History of Australian Calisthenic Federation

ACF History

The formation of the Australian Calisthenic Federation in August 1987 was long delayed. The Federal Government had taken up the active promotion of sports in Australia several years before, and provided funding to sports which until then had never received any external support. To be eligible to seek such funding, a national organisation in the sport must exist, which could only be formed from the union of existing State Associations.

Calisthenics at this time could boast State organizations in several but not all States. CASA - the Calisthenic Association of South Australia – was the oldest, founded in 1928; CAWA – The Calisthenic Association of Western Australia - followed in 1956. In 1978, Calisthenics ACT Inc (CACTI) was formed; in 1983, the Northern Territory Calisthenic Association was incorporated. Following its formation in 1990, the NSW Calisthenic Association Inc. became affiliated with the ACF, followed by the Queensland Calisthenic Association in 1990. Sadly, the presence of calisthenics in Tasmania was so slight that this State has never had a State organization or membership of the ACF.

The delay in union was the result of difficulties in Victoria. Although the State with the greatest and earliest concentration of calisthenics, the sport in Victoria had grown without any over-arching central organization. Centered on individual Clubs, and focussed by the great Royal South Street Competitions at Ballarat (begun in 1903), the Clubs for years saw no need for a State organization. The Victorian Calisthenic Teachers’ Association (VCTA, now the Victorian Calisthenic Coaches’ Association) was the nearest thing to a State body, but was beaten to the position by a new group, the Calisthenic Association of Victoria, which registered itself at the State body in 1975. Moves to create a national body were thwarted for a decade after this, because the CAV did not have the full support of Victorian calisthenic Clubs and teachers, and CASA would not involve itself without this. The problem was solved when the CAV was transformed into Calisthenics Victoria Incorporated (CVI) in 1986.

The formation of the ACF followed swiftly. Meetings held in September 1986 and February 1987, saw the unanimous determination of all existing State bodies, plus representatives from those States without an Association yet, to unite nationally. Under the interim leadership of Bill Scott from South Australia, with Jennie Price as Secretary, work was at once begun on the creation of a name, a Constitution and an agenda for the work of the new body. In August 1989, the Australian Calisthenic Federation was born.

The delegates saw it as the ideal group to create a common base for calisthenics in Australia, especially through centrally-developed and monitored pupil and teacher training programs, and Calisthenics would have access to Federal and State Government sports funding through the Federation. There was concern amongst long-time calisthenists at the idea that calisthenics was a sport and its teachers were coaches. To these women, calisthenics was an art form, like ballet. But it undoubtedly carried the hallmarks also of a sport: it required physical training to fit teams for competition as well as recreation. To achieve national recognition and government support to develop calisthenics, it was necessary to use the language of sport: and so it was.

In 1987, some 25,500 participants were engaged in calisthenics: South Australia – 7,500; Victoria – 8,000 registered but 16,000 participating; Western Australia – 1,300; ACT – 430; NT 300, with small numbers in NSW, Queensland and Tasmania. Australia-wide, there were 636 locally accredited coaches, and 337 in training.

The first task for the new ACF was to set up a structure to allow its work to be done. A Council, of an equal number of delegates from each State, plus the Executive, would meet a few times a year to determine policy and processes to further calisthenics in Australia. This decision was far from easy, as the larger States, Victoria and South Australia, felt that their views should carry greater weight, given their long history and experience in the sport and the numbers of participants involved. Yet the future of the sport demanded that “big powers” should not dominate decision-making. There was a great willingness for the ACF to succeed, and the two States accepted the same representation as the other States. This principle of equity continues today.

The new body had to set up, and learn how to use, communication channels – between its Executive and State delegates, and between the ACF and the State Associations. These in turn had to communicate with their constituents, the Clubs. Without good communication, the ACF would fail. There were many difficulties in the early years to get this right.

Before government funding could be accessed, the sport had to demonstrate that it was truly national by meeting particular government requirements. These were: a national body must be formed from at least three State Associations, and there must be a national coaching program, with standardized pupil skill requirements, along with a national competition and a system of adjudication. The first requirement had been met. The second was the key task of the new body.

National Championships
The first National Titles were held in 1988 in Adelaide, and were the first real evidence that calisthenics could be a national endeavour. Held in Adelaide, the competition involved all States and Territories except Victoria, which joined the competition the following year. To make up for that, Victoria is now the only State or Territory to have competed at all Nationals since then, but at the time, Victoria had no experience at all in creating a State Team, and was itself in process of developing its State Association, CVI.

Two matters have caused debate. The inclusion of Sub Juniors (from 1996) was complicated by the policy of the South Australian government that there should be no competitive sport for young children at all, but the section was introduced. More difficult was the debate over whether to hold the Championships every year, or bi-annually. The huge expense, and the difficulty of mounting teams annually gave strong support to the biannual argument, but when in 1992 the National Championships were not held, the consequences of discontinuity the following year were great. In two years, experienced organisers found it was as difficult to recreate systems and processes as when the competition first began. Competitions have been run annually since then, but not all States and Territories have entered every year, either at all or in some age groups, making the competition at times sadly small.

The National Coaching and Pupil Skills Programs, and National Adjudication
The new ACF formed three Councils in its first year, to meet government requirements and establish its national identity.

From 1988, the Australian Coaching Committee lead by Jan Ulseth from CASA, and then Judith Baird from CVI, met to work towards establishing a national coaches’ training process, and were so well advanced that in 1990, the ACF was admitted to the Australian Coaching Council, the same year that the Federation was accepted as a member by the Confederation of Australian Sporting Groups. Calisthenics was further acknowledged as a sport by the AIS and the Sports Commission by 1991. The ACF was commended for its professional approach, which signaled that it was serious in working to improve the sport nationally. In developing Levels which Coaches need to achieve to become fully accredited, the Committee built on the best of the several systems then operating in the States. Level 0 was defined in 1990, and Level 1 the following year, and were duly accredited by the government. Level 2 was added later.

The Australian Coaching Council now conducts regular Coaching Conferences for Australia commencing in 1998 in Victoria, then in ACT in 2004, and in 2008 in Adelaide.

The formation of the Australian Pupil Skills Committee, lead by Victoria’s Margaret Lingham, was a much simpler affair than the creation of a Coaches’ training program, since a national body already existed which had created a national Pupil Skills Program. This was the Australian Society of Calisthenics, founded by Victoria’s Diane Synnott in 1980, to create and maintain a standardized examination system for participants Australia-wide. The ASC system was well-developed and universally accepted by the time the ACF was created, and there was a smooth transfer of the program from the ASC to the ACF. The State and Territories Associations would run the programs, but the ACF would provide over-sight, and set up the central registry of all students. A National Seminar for all examiners was held in February 1993. All States and Territories were conducting Pupil Skills testing by 1992.

The Adjudicators’ Advisory Board reflected the views of the Australian Society of Calisthenic Adjudicators, a national group (formed as the Australian Association of Calisthenic Adjudicators in 1973) to ensure accuracy, consistency, and commitment to excellence in adjudication. They too had developed a training system for adjudicators, with full guidelines for all aspects of adjudication. The AAB, under Brenda Green from Victoria, made a major contribution to the sport by matching adjudication to the national Pupil Skills program, and through their identification of dangerous movements which should be excluded from the sport.

The ACF Association wit the ASC
By 1992, the first ACF Calisthenics Handbook, and two videos – “Banned Movements” and “Gymnastic Movements” – had been created and distributed. The Adjudicators’ Handbook was published in 1993. At a time when the Australian Sports Commission itself had no guidelines in place for accreditation of referees, adjudicators and umpires, Calisthenics adjudicators led the way in this area. All Calisthenics Handbooks and videos/DVDs have undergone continuous revision since these early versions. Policies on Injuries, Infectious Diseases, and Drugs, have followed; rules for the running of the National Championships continue to evolve. Significant conferences have been successfully run: National Adjudicators and Pupil Skills Examiners in Melbourne, and National Coaches in the ACT in 1994 being the first. A mentor program between coaches in the experienced and less-experienced States was set up.

The Australian Sports Commission also prompted the evolving ACF Development Plan, which was required for government funding to be allocated. The Plan required the ACF to consider not only Coaching, Pupil and Adjudicator registration and accreditation, but to undertake national research into the sport, including falling numbers, and calisthenic injuries; to create a strategy for reaching remote or under-represented parts of Australia; to plan for a modified schools program, and recreational and “Masters” calisthenics; and consider the matter of including boys in the sport. For decades, Calisthenics had presented itself as a sport for girls and women: now, in the need for equity, government policy required that boys have access. Boys had been involved in the sport until the 1940s, and now they were readmitted. A small number of boys under 12 have taken the sport up and in 2004, a boy competed in the Victoria Sub Junior team at the National Championships.

Government funding in the early years began at $7000, rising to $25,000 by 2005. But then the Australian Sports Commission changed its criteria for Federal funding for sports. Of the three new criteria – the sport must be offered at the Olympic Games; there should be a national membership of 50,000, and the sport must give evidence of good governance – Calisthenics qualified only in the area of good governance. Government funding to the ACF ceased in 2005. However, this loss of funding has been offset by increasing income, especially from the Nationals. Despite the loss of funding, Calisthenics is still a recognised sport, and its accreditation of Coaches and Adjudicators still falls under the Australian Sports Commission.

Development of All States
The latest Development Plan 2005-2007 directed to the support and growth of the sport in the less-developed States and Territories, has been paid for through an increased capitation fee. Northern Territory, Queensland and NSW have all benefited. The ACF’s Equity Policy means that all pay the same exam fee component for their Calisthenic Skills irrespective of the cost of supplying examiners. The ACF meets the costs of sending examiners to test the participants. This, and its other programs, are ongoing.

Presidents
Leaders of the ACF have been:
1986 - 1992 Bill Scott
1992 - 1995 Mel Downes
1995 - 2000 Rex Packer
2000 - 2004 Kerry McGough
2004 - date Lynne Hayward

Dr Ros Otzen
May 2007