School Sport Australia Vice President Jude Maguire has been awarded Life Membership of the Association. The award was presented at the SSA Annual Conference in Canberra on 6 June 2018.
The award recognised Jude’s meritorious services and contribution to School Sport Australia. Jude had a long and illustrious career as an educator in the ACT spanning 27 years as a Physical Education and Health teacher, Executive Teacher, Deputy Principal and Principal. She was an active member of the ACT Schools Sports Council and was the ACT Secondary Schools Sports Association (ACTSSSA) President.
Jude was an outstanding and committed teacher and a dynamic leader. Very much a people’s person, Jude earned the utmost respect of teachers she worked with. She was much loved by students she taught and teachers she worked with. She commenced her contribution to school sport as a minute secretary to a school sport group in 1980.
Jude’s association with School Sport Australia commenced with a role as a team manager in 1988 as the School Sport ACT Girls Water Polo Manager and was then the SS ACT Girls Hockey Manager in 2002, 2005 and 2008. Her stint as a team official concluded with her role as General Manager of the SSACT PSG team in Canberra in 2008.
Jude has also made significant contribution to the ACT School Sports Council as a member from 2005-2009 including roles as Vice President for one year and President for the remaining years.
In 2010 Jude moved to Victoria to take up the position of Chief Executive Officer of School Sport Victoria which she has held until announcing her resignation in 2018. In this time Jude joined the School Sport Australia Board taking up the role as Vice President from 2017.
Jude has made a significant contribution to school sport in the ACT before reshaping school sport in Victoria. In her time in Victoria she managed the change from VSSSA and VPSSA into one organization, School Sport Victoria and impacted on the structure of school sport as SSV grappled with 9 sporting regions and conference finals, and then back to 8 sporting regions and the District to Division to Region to State Finals structure.
Jude has also overseen the splitting of the Interschool and Interstate program, developing dedicated resources within the unit focused on providing the best possible outcomes for Victorian students with School Sport Australia opportunities.
Jude Maguire has without a doubt left her mark on School Sport Australia and School Sport Australia is a better organization for that contribution. The students, staff and colleagues thank her for the countless hours spent in the pursuit of providing quality sporting opportunities in the jurisdictions she has been responsible for.