Our College

Our founder and Principal Coach, Kay had an idea: to bring brilliant, talented young people together and encourage a love of dance, teamwork and physical fitness while enjoying the thrill of performing. Kay began her calisthenic journey at five years of age as a competitor with Jo-Lyn. She began assisting and coaching at fourteen. By fifteen, she was coaching all age groups. At sixteen, Jo-Lyn was offered in its entirety to Kay and she began rebranding the College as "Kallara". Now, more than 40 years after that initial idea, Kay has taught and inspired many. Her love of our beautifully unique sport is contagious and is shown repeatedly throughout her musical choices, choreography and dedication. With over 45 years of experience overall in calisthenic competitions and teaching; a strong foundation and pool of knowledge paves the way for future generations of Kallara students.

Kallara Calisthenics is still directed by Kay, but she couldn’t do it without the endless support of her daughter Jess, her supporting committee and the countless friends ready to lend a hand! The talented and dedicated volunteers and students bring a long-standing heritage of Calisthenics involvement, new age thinking and experience as performers, parents, siblings and coaches to make Kallara Calisthenics the club it is today. Our pupils learn commitment, dedication, confidence and the importance of being part of a team; all are taught by an experienced and dedicated coaching team. We are a family orientated club and appreciate the support given not just by Mums, but also Dads, grandparents, brothers and sisters too!

Here at Kallara Calisthenics, families can connect, and our performers can develop skills, friendships and values that last a lifetime.

KALLARA IS A COMPETITIVE COLLEGE

For the benefit of our new families, Kallara Calisthenics is a competitive College. All of our age groups from Tinies through to Masters participate in 3-5 competitions between August and October and then the Annual Display in November. Dates are released by the competition conveners in May. We aim to include every student within our routines in some way and our coaches prepare and choreograph to show their work on stage. All our effort and energy throughout the year is to be able to be our very best and represent our College proudly at local and not-so local competitions. Calisthenics is the sport with performing at it’s heart; everything we do is to ensure our Kallara members look and feel beautiful, strong and united as a team whilst they perform. Please also keep in mind that our volunteers and members spend a lot of time making and decorating our beautiful costumes, stage dressings and headdresses and therefore, we do expect each Kallara student to treat their equipment with the uttermost respect.

Calisthenics Victoria has developed commandments for competition etiquette. We encourage every student across every section to read our guidelines as there are some useful hints for making sure the Kallara colours are worn with pride and respect. We expect our students and supporters to set and display a high level of appropriate behaviour and this is something we strongly encourage here at Kallara Calisthenics. Please remind your son or daughter that at both solo and team competitions, they are representing Kallara when they wear the uniform

OUR VOLUNTEERS

As a family orientated College, we are always so thankful for any volunteers to help out with fundraising, prop making, stage dressing at competitions, make-up mums, costuming and putting together our incredible costumes and headdresses! The College fundraising, which is managed and delivered on a day-today basis by an unwavering group of extremely committed volunteers, continues to be arguably one of the most tangible outputs associated with Kallara Calisthenics. We continue to be amazed by the dedication of our group of individuals whose sole motivation is giving back to the College they love and call home. We would like to particularly acknowledge our beloved volunteers for continuing to make and implement improvements to our fundraisers to provide our members with the very best resources possible. As members may appreciate there is still a lot of work to be done to deliver a family friendly and balanced College – and the value of fundraising is unmistakable, with our volunteers hard work and dedication being shown in 2018 by the purchase of our College competition van – a fundraising goal that has taken four years to achieve. We couldn’t be prouder to belong to a College where so many have come forward and volunteered their time and resources at cake stalls, Bunnings BBQs and pie drives.

VOLUNTEERS, COMMITTEE AND SUPPORTERS

We would like to extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to the College supporting committee and team managers for their continued efforts in delivering value to our members through our competitions, events, programs and services. A passionate and committed team of individuals who are a credit and an asset not only our College, but the sport. The work they carry out on a day-to-day basis is considerable and without the dedication of the volunteers at Kallara Calisthenics, our beloved College would be lost. The team managers and various Committee members have also generously volunteered their time and experience to assist our College and we would not be able to achieve what we do without their guidance and passion for constantly growing as a family-orientated College.

WE ARE A BRONZE LEVEL COLLEGE

The Calisthenics Victoria Leading Clubs Program is a quality assurance program endorsed by Sport and Recreation Victoria and VicSport, designed to assist calisthenics clubs to identify, prioritise and implement effective management strategies to meet the changing demands on calisthenic clubs.

Launched at Calisthenics Victoria’s Annual General Meeting in 2013 the program is designed to assist clubs to develop in the following key areas; Administration, Governance, Membership, Communication, Sports Development, Marketing and Promotion. 

Here at Kallara Calisthenics, we are at Bronze Level. This focuses on setting a strong administration and governance foundation for our club. Bronze Clubs place an emphasis on building upon the requirements of Affiliate Clubs and continuing to develop strong governance practices and clear processes. It also builds on the club policies and includes the training of committee members, sound financial management practices and how teams and coaches are selected.

CHILD SAFETY AT KALLARA CALISTHENICS

As an organisation dedicated to children, teenagers and young adults, it is always critical that personal and online behaviour demonstrate respect for the dignity of each person. In keeping with the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 [1] , the Kallara Calisthenics Code of Conduct and associated Policies assert that the welfare and best interests of children are paramount and that all children have a right to protection from harm.

Kallara Calisthenics College recognise that Children need special care and attention; and are committed to the protection and safety of Children.

Kallara Calisthenics College aims to protect the welfare of Children involved in the sport of calisthenics by creating, implementing and complying with the following measures.

In recognising the need for an emphasis to be placed on the safety of Children in Calisthenics, we at Kallara Calisthenics College are committed to:

ü  Ensuring the safety and wellbeing of Children who participate in College activities and ensuring that their experiences within the calisthenics club are positive.

ü  Ensuring Children are empowered and know what behaviour is and is not acceptable.

ü  Ensuring Children know how to report (and where to report) an incident and feel empowered to do so if they are either subject to, or become aware of, potential abuse or misconduct.

ü  Prioritising and addressing the concerns of Children in relation to their safety.

ü  Undertaking thorough screening processes to reduce the risk of people with improper motives being involved in Kallara Calisthenics College activities.

ü  Communicating openly with parents of Children and always ensuring safety of Children is paramount.

ü  Remaining vigilant to ensure best practice standards in relation to Child safety are utilised in delivering Kallara Calisthenics College services and activities.

Kallara Calisthenics College Child Safe Officers are Kay Fisher, Tracy Fisher and Sally O'Dell. For more details, please contact our College Administrator Jessica Fisher at kallaracalisthenics@hotmail.com