competitions. Of note, we've made particular
steps to improve our livestream this year and it shows - with viewers watching our streams for longer.

Finally, a thank you to the tireless work behind the scenes of our committee. From late nights and early
mornings running equipment around the country to set up for competitions; completing paperwork, policy
documents and applications to try and provide more opportunities for our members; and, planning and
execution of the strategy to grow our sport in Northern Ireland, thank you.

In closing, there's been a real feeling of growing our community in the last 12 months. I'm exceptionally
proud to be a part of it, and I'm excited to see how our federation grows from strength to strength over the
next year.

Josh Bell