Participation in Community Sport and Active Recreation: success stories
What makes a healthy successful sporting club?
Regardless of the sport played, successful clubs have a long, strong history, a commitment to including others, and a family and social focus. They value and reward members, communicate and promote regularly, and have policies that cover all bases, from sun protection to healthy food choices. They provide a valuable service to the local community and give people a place to go for physical and social health.
To illustrate these characteristics, VicHealth has produced a brochure, along with a series of insightful and inspiring success stories from a range of different sports.
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The clubs featured were nominated by their SSA because of their success in increasing levels of participation and valuing and promoting inclusiveness.
How a Sailing Club keeps afloat – Albert Sailing Club
By welcoming female members, the Albert Park Sailing Club has flourished and coexisted alongside Albert Park Yachting Club since 1948. Photo courtesy of Luke Tupper
Proudly perched alongside the salubrious Albert Park Lake, at first glance the location seems enough to explain the Albert Sailing Club’s popularity. But the view alone doesn’t explain why every Saturday, Dougie (who is in his 80s), mans the bar and Dot takes her place in the control tower. And why they have been doing so for over 30 years. It seems the Albert Sailing Club offers its members much more than a day out on the lake.
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First established in 1948, the club’s birth was a controversial and progressive one. Frustrated by the then, Albert Park Yacht Club’s ‘no women’ rule, park warden and yacht club member, Mr W. Hooper set up a separate club next door so he could sail with his daughter. Welcoming female members, the Albert Park Sailing Club flourished and has coexisted alongside Albert Park Yachting Club ever since.
Commodore Ian Fox says the club’s large membership and recent growth is a reflection of the quality of the people at the club and of its ability to think laterally in challenging times such as during the recent drought.
“Sailing as a sport has been dwindling the last few years. Clubs are struggling to attract and keep members; we have been the opposite. We had a bit of trouble when there was no water in the lake due to the drought but despite that our membership has really grown.”
The club’s growth has been remarkable. Among many services, the club offers a basic sailing course that runs for eight weeks. Seven years ago the club ran two courses a year, it now runs consecutive courses all year round and for the first time includes sessions on Sundays to cope with the demand. Ian says the location is attractive to new members but believes hard work put in by club members has been the major reason for its success.
“One of our members, Terry O’Donnell (retired Vice Commodore) has put in a lot of work promoting the club. We were heavily involved in Sail Melbourne which was a promotional event Yachting Victoria put on to coincide with the round the world Volvo Ocean Race that had a stop over in Melbourne at the Docklands for the first time ever. We had volunteers manning booths at the display down there,” Ian explains.
The club also puts a lot of energy into nurturing potential new members.
“We are involved with Yachting Victoria’s ‘On Board’ initiative where people can register online for more information if they have an interest in sailing. We send information to people who have registered and invite them down to the club. Yachting Victoria gives the On Board coordinators of each club a distinctive hat and top to wear so by standing out, people know who to approach for information. Most clubs have one or two coordinators, we have seven or eight.”
During the drought the club was unable to sail on the lake for six months, so they approached the Altona Yacht Club and negotiated a mutually agreeable arrangement.
“We joined in their races and paid visitors fees for anyone who wanted to sail. We are one of the few clubs that sails all year round. Altona shuts down during the year, so we shared their facilities and invited their members to come and sail with us for free,” Ian explains.
Recently, Yachting Victoria awarded the Albert Sailing Club its prized Yacht Club of the Year Award in recognition of the club’s commitment to its members and to its future development. The club has a reputation of being a strong nursery club meaning it has a healthy focus on junior members. Ian elaborates.
“We have a lot of junior members, it’s probably because we are in a closed area that is safe and not out in the bay. We have a good tradition of taking kids, teaching them how to sail and supporting them to get to the next level if they want.”
There is a scholarship system that encourages juniors to go to state, national and world championship levels. To qualify for the scholarships, junior members must have sailed at the club for at least two series (series vary in length from six weeks to eight weeks) and be prepared to write an article for the club’s newsletter, The Mudpuddle.
Membership is currently between 250 – 300 with a healthy split of 50/50 participation of boys and girls in the junior ranks. A Saturday usually sees 60 – 70 boats out on the lake in the summer and 80 – 90 during the winter, with 200 people participating. Ian says the club has a great turn-out of members when it holds a working bee and its Christmas break-up party last year attracted around 200 people.
“A healthy club is one where members participate. We have barbeques on Saturday nights after a day’s sailing and there will consistently be around 20 – 30 people staying back. During daylight savings hours we have a Twilight Tuesday series which are less serious and a lot of fun. We will have 30 boats out on these nights and three-quarters of the people will go out and have a pizza together afterwards.”
If people come to the club and see happy members then that’s the sign of a healthy club. That is what we try to achieve. We have a great group of people that has been here for a while. We are here to provide a service to the community, not to make a profit. Everyone is welcome to become a member here – there are plenty of club members here that don’t sail and without their support and commitment we would struggle.
All members are rostered on for two tasks a year. But Ian points out that there is a core group that comes every week and has been doing so for many years, such as Dougie and Dot. The stunning clubrooms and facilities were made possible by an injection of funds given to the club as a direct result of the Grand Prix motor car race being held around the lake each year. Like all clubs run purely by volunteers, Albert Sailing Club makes sure those that put in the hard work are recognised.
“We have a Club Member of the Year award. Last year we had joint winners – Ralph Schoene and Steve Haintz – they got the award for going way beyond the call of duty! They were here every Thursday night for three months fixing up the toilet block. It was an incredible effort, they are the sort of people that this club attracts and they are the backbone of this club,” Ian says.
He is very keen to emphasise that sailing is not an elitist sport and is open to and affordable for most people.
“Once you have a boat there aren’t too many other costs. It’s good fun, healthy and relatively safe. The worse thing that can happen to you here is that you fall out and get wet!”
The club realises that is extremely well resourced and lucky to be where it is. Its philosophy is one of inclusion and it generously gives other sporting clubs and organisations, such as the Lakeside Ladies golfing group and the MX5 car club, access to its rooms and facilities.
“I am really proud of this club and the people here. We really believe if you do what you can for your members, the rest will look after itself,” Ian says.
More information
To contact the Albert Sailing Club go to http://www.albertsc.org.au/
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Hockey Club Sticks to the Ground Work – Altona Hockey Club
The Seagulls have earned the affection of their own community and have provided a ‘home’ for generations of locals. The healthy state of the juniors program will hopefully provide for many other generations to come.
Sometimes your first impressions of a clubroom can tell you the most important things about a club. The rooms of the Altona Hockey Club (The Seagulls) are an instant reflection of its people and its culture.
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There are honour boards, two premiership brick displays signed by all players, couches, a bar with personalised stubby holders stacked in a row waiting for their owners, a uniform shop, a canteen, a pool table, a first aid room and over 100 premiership flags hoisted high on the rafters.
The junior board is a colourful display of participation certificates with photos, premiership flags and the words FUN, SUCCESS and FRIENDS in bright letters. The rooms give off a strong warm feeling of celebration and of fun. It is no wonder the Altona Hockey Club has 300 members with over 180 of them being juniors.
Now nearly 75 years old, the club offers full family participation with teams for all age groups from Minkey (five year olds plus) to the veterans with current players in their fifties. The club is well represented in all ages with 14 junior teams, 9 senior teams and 3 veterans teams. It has spawned many players who have been selected in junior, senior and veteran, state and national teams including Commonwealth Gold Medallist, Luke Doerner and Sydney Olympic Bronze Medallist, Jason Duff.
Rob Burns, club secretary for the last five years has had family links to the club for most of his life but only began playing hockey at 36 years of age.
“Hockey is great exercise and the team and social aspect is really enjoyable. Not many of us in the vets take it that seriously so it is a lot of fun. We have a really good social and family atmosphere here, we have policies in place to make sure the club is attractive to juniors and families,” Rob says.
The club’s successful junior program is the result of hard work and clever recruiting strategies that have paid off. The School Hockey Development Program is voluntarily run by current player Karen Symons and past player Merryn Brennan. Letters are sent to local schools from Williamstown to Point Cook offering hockey clinics for 5 – 6 weeks. A small fee is charged for longer periods. A recent program saw 200 children from Point Cook participate which Karen hopes will spark further interest in the sport.
“The clinics are a great way to promote hockey as a sport and hopefully recruit some new juniors especially in the under 9 and 11s. In 2004 more than 20 children who participated in the clinics became members of the club. We had a great program at Point Cook recently and in the New Year we will contact these kids again and try and get them to come to a Come and Try Day,” says Karen.
Though bursting with activity today, three or four years ago the club almost folded due to the state of the ground which had become too dangerous to play on. The club had to find $300,000 to replace the existing ground with a new synthetic pitch. Ian Bartlett, club ‘legend’ and holder of the highest number of games played (330 plus senior games) became a key player in more ways than one.
“We were in a pretty bad way as a club as we still owed money on the original ground and we had to find the extra money to replace it. Adam Barty (chairman) and Brian Fanning (board member) went to council and really pushed our case with them. They did all the ground work with the local community too, it was a huge effort and they drove it all,” Ian says.
What resulted was an arrangement between Hobson’s Bay City Council and the Altona Hockey Club to provide half of the funds each. Finding such a huge amount of money would be impossible for most clubs. The real story behind the scenes is even more remarkable. Ian Bartlett lent the club over half of the amount needed to purchase the pitch.
“Putting the money up was the easy part. I had absolutely no doubt the money would come back to me. It was an easy decision to make. The club had been saving for about 6 years to try and get this ground. I didn’t see the loan as a risk at all. I love this club and I love playing hockey. I get the benefit of being able to still play here and use the new ground,” explains Ian.
The new pitch was laid between seasons. In a classic display of community spirit, 40 or 50 people turned up on Boxing Day in 2004 and with the help of a forklift, ripped up the bulk of the old ground in a day.
“I am really proud of the work people at the club have done to get the new ground.” Rob says. “It was a major project and a lot of work was done by other board members to make this happen. I think it is the only ground of its type in Victoria.”
The future holds continuing financial pressures for the club however, with a new ground needed again in fifteen years. A financial plan is in place to contribute to those costs already.
Rob believes that the major challenge now is to maintain participation and memberships. A lot of work goes into designing a fee structure that suits all. The committee takes into account families that have a number of members and ex–players who like to come and watch and still be part of the club (social members).
“The viability of the clubs depends on the people. We always need team managers, coaches, umpires, people to look after the canteen and the bar. We have a roster for the bar and canteen and a policy that says the canteen will be closed if the rostered person doesn’t turn up! This hasn’t happened yet! But it is needed because without a canteen and a bar, there would be less interest in the club,” Rob continues.
The interest in the Altona Hockey Club hit a high in the mid 90s when the club earned a reputation for ‘pretty boisterous’ home crowds.
“During the premiership years of ’94 and ’96 we attracted pretty large crowds. The home crowd was dubbed the ‘Snakepit’ by the opposition,” Ian explains.
The club proudly utilises this reputation and offers social memberships to the Snakepit Brigade which offers various incentives and rewards.
Hockey is a popular sport in Victoria with approximately 35,000 people participating at a club or school level or recreationally. Success on the world stage for our Hockeyroos and Kookaburras has also engendered a real affection for the sport for many Australians.
In Altona, the Seagulls have earned this affection in their own community and have provided a ‘home’ for generations of locals. The healthy state of the juniors program will hopefully provide for many other generations to come.
“My father played for the club. My sister plays. I have made all of my friends from being involved in the club. There are a lot of people here who donate a lot of time to the club. Without them, we wouldn’t be here,” Ian says.
And without Ian, neither would some of them.
More information
The Altona Hockey Club can be contacted at www.altonahc.org.au
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A Rescue for Puberty Blues – Anglesea Surf Life Saving Club
Anglesea is the largest surf life saving club in Victoria, bursting to capacity with over 1000 members.
For many Aussie adolescents, summer is a time for sun, sea and surf. Time to hang out with your mates on long hot days, show off your tan and, if you’re lucky, lose yourself in some summer lovin’. For others, the beach is a haven, offering time-out from family or personal troubles.
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Many teenagers wouldn’t be seen dead in a sun hat, long sleeve top and zinc cream, enjoying the beach alongside mums and dads, kids and tourists. But in Anglesea they do. And they do so proudly.
It wasn’t always like that. “A lot of teenagers who had been in our junior nippers program disappeared once they got to 14 years of age because there was no program for them to go to”, explains Pam Wood from the Anglesea Surf Life Saving Club.
"They felt disconnected to the club and its members and we would have trouble getting them back as seniors. We had to work out how to engage them and make them feel valued.”
Pam created the Youth Involvement Program (YIPs), which fills the gap for these teenagers (aged 14–17 years). The program is based on a system of reward points – the more the young people do around the club, the more points they accrue.
"They get points for just about anything at the club, from helping the nippers to cleaning up. We want the kids to feel so comfortable here that by the time they are 18 they want to stay.”
Once they reach 'Bronze' level they receive a white polo shirt with the Anglesea logo on it; 'Silver' level is represented by a bottle green fleecy vest with logo; and the much prized 'Gold' level gives them an all-weather fleecy jacket with their name embroidered on it and the logo. “These items are distinctive around the club and carry a certain status”, says Pam.
A base level of entry for life saving requires patrol work. “A lot of the kids thought patrolling was boring until we allocated points to it. As well as getting more points they learn how valuable their participation is to the club and to the community. We now have over 120 teenagers patrolling the beach. The surf club is seen as the place to be.”
"It’s wonderful to see the 17-year-olds playing with little nippers in the surf. They are such wonderful role models. The nippers adore them. They also get to create relationships with the older club members. Being involved really is a great way to stay physically and mentally healthy."
The YIPs who reach gold level are also included on the honour board alongside life members, Australian champions and others who have contributed to the history of the Anglesea Surf Life Saving Club, where they will be recognised forever.
The club has an inspirational history. It formed in 1952 with 30 members and is now the largest surf life saving club in Victoria, bursting to capacity with over 1000 members. It has a record of producing Australian and Victorian champions and finalists, and a commitment to supporting and developing members, not just as life savers but as upstanding citizens as well.
Pam reveals why she thinks the club is so successful: “Everyone here is totally dedicated to helping other people. The life savers are constantly looking out to help any one who needs it. The committee members work tirelessly to keep the club going and to provide a community service. The young people train enormously hard to compete and represent the club so proudly. We have developed life-long friendships and enjoy an enormous sense of pride belonging to the club”.
Like many successful sporting clubs, a big challenge for Anglesea is managing its growing popularity with the desire to retain its sense of family and community.
“We have 700 nipper parents. How do you keep in touch with all of them so that they feel connected to the club? How do you keep a club open to all and not exclusive? How do we resource all the demands and how do we continue to grow when we have limited infrastructure? These are our next challenges, but they are good challenges to have,” Pam says.
The Anglesea Surf Life Saving Club clearly sees its role as providing a service that is highly respected and allows the community to feel safe. Early morning swimmers and surfers who are club members even scan the beach for rubbish before anyone else gets there. Club rooms are donated free to other groups so they can run fundraisers, and life savers are provided to schools running 'beach days'.
“We had a group of Iranian women who wanted to learn about the beach, so we made sure we got women instructors and women life savers on board to make it happen. We do our best to accommodate community needs”, Pam explains.
The club clearly plays a big part in the lives of holiday-makers, who firmly attach themselves to their favourite spot. During the summer months, when the community swells, the club performs up to 20 surf rescues and 800 preventative actions. It’s also a time when long-lasting friendships develop between local Anglesea YIPs and their 'summer mates'.
Holiday-makers and Anglesea residents can rest assured – their safety on the beach couldn’t be in better hands.
More Information
To contact the Anglesea Surf Life Saving Club go to www.angleseaslsc.org.au/
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Cunning Running Puts Bendigo on the Map – Bendigo Orienteers
Bendigo Orienteers has produced world class senior and junior competitors and coaches and has introduced the sport to thousands of people over the last 30 years.
Sometimes described as ‘running while playing chess’ or ‘doing a cryptic crossword while running to catch the bus’, orienteering is a sport that appeals to a wide range of people, with some competing well into their 90s!
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Originating in Scandinavia in the nineteenth century, orienteering was designed for military training but became a competitive sport in Sweden in 1919. The basic aim of orienteering is to find your way through bushland, forest or urban streets, by using a map and compass to tick off one control (checkpoint) after another in the shortest possible time.
Thousands of people nationally participate in the sport which can be a leisurely stroll or a vigorous competitive pursuit. It is a sport that can be enjoyed as a family and for a lifetime as people can choose the courses that best suit their abilities and fitness levels.
Orienteering’s appeal also lies in the fact that it requires “cunning running” and that the cunning aspect becomes more important as people get older. The fastest runner does not always win; navigational mistakes can be costly and a slow but accurate navigator will often beat faster, less accurate people. Peter Searle, founding member of Victorian regional club, Bendigo Orienteers, says orienteering is a great social leveller.
“With orienteering you don’t compete against other people, it’s more against yourself. At the end of the day you can talk to someone else about how you approached a particular leg for example. I have done this with my son when we competed on the same course. You can chat to someone half your age and you both learn from the exchange,” Peter says.
Bendigo Orienteers has been running events in its local area for over 30 years and has held a very successful Saturday Series for a number of years.
“We originally devised the Saturday Series as an event that one person could run out of the boot of a car. Bendigo is lucky to be surrounded by lots of different forests and terrain types. The idea was to attract locals and young people with a simple event. The series became really popular as a lot of people started coming from Melbourne. It is a really pleasant and casual way to do orienteering; there are always people on hand to help newcomers,” Peter adds.
The club has the highest level of junior membership of any club in Victoria and sees junior participation as an important part of the club’s ethos. In recent years the club has run Primary School Championships for local schools. This year, the one-day event attracted 900 students from 17 primary schools in the Bendigo and Castlemaine area.
“Our membership is one of the highest in Victoria – we have a lot of family groups and young people. Because we run so many local events it does give people the opportunity to become involved on different levels. People can organise an event or learn course setting if they want to. Orienteering is a sport for life. In our club there are often three generations of the one family competing at the same event, which is great for both the future of the club and the family,” Peter says.
Julie Flynn has been involved with Bendigo Orienteers for 14 years and is currently in her first year as club president.
“I moved to Bendigo with my family from Melbourne 14 years ago and if we hadn’t moved there is no way we would have picked up the sport. We were attracted to the club because it offered us a sport we could take our children to and it was outdoors in the bush”.
Julie’s love of the sport has taken her to international events this year. Her exposure to these events has made her appreciate the camaraderie of a small club even more.
“My husband and I have just come back from an orienteering event in Sweden. It was run over five days and attracted 14,000 people. The oldest age group was 95 and one man competed in that group. They devised a special map and course for him. I think a really important part of a healthy club is the social aspect, when members are getting more out of the club than the sporting aspect. I love participating in the sport but I think the friendships developed along the way are very important. It’s great after an event to be able laugh and talk about the mistakes you made along the course. When I competed overseas with people I didn’t know, I found it so much less fulfilling as there wasn’t that sense of belonging,” Julie says.
As the sport is run on a voluntary basis – there are no paid workers for any of the events open to the public – attracting and retaining volunteers is a challenge. Burnout is a major issue.
“In our area in the last five years we have been involved in a number of international and national events and because of this, there is definitely a sense that people are getting very tired,” Peter says.
Julie adds that the increase in technology relating to the sport has had a negative impact on attracting volunteers. “New technology demands that the volunteers are computer literate which means that some may be intimated by that. Local events don’t use the technology but the bigger state, national and international events do. Some people are reticent to go to the next level of event organisation because of this”, Julie says.
Local events are much easier for one person to organise and belonging to a local club is a more gentle way for a person to develop these skills. The club presents end of year awards that largely recognise participation among its members. The main award – the Vera Shelton Award is presented to a member who has made an outstanding contribution to the club. Vera Shelton was a much-loved member who died of natural causes while orienteering.
Unlike other sports that value clubrooms and equipment as their main infrastructure, orienteering clubs’ most precious assets are their maps. “Maps are our infrastructure. We spend a lot of money updating them. We have some very active and skilled members that make maps. We recently spent $6000 to create a map made in an area near Bendigo,” Julie explains.
Orienteers tend to become informal ‘eco-warriors’ due to their love, knowledge and respect of the bush. Members keep an eye on the forests and have reported rubbish dumps and damage.
“We’ve been recognised by Parks Victoria as a useful group to contact in regard to management plans. They recognise us as responsible users of the forests,” Peter says.
Bendigo Orienteers is a proud strong club that has produced world class senior and junior competitors and coaches and has introduced the sport to thousands of people over the last 30 years.
“Why have I been involved for 30 years? Every five years I get a new lease of life as I go up to a new age group. You can keep competing with your peers for years. I am always surprised when people who don’t orienteer ask me if I am still involved in the sport after so many years. It’s strange; it’s as if you are expected to stop at some stage in your life!” Peter exclaims.
More information
To contact the bendigo Orienteers go to www.bendigo-orienteers.com.au
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Family Spirit fuels Motorcycle club – Dandenong Motorcycle Club
Motorcycling, like most sports, relies on the goodwill of volunteers. Many of the events require large numbers of people to act as flag marshals, track waterers, race officials, race organisers and much more.
There are no Hell’s Angels at the Dandenong Motorcycle Club and there is no racing track in Dandenong. These are just two of the many misconceptions the club has to respond to regularly.
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Some at the club believe motorcycling is a sport that has ‘slipped under many people’s radar’ and they are keen to lead the way in promoting motorcycling as a fun, family-friendly and safe activity.
The Dandenong Motorcycle Club has been around for 75 years and currently has 500 members on its mailing list. It has a reputation for producing high-quality safe events and regularly receives awards recognising this.
Paul Bray, past club secretary and now chairman of the Motocross section says being part of the club has given him a new lease of life.
“I was originally from Shepparton and raced bikes as a junior. When I came to Melbourne to attend uni I was keen to come here as it was always a stand-out club. Even as a junior, I remember Dandenong always had the strongest members. The family environment created here is fantastic and the social side is incredible”.
Paul believes the sport offers a great amount especially for families and young people. “Riding with a club provides you with a friendly and controlled environment where you can be taught properly. You learn enormous life skills from this sport. When you start off as a junior the responsibilities start straight away. You have to clean the bike regularly, which most enjoy doing anyway. The bike is like your best friend, you’re proud of it and the freedom it gives you! Then there is the maintenance of the bike, the skills development, the hand/eye coordination and the hand/foot coordination. With this sport you are learning to exercise your judgement at all times which can easily be transferred into daily life”.
With motorcycling, young riders start off with small bikes and progress to bigger ones as they get older and their skills develop, unlike cars where inexperienced drivers can drive relatively high powered cars as soon as they get their licence when they are 18 years old.
“This skills progression allows you to understand the controls of a vehicle. Most kids who learn to ride motorbikes properly can jump into a car and drive it easily and safely. You get a strong idea of the surfaces you are riding on. This becomes second nature to you when you drive a car after riding a bike,” Paul adds.
To start riding competitively you need to become a member of a Motorcycling Victoria affiliated club. Motorcycling Victoria is the controlling body for the sport across Victoria and represents 74 clubs and 8 disciplines relating to the sport. After becoming a member you have to apply to Motorcycling Victoria for a licence – there are many depending on the discipline and events you would like to participate in. There are currently almost 4,500 licence riders in Victoria with the youngest being 6 years old and the oldest 78.
“The ‘off-road’ side of the sport is very social and family-oriented with the emphasis on participation. All these events are held on private property. At working bees the kids are with their dads helping to clear the track, moving logs and rocks out of the way. On a Saturday we camp together and then have the event on a Sunday. It’s a great opportunity for parents and kids to be together,” Paul says.
The family spirit of the Dandenong club is exemplified by the Hore family. Life member Denise has been with the club for 26 years, her grandfather was a member and her two uncles had major roles with the club in the 60s. Her husband Gary (who she met many years ago at a motorcycle event in Perth) has been president for 6 years. Their 21 year old son Blake has already acquired ‘legend’ status at the club as an enduro champion and daughter Jenna is involved in the sport at the administration level. Denise has served on the committee in several capacities and plays a major role in running local and national events.
“I find everyone in the sport to be very genuine. My husband and Blake have chosen the enduro discipline and the people involved in this area are incredible. Even at a national people help each other out. People in opposing teams will give each other parts if they need them. It’s a laid-back friendly environment,” Denise says.
The club has very strong connections with both the communities of Wonthaggi where it has its racetrack, and the small town of Erica. It is mindful of its obligations to the people of these towns and to the environments they are participating in.
“We run off-road events in the Gippsland town of Erica. The community allows us to use the oval. We make sure we leave the town as clean as possible as there are 400 – 500 bikes riding there over 3 days. It gets a lot of people to the town which is great for the locals as it keeps the town ticking over. We noise-test all our events – we are really conscious of the damage noise levels can do to the community. It could be the death of our sport if we didn’t put a lot of energy into this aspect of it,” Paul explains.
An enduro event held this year at Erica saw the club raise $1,000 through an auction of motorbike paraphernalia. The money was donated by the club to local CFA. The club also donated funds to the Rawson Community Health Centre and the local kindergarten raised $700 by providing a Sunday breakfast for the riders.
The club’s race track is on a 60 acres block in Wonthaggi which they lease from the Bass Coast Shire. They are currently in the final stages of negotiation with a view to buying the property.
“With help from the local council, we have had the land changed from rural allotment to ‘special use’ much like the Phillip Island circuit, which is great. We are very responsible about what we do down there. The township of Wonthaggi is very close and we are very conscious of the noise factor. We do not want to upset the locals. The business owners love it as our events bring in thousands of people. We are going to go out of our way to make sure the locals know that we are listening to any concerns they may have,” adds Paul.
The sport of motorcycling, like most sports, relies on the goodwill of volunteers. Many of the events require large numbers of people to act as flag marshals, track waterers, race officials, race organisers and much more. Even a club with as many members as Dandenong struggles to always get the help it needs.
“I am really proud of the standard of events we put on as a club. I reckon we run the best events in Victoria, but it is an enormous amount of work that often falls on the same people. I often wonder what the future holds for the sport when you can’t get people to help out. There’s a real Me attitude now and I don’t know how to start to remedy it,” Denise says.
Paul agrees that the club has set the bench mark very high with the quality of events it offers and would love to see more people become part of the proud core that does a lot of the work.
“I am trying to educate people that every member is a volunteer and if everyone could do a little bit that would be a great help. I am so proud of the people at this club – they really make it. It has a real ‘Can Do’ attitude. When we decide to do something it happens on a grand scale. It’s really exciting! It would be great for more people to be able to experience this.”
More Information
The Dandenong Motorcycle Club can be found at www.dmcc.com.au
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A Homer Away From Home – Essendon Baseball Club
Essendon Baseball Club successfully balances the needs of its players who want to further their careers with people who just want to have a hit on Sundays.
Baseball was first played in Australia in 1856 when American goldminers trying their luck in Ballarat played on their days off. Not much else happened until 1888, when American sports equipment manufacturer A.G. Spalding Esq., eager to establish baseball as a sport across Australia, brought teams from the US to Melbourne and Sydney for exhibition matches.
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With baseball still a new and unfamiliar sport, it was an innovative group from the Essendon Cricket, Bowls & Tennis Club who met in 1893 with the specific purpose of forming a baseball club. That club is now the Essendon Baseball Club – a club fervently proud of its history of champion teams and champion players and its strong link to generations of families.
Today the club is over 100 years old and thrives on its reputation of being inclusive and community oriented.
Julie Jones, in her sixteenth year with the club and seventh as club secretary, has a full-time job but devotes most of early October to late March at the club.
Her husband is the baseball ground manager in Bendigo and an umpire in Melbourne. One of their sons carries out a variety of roles on Essendon’s committee; the other coaches baseball in Bendigo. Julie spills some of the club’s secrets: “I think the key to our survival is our strong committees and inclusiveness. We are very happy to have players come join us from other areas, like Ballarat, Bendigo and Benalla. Some even travel from Mildura. They might play juniors here and seniors with their own club. You’ve got to give everyone a shot if you can.”
The club had eight home grounds before settling in Boeing Reserve, Strathmore Heights, and now fields five senior sides, an Under-18 state team, Under-16, Under-14 and Under-12 state and metro teams, and junior Tee ball players. It is affiliated with the Essendon Football & Community Sporting Club at Windy Hill.
Like many sporting organisations, Essendon is keen to secure its future through its junior players. “We have a great junior committee that is very well coordinated by a committed person who is passionate about baseball and kids. The club is widely respected for its strong junior development program”, says Julie.
“The people behind this club are the reason why we get so much respect. Our president, for example, has been president 10 times. He played here and his sons played here”, Julie adds.
The club prevents burn-out by encouraging young people to share the load. It promotes itself as a family-friendly club that has generations of players, and it relies on this history to show how it nurtures its players.
“We are really proud that we have teams on the field every week. We balance the needs of our players who want to go further in their careers with people who just want to have a hit on Sundays. We have five players who are currently playing in America on college scholarships and players who have been selected for the Australian team. We are proud of the number of people who are participating, not just the on-field success. We have a fourths team that is made up of kids, as well as older players and people who haven’t played much. In our senior team there are only three players who haven’t come through our junior ranks.”
First time junior secretary Jenny Rogers is another committee member who personifies the club’s energy and commitment. Jenny’s husband is a junior coach and her children play for the club.
“My whole family loves baseball – it’s definitely a passion. All our spare time revolves around baseball. It’s very easy to get caught up in it. I want to do what I can to help the club move forward. We have 25 players in the Under-12s this season and most of them have never played. I’ll encourage them to enjoy the game as much as possible and I’ll try to get the parents to stick around.”
Times at the club have not always been profitable and harmonious. An unsettling period in the late ’80s provided valuable lessons about communication. Julie recalls: “A lot of members left the club around that time because of tensions with people in the committee. We are still conscious of the fall-out so we make sure we communicate openly, with newsletters for example. We can’t afford not to do that nowadays.”
A key communication tool for the club is its informative website, which proudly revels in its history while promoting what’s happening today. “We don’t get players leaving the club anymore”, says Julie. “People will always talk if they have a problem.”
A major focus of the club’s week is the competition on Sundays. Juniors play in the morning and the senior teams compete afterwards. The whole day is rounded off with a massive barbeque attended by many of the players and their families.
“Family involvement is the sign of a healthy club”, says Jenny. “Sundays have a fantastic atmosphere. No-one is standing around getting drunk – people enjoy a beer, but no-one abuses it. There is no bad language. The kids absolutely love being here. The benefits of belonging to a sporting club as a family are incredible. We have a ball. The game gives us a lot in common as a family.”
It is clear that the good health of the Essendon Baseball Club is due largely to the passion of its members and players. Its reputation as a successful family club has put it in the enviable position of being able to attract dedicated people willing to do whatever they can for the sustainability of the club.
With another season in full-swing and with so much to do, Julie Jones’ dream of travelling to America to watch the Yankees won’t be happening anytime soon.
More Information
To contact the Essendon Baseball Club go to www.essendon.baseball.com.au
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Kicking the goals that count – Glen Eira Junior Soccer Club
The rise and rise of the Glen Eira Soccer Club is phenomenal. Hoping to get 120 members in their first year, they attracted 249.
A group of parents were really angry. They knew the time had come to do something completely different. Fed up with their previous soccer club’s indifference to juniors, a handful of true believers struck out on their own. They had a vision. They wanted to create a soccer club that had a focus on juniors and fun, and was truly inclusive to all people and all abilities.
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In 2002, the Glen Eira Junior Soccer Club kicked its way into the footy world after they convinced Football Federation Victoria to give them a go.
“Getting a new football club up was a pretty intense process. We had a lot of conversations with George Angelopoulos from Football Federation Victoria about our values and ideals. We were determined to establish a club that people of all abilities would be able to join. We didn’t want to be elitist. George listened to us and took a punt on us I think because our ideas were different,” Mary Weerdenburg, club registrar and assistant secretary, remembers.
The rise and rise of the Glen Eira Soccer Club is phenomenal. Hoping to get 120 members in their first year to recoup the money the handful of founding members had contributed from their own savings to start the club, they instead had 249 members.
“We couldn’t believe it. We recruited about 60 from our previous club; actually a whole team crossed. Most of them knew we were determined to bring about change,” Mary says.
They also did a leaflet drop in the local primary and secondary schools inviting children down to the club.
“I was just a mum at the other club – I wasn’t a committee member or anything, but I was passionate about not allowing the juniors to be forgotten. I had been involved at my children’s schools on parents associations. The one thing about women is that they are brilliant networkers and they make things happen and we have some great women in our club!”
Once the club started training on its own grounds at Mackie Rd Reserve in Bentleigh East and Duncan Mackinnon Reserve in Murrumbeena, people started taking notice. Soccer teams had never used the grounds before. Because the ground only had AFL football goalposts, Frank Weerdenburg (the club’s grounds and facilities manager) built soccer goals in his own backyard. Frank now oversees the clubrooms, the equipment, the goals and draws the white lines on the grounds each weekend.
Now bursting with 420 members, 18 junior teams, six girls’ teams and two wheelchair teams, the membership is now so large that the club’s presentation events have to be spread over two days. Its motto: Friendship, fun, family and football drives all of its activities and values. Determined to be a club for all, in the second year, the club approached Football Federation Victoria to say they were very keen to welcome disabled players.
The club now fields two teams which play at an indoor basketball centre with one team recent state champions. Once again Frank’s skills came to the fore. Discovering that the ball sometimes got stuck on the front of some wheelchairs, Frank built kickboards that clip on the front of the wheelchair to allow players to have greater control of the ball, thus allowing them to enjoy the sport even more.
“If you are an inclusive club that means all ethnicities, religions and abilities are to be welcomed. We have special needs children and children with autism for example. One 14 year-old boy has a heart defect and came to us as no-one else would let him play,” Mary explains.
Current secretary, Daniel Levy was a dad on the sidelines until he too realised that the club was offering something special and decided to get more involved. Daniel says he was initially, like many parents, reluctant to put his hand up.
“Most people have been under pressure all week at work and just want to relax on the sidelines and watch their kids play. Who wants to be thrown into an unfamiliar canteen, have no idea where anything is and feel dumb? I think most people are pretty shy but are happy to help if they are asked. Once you are thrown onto barbeque duty you realise pretty quickly that you can make a contribution,” Daniel adds.
Daniel observes that as a young club, most of the work falls onto the founding members and specifically Mary and Frank. The club has the advantage however of having a large pool of parents from which to recruit more help.
“Not only do Frank and Mary do 75% of the work, but they contain 75% of the knowledge. It is very difficult to delegate tasks of enormous responsibility until people become more experienced and gain the knowledge of the club, otherwise it would all fall apart. It is now getting to the stage where we are actively trying to change this and we are lucky enough to have a large membership to draw support from,” Daniel says.
The Socceroos qualification in the 2006 World Cup has seen a huge boost in interest in the sport especially at the junior level.
“To be a healthy club everyone has to share in the ownership. We recently had a juniors’ presentation day and there were over 250 parents there. We had so many people coming up saying ‘What can I do to help?’ Parents are beginning to own the club. More people are willing to volunteer for the Goalkick program and this is great as volunteers then become coaches and that keeps the flow of coaches coming. We need more people to volunteer to be part of the committee though."
As a new club, Glen Eira was able to start with a clean slate and was not bogged down by “people saying things like this is the way we have always done it”. Everyone is invited to attend committee meetings and questions are encouraged. The club’s treasurer has recently resigned after three years’ service at the age of 84.
The Glen Eira Junior Soccer Club has an enviable reputation of a club that values and respects its members and opposition. Match reports on the club’s website all feature encouragement and the promotion of the team spirit above all else. It believes winning isn’t everything and that many things in life are of much more value.
“I have met the most beautiful people and the most stunning kids, it is very humbling for me to be part of this club. When one of our teams went over the centre line for the first time, one of the kids did cartwheels on the field at the end of the game he was so excited, even though the result was a nil all draw. The opposition coach was really angry because they expected to beat us easily. Four parents from the opposition club approached me afterwards to ask about our club as they couldn’t believe how different the responses of both clubs were. Two joined up as new members,” Mary says.
There is something about the Glen Eira Junior Soccer Club that can’t be put into words. So popular now that they have two playing grounds and a separate training ground, the club’s dream to be a welcoming place for all has well and truly come to fruition.
“When my children were young we were involved in lots of activities and there was always someone there for them. This is our way of paying them back for being there for our children; we are now there for every parent that needs us,” Mary adds.
More information
Contact Glen Eira Junior Soccer Club at www.gleneira-jsc.com.au
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"Tennis Everyone?" – Kingsville Tennis Club
Kingsville's motto is: 'Sport for all – regardless of age, level or ability.'
'Ten years ago, the Kingsville Tennis Club bravely stepped back and had a good hard look at itself. Things were not looking too flash. Even though it had been running for 45 years, its membership had dwindled to 17 players, and only seven people used the courts regularly.
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Along with pressure from the local council for it to amalgamate with another club, Kingsville realised it needed a quick kick-start and began looking to the wider community for help.
Local young people were recruited, new committees established and consultations held with organisations such as the Western Regional Sports Assembly.
Marg Lind was one of the young people asked to help resurrect the club. “We connected with people who knew what the community needed. A needs analysis revealed that there were people who traditionally had limited opportunities to engage in the sport – women and people with intellectual and physical disabilities.”
Kingsville arranged 'Come & Try' days, targeting these groups. The club worked with local service providers and offered free programs; it set up wheelchair tennis coaching programs, a women’s program and recruited a young committed coach.
“We set up some rules and a club philosophy, and decided that we wanted to be a club that gave something back to the community", says Marg. Our motto became 'Sport for all – regardless of age, level or ability'.”
Marg believes that key to the club’s success was the positive relationship with the City of Maribyrnong, the local council.
“We were lucky because our programs got up and running straight away. The council saw that and was really positive. Our coach is inclusive and we began recruiting players through him. Our programs snowballed, and I am really proud to say that they are all still running today.”
"Council has been great. We have new courts, a renovated kitchen, and the toilets have been made wheelchair friendly. We also lobbied each councillor individually. Now council even asks us to give presentations. We realise how important it is to market what you do, so we have developed a photo library and we have a fantastic promotional DVD.”
The club is currently at capacity with 170 members, all of whom participate at least once a week. It has won the Victorian Tennis Club of the Year award four times and runs the Kingsville Tennis Club Cup, an international wheelchair tournament and the precursor to the Australian Open Wheelchair Singles Championships.
The club has to delicately balance the demands of popularity with the desire to stay family-friendly, inclusive and welcoming.
The people at Kingsville believe the club is special because it “expects to give, not to get”. It is passionate about contributing to the community and focuses on participation, not winning.
“We offer services to people with mental health problems, to women and to wheelchair players, as well as to the elite players such as our junior squad, which plays here four nights a week for a cheaper rate,” explains Marg.
Marg says sporting clubs are increasingly filling a large social and emotional hole in the community: “A sporting club gives people a place to go and something to do. Clubs are about community, not about making money.”
To provide new prospects for young people, Kingsville holds a sleep-over event for 10–18 year olds called 'Tennis Under the Stars', where physical fitness activities are interspersed with activities designed to help kids develop life skills.
“We have space for 22 kids on these nights and they fill up pretty quickly. Sport is really important for young people, especially with more and more opportunities to get caught up in the wrong environment. Sport is a great way to create positive opportunities for young people.”
Kingsville Tennis Club has not only succeeded in dramatically increasing the number of people playing tennis; it's also an inspiring example of community integration.
"I am really proud of the fantastic relationships that have been formed at the club", says Marg. "On Sundays everyone comes to the club and it’s great seeing the older players having fun with the young kids. Existing members got a little nervous when we set up programs for people with mental health issues, but now there is 100% acceptance. It’s all about communication and education.”
Marg believes that it is important for people to see sport as a healthy and sustainable option in life. With an 83-year-old president who has devoted 50 years of his life to the club, Kingsville Tennis Club proudly respects its links to the past while planning enthusiastically for the future.
More Information
Kingsville Tennis Club can be contacted on (03) 9944 5693.
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Positive Communications Keeps Club out of Deep Water – Lara Swimming Club
Country towns that are lucky enough to have a swimming pool know it is the hub of all things during summer. But the people of Lara, just outside of Geelong, know that their pool and swimming club is much much more.
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Now known as ‘the friendly club’, the Lara Amateur Swimming and Lifesaving Club began in 1963 with 109 members and a pool built on land donated by the McClelland family. Its first swimming meet saw eleven different events contested by 80 swimmers. By 1975 the original 55 yard pool was heated and 205 members were registered.
The pool became an important landmark and meeting place for a community galvanised through adversity. In 1969, bushfires killed 18 locals, destroyed 43 homes, a church, a primary school, a petrol station and a mill. But more was to come.
By 1973, five major floods had swamped the area, building a resiliency the locals are now renowned for. the swimming club today still reflects the values of the community it services.
Julie Lane, a proud club member since the 70s and who now enjoys taking on ‘special projects’ explains. “The club is very much a part of the town. Lara is incredibly special. We have 80 year olds who have been part of the club since the beginning, down to five-year-olds. Some of the life members were committee members like us in the 70s, and are now still contributing to the club. June Richardson is our original Learn-to-Swim teacher from 1963. She still comes down and participates in special events”.
In fact, in March 2005 when the club held a 24 hour swimathon which raised $2000 for the local secondary school’s library, June swam the last lap of the day. “People who live in Lara are passionate about this community. If you are a club in Lara then you are automatically part of the community. With our 24 hour swim, we looked at raising funds for a group within our local community and we decided on the school,” Julie explains.
Julie’s own family has been involved with the club since the 1970s.
“For over 30 years my family has been involved in some way, whether it has been my dad, sisters, my two sons or me. My dad Steve Boothroyd is still the chief time keeper in the district. Lots of people that I use to swim with are still involved. It’s a safe environment, everyone knows each other,” Julie adds.
Although proud of its generational links to the past, the Lara Swimming Club welcomes new blood and enjoys a healthy mixture of old and new members. Current secretary Kevin O’Neil has been part of the club for three seasons and has been instrumental in developing some key communication tools such as a regular newsletter and a terrific informative website.
“I had no volunteering or community service background in my family at all. The only link I had to the club was that my wife was a local and use to come here and splash about as a kid. I had no idea about swimming at all when I joined. I probably shouldn’t say this – but I can’t actually swim! I spent the first year here just watching my son swim. There were always people around doing things – then I realised they were just like me, they were parents doing whatever they could for the club,” Kevin says.
Unbeknown to Kevin, he was being earmarked by Julie and club president Kevin Nolan (club legend and state championship medal winner) as a worthy replacement for the outgoing secretary. His interest in writing and website development has been a bonus for the club and for Kevin.
“I love it. I love the club. I wanted to get involved as I like writing and keeping notes. I feel like I have found a niche here. I like the interaction with the people and I enjoy feeling like I am doing a service to others at the club,” Kevin says.
Julie believes the club’s inclusiveness and commitment to communication are keys to the club’s longevity. During the season, members meet every Saturday morning, with Kevin Nolan making a 9am “announcement” where he acknowledges people’s birthdays, special achievements and mentions members who may be representing the club elsewhere that weekend.
“You need to communicate regularly. Other clubs have trouble as they don’t have a ‘club feel’ and they don’t communicate regularly. A lot of people get annoyed if they are not informed about things at the club. The Saturday morning meets hold the club together. It’s wonderful knowing everyone is going to be there. Five years ago our membership numbers were decreasing, communication wasn’t really that good. Since then we keep people informed via email, the internet and informal networks,” Julie adds.
Julie acknowledges that the club has had periods when it wasn’t thriving and those times highlight how valuable the club’s current rejuvenation is.
“When I was a kid I use to ride my bike to the pool, I would have a morning swim, have breakfast, leave the bike here and go to school. When I returned to the club after a 10 year break living in Melbourne and having kids, I felt like the club wasn’t the same as the one I remembered. Breakfasts weren’t running. I really wanted to help out. I joined the committee the next year as I really believe you either put up or shut up,” Julie explains.
The club has a very strong active committee and an ethos of ‘putting your hand up to help’ Julie started driving some of the social activities and got the breakfast program running again. “I couldn’t walk away especially with my boys becoming more involved and them seeing their auntie’s photos in the clubrooms and names on the honour board. I wanted it to be as good as it was when I was a kid. I was one of the old girls and I was warmly embraced. Our president, Kevin Nolan and I swam in the squad together when we were kids. I definitely get a sense of belonging here.”
Mindful of its commitment to others, each year members of the Lara Swimming Club travels to a swimming carnival in Timboon which is a tiny club near Colac. Lara is the biggest club that participates there.
“Only about 4 or 5 clubs compete and there are about 70 kids all up. It is a 33 metre pool and we normally supply 10 relay teams. It’s the big family trip for the year. Everyone wants to go as it is great fun. Because Timboon is a relatively small swimming club, all the other clubs chip in and provide timekeepers and marshals.”
It is obvious that Kevin too has discovered how special it is to be part of the community that is the Lara Swimming Club.
“Before I joined the club I used to spend a lot of my time dedicated to my work. The club has shown me the benefits of a good social life and how great it is to balance this with your work. I am so proud to be part of such a good, cohesive, social group of people,” says Kevin.
More Information
The Lara Swimming Club can be found at http://home.vicnet.net.au/~laraswim
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How Bowling Became 'The Business' - Leongatha Bowls Club
Leongatha Bowls Club is one of 540 bowls clubs across Victoria, boasting players ranging in age from teenage years up the 90s.
The Leongatha Bowls Club didn’t need the popular television series The Secret Life of Us or Mick Molloy’s ode to grass-roots bowls clubs, Crackerjack, to reinvigorate it or introduce bowling to a new audience. Everything it needed was right in front of it.
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Combining the passion and energy of president, Harry Forrester with the generosity of spirit of its existing members and the local community, has resulted in a period of enormous growth timed perfectly to coincide with the club’s centenary year.
“This is an exciting year for the club as we turn 100 and become the oldest club in South Gippsland. We have 121 members now, 30 of them just signed on this year which is the greatest yearly increase since the club began,” Harry says.
Harry came to the club 24 years ago straight from the cricket field where groin injuries from years of fast bowling forced him to start bowling off-spinners that were continually hit over his head. It was at this time he realised he needed to find a less-taxing sport.
“Bowls is great because at the age of 35 I was seen as the baby at the club not the old fogey!” laughs Harry.
In his second year as president of the men’s section of the club, Harry was keen ‘to make some statements’ when he first took on the role. He believed the role of the president was to encourage and support the members to improve the atmosphere and attitude of the club to make it a friendlier, more inclusive place.
“I wanted people to really enjoy each other’s company. I wanted us to play in a friendly competitive spirit with the club to be well administered in an inclusive way with no secrets. There is no rivalry between sections now and we are all striving for the same thing; to achieve enjoyment on the bowling green,” Harry adds.
To increase its standing in the local community, the club starting promoting itself in a number of ways. It began by ensuring its weekly media reports to the local paper The Great Southern Star were more informative. By including information about up-coming events and happenings at the club, the club’s news started regularly taking up half a page a week.
The club then offered first year members a drastic reduction in membership fees from $130 down to $30. But by far, its most successful initiative was the ‘Business Bowls’ competition which has catapulted the club into being a bustling social centre.
“We called our competition ‘Business Bowls’ – many other clubs have done this across the state and it is often referred to as ‘Corporate Bowls’. We approached all the businesses on both sides of the two main streets and asked them if they would like to put up a team of three to compete on a Tuesday night. We were absolutely staggered with the response. In 36 hours we had 20 odd teams signed up and we wound up having 32! We could have easily had 16 more if we had the resources!” Harry exclaims.
Nearby Phillip Island clubs, Wonthaggi and Korrumburra had also successfully run similar competitions and Harry ‘picked their brains’. He also attended a Get on the Green seminar run by the Royal Victorian Bowls Association that gave him an idea.
“We had previously held open days but only attracted 15 – 20 people. So I decided to combine the ideas from ‘Business Bowls’ with resources from Get on the Green.”
The ‘Business Bowls’ competition ran for eight weeks every Tuesday night from late January. It was Harry’s job to convince the members it would be good for bowls and good for the club as with so many new people around the club, the support of existing members was crucial for its success. He had no reason to worry. Members happily volunteered their sets of bowls, acted as coaches, collected the $5 entry fee, looked after the bar and barbequed the thousands of snags that were eventually eaten. At least 30 members were needed to volunteer each Tuesday night, with six needed at the barbeque alone!
In the first week 96 people turned up. By the second week word was out and new players started bringing their families with them.
“On each Tuesday night during this competition we would regularly have 130 -150 down at the club. After each night’s play we would have a presentation of the winners for the evening and the place would be crowded for 45 minutes! The club got $6000 profit from that competition alone in just eight weeks. It was the talk of the town for two months! It was really positive – it was delightful for our members to hear such positive things about the club after 100 years of existence!” Harry enthuses.
The popularity of the ‘Business Bowls’ competition has caused the club ‘a good problem’. Another part of town known as the ‘industrial estate’ houses heavy industries such as the transport industry. These companies are keen to be included in the next competition. Harry is now developing a competition to be held six weeks before Christmas to accommodate the ‘industrials’ and a post Christmas competition to welcome back the ‘businesses’.
Leongatha Bowls Club is one of 540 bowls clubs across Victoria, boasting players ranging in age from teenage years up the 90s. The sport is promoted as a fun, outdoor game of skill that can cater for all skill levels and abilities. The club is delighted that the recent increase in membership has been in the ‘younger’ age group of 40 – 50 years old.
“Any changes that have occurred within our club and any initiatives that have proved successful would not have been possible without the members being willing to involve themselves and assist. There is no point in being a leader and then finding yourself out front without your members there with you. This has been a total team effort,” Harry adds.
Harry strongly believes the key to a successful club is to make people feel welcome. “If you want younger people to come to the club you have to make the club welcoming for younger people. I have spoken to a lot of our members about this. I beg them not to jump on new players and say; ’You are going to join up aren’t you?’ That is the best way of ensuring someone doesn’t come back. The members have responded in such a positive way. The degree of cooperation between the men’s and ladies’ section has never been better. We have a great relationship with our local community and that has never been better.”
Current president of the Ladies section, Fay Turner has lived in Leongatha her entire 60 years, has been at the club for 18 years and says the club has never been healthier.
“The club is very special at the moment – since Harry has become president it has really gone from strength to strength. Everyone talks to each other, everyone is happy. We’ve got some young ones playing here now which is just great. The atmosphere on Tuesday nights with the ‘Business Bowls’ competition with two greens full – it was the best thing that has ever happened to the club. There were people clapping each other’s shots! It was just wonderful! It’s an absolute pleasure to go into the club. I love our club I will do whatever I can for it. I wish you could have seen Harry one night at the ‘Business Bowls’ – he was just great!”.
More information
The Leongatha Bowls can be contacted by phoning 56 62 2538
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Tackling Life with Heaven's Game – Maroondah Rugby Club
Junior involvement has exploded in the last two years. People have seen that it is actually safer than they thought and that there is a lot of respect for officials.
Losing the 2003 World Cup to Jonny Wilkinson turned out to be a good thing for Australian Rugby Union. Long sullied as an elite exclusive sport, interest and participation in rugby union has skyrocketed since the loss.
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Rugby union was first played in England in the 1800s at a time when sport was seen as a preserve of the rich – only those with money could afford the time off to play. Working class men worked six days a week and were forbidden to play sport on Sundays.
Australia has been playing rugby union internationally since 1899 and won gold at the 1908 London Olympic Games.
The Maroondah Rugby Club, formerly known as Croydon, has been playing competitive rugby in the outer eastern suburbs since 1972 and is keen to address any misconceptions about the sport. Senior coach and vice-president Ross Saunders explains: “We are really trying to change rugby’s reputation. Rugby emphasises discipline and respect on the field. If you don’t respect referees, then you don’t respect your teachers, the police and so on. Players particularly need to respect a position”.
Maroondah is committed to getting more junior players into the club. In 2003 it had only 15 junior members; it now has 99 and hopes to increase that to 200 over the next two to three years.
“When there are a lot of juniors around the club there is increased parental involvement, which gives the place a different feel. The club is special because we make families feel welcome. If the kids enjoy themselves then the parents will enjoy themselves. The support we get from the parents of the 11–14 year olds is incredible. The kids can’t wait to get to the club. We mightn’t be the best but the pride the kids have in the club is fantastic.”
Maroondah is actively involved in Victorian Rugby Union’s TryRugby Scheme where clubs visit primary schools and run programs, giving kids an alternative to footy, cricket and soccer.
Women’s rugby union has also become popular in clubs and schools across Australia. Maroondah is currently on a recruiting drive for a local women’s team. And far from being an exclusive club, Maroondah proudly boasts players from at least 13 different cultures.
“We incorporate the different cultures into the club. A couple of times a year we will have a traditional hangi (Maori earth oven), which everyone loves. We also have Polynesian nights where there are a lot of families all dancing together. When a club has mixed nationalities there is no racism or trouble. Some clubs are basically one nationality and sometimes that pride can cause trouble”, Ross says.
Rugby union has a rich history of traditions, camaraderie and loyalty. It is played in 120 countries around the globe.
"I just love the game”, says Ross. “There are amazing opportunities to travel when you play an international sport. I emphasise this to the juniors and seniors. The World Cup created big interest in the game. Junior involvement has exploded in the last two years. People have seen that it is safer than they thought and that there is a lot of respect for officials. It is wonderful to see the development and growth of the game.”
Ross, however, is frustrated by the lack of mainstream exposure of the game in Victoria. Promoting the club and attracting sponsorship can be daunting for a sport with a smaller community profile. And, like most sporting clubs, his faces the huge challenge of sustainability.
“The financial aspect of running a club is a big challenge. You need to attract sponsors. You need to use the networks that exist via the parents. You need to be aware of grants that are available from organisations such as VicHealth. Then there is the aspect of getting stories out about the club. I wouldn’t even consider approaching The Age or the Herald Sun, but local papers are great, and everyone loves having their photo in the paper.”
Ross advises that it is important to establish a positive relationship with your local council and understand that the council is “not a bottomless pit of money”.
“We take figures to Maroondah Council to show them how much we have grown and how much support we need. We have applied for an upgrade for the kitchen/canteen area. We want to be able to give our Polynesian members space to get in and cook their food. We also share our facilities with the cricket club. In the off season we get together weekly and have a social touch rugby game followed by a barbeque.”
The Maroondah Rugby Club’s commitment to its members and local community has gone a long way in shaking off the 'elitist' tag the sport inherited. Rugby union is very much a team sport, and lovers of the game emphasise that it has positions that require players of all shapes and sizes.
“We believe that every kid should get to play”, says Ross. “We’ve even got kids from soccer and footy clubs who come to us because they know they’ll get a game. Participation is the key.”
More Information
Maroondah Rugby Club can be contacted at http://maroondah.rugbynet.com.au
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Peninsula Shows Ponies Not Only for the Rich – Mornington Peninsula Pony Club
The Club embraces the sport’s focus on enjoyment and safety. Now over 50 years old, it is keen to shake off the “elitist” tag it believes many pony clubs are lumbered with.
When Kay Irving (‘Miss Kay’) and her sisters set up the Waverley Riding School in Melbourne in 1932, she had begun a life of devotion to children and horses that would see her become known as the mother of grass roots horse sports. Miss Kay’s commitment to the safety of the child, the welfare of the horse and to the child’s enjoyment would become the principles on which hundreds of pony clubs across Victoria operate today.
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The Pony Club Association of Victoria Inc. (PCAV) was established in 1954 with seven affiliated clubs. It now oversees more than 200 clubs across Victoria with over 8,000 registered members. It is part of an international pony club movement that has 100,000 members.
Miss Kay was the Chief Instructor of PCAV from 1958 – 83 and her concern for isolated children led her to travel extensively to impart her knowledge, inspiring her to set up the Pony Club of the Air. Miss Kay lived until she was 90, writing several manuals for both riders and instructors. Her legacy is such that the PCAV State Office is named Irving House.
The Mornington Peninsula Pony Club embraces Miss Kay’s and the sport’s focus on enjoyment and safety. Now over 50 years old, the club is keen to shake off the “elitist” tag it believes many pony clubs are lumbered with.
“To many people, being part of pony club is seen as elitist, but we have families here who are really struggling and they go without to make sure their horse is fed. It is definitely not all about four wheel drives and horse floats,” Club Events Coordinator Tracy Smith explains.
Tracy has been part of the club for 12 years and was president for four of them. She said the club, far from being exclusive, is a welcoming inclusive place that caters for local families of all backgrounds and circumstances.
“I don’t ride and I don’t like horses! My neighbour dragged me along as my daughter loved horses from the time she was three. I was one of those parents who would sit in the car. Now after being involved with the club I really know the sacrifices some parents make to enable their kids to participate in the sport and keep their horses,” Tracy adds.
Pony clubs, Tracy says, are really about kids having fun, with a lot of country clubs full of farm kids who love horses and who want to get out with other children and enjoy themselves.
“I think little girls especially are born with the pony gene in them! They all want a pony. With a pony club the kids can take it further, it is a sport that also teaches responsibilities. They have to feed and ride the horse every day. They have to keep the horse and their gear clean and tidy. At every rally the children’s gear is assessed for appearance and safety. I think we stand out as a club as we really adhere to the rule book. We are tough on the kids and they know that they really have to make an effort with their appearance.”
The club has 79 members under the age of 21 years with boys making up 10% of the membership. It is one of the few sports where males and females can participate on an equal basis. It does have a high male drop-out rate.
“We have more boys than any other pony club I think, but unfortunately once the boys get to 15 or 16 years old, they get picked on at school. Two of our boys left recently because of this,” Tracy explains.
One of the features of the club is a very active and excitable junior committee that has been running for 20 years, has 10 members aged 11 or 12 years and has its own office bearers and bank account. The committee does a lot of fundraising and also organises its own event each year in August called Mini Mornington. “It is the funniest day! The day attracts about 30 teams from all around the area. All these 8 – 10 year olds having a ball. It is a corker!” Tracy says.
Horse riding is also a sport where a family friendly environment is necessary as parents are required to stay the entire time the children are riding. The club makes it clear if a parent is not in attendance the child will not be permitted to ride. Once a month the club holds a rally which takes up the entire day, with about 60 children usually taking part. The canteen is a massive fundraiser for the club as it caters for hungry parents and children for several hours each rally, but recruiting volunteers to maintain it can be a challenge.
“We find that it comes in waves. This year we have a lot of new parents, they are coming out of the trees! But last year we really struggled. It’s mainly the mums that volunteer. It is always a struggle getting people to commit to the canteen.”
Being rural, the Mornington Peninsula Pony Club faces several challenges. The drought is having a severe effect on the club with horses pulling up sore from the dry hard grounds. A number of events have also been cancelled by other clubs because of the ground conditions. Also, the closest toilet block is 250 metres away from the clubrooms which is a major health and safety problem for the club.
“It’s a nightmare for the kids. They have to cross a road to get to them. The toilets are in the park that is shared by the footy club so there are other crowds of people accessing them and the toilets are often filthy and overflowing. There have also been some “undesirables” hanging around them which is a real concern for us.”
The club is currently in the process of constructing “a massive shed” which will house new toilets and facilities. They have raised all of the funds themselves with tremendous financial support from Bernie Taylor at the Grand Hotel in Mornington. They hope the new facilities will help their chances at hosting the 2012 State Horse Trials which they would love to do.
“Dealing with the local council is an enormous issue for us. To get this shed constructed, we have had to deal with so much red tape. We have had to employ a company to go through all the council permits and draw up the plans for us as it was too hard for us to do by ourselves.”.
Vice-President Terry Coyle says the club is very proud of its commitment to safety issues and the commitment they get from instructors for each rally. Each year the club runs a Brownlow night which hands out encouragement and improvement awards to the children as voted for by the instructors. Even the horses receive awards!
“The kids love it – they all want their pony to be the horse that wins an award,” Tracy says.
One instructor Hugh McLean has been with the club ‘for at least 30 years’ and always takes the youngest riders at each rally. He is renowned for giving each child a lolly every time they clear a jump and is greatly loved by all the kids.
Terry says the spirit of the club is in these children. “I love seeing the kids enjoying themselves. We really stress to the kids that it’s not about how fast you go, it’s about being slow and steady”.
Tracy says they are all really proud of all of the children, who are a “great bunch” and who really look out for each other. “One of our 12 year old girls falls over nearly every rally, she has had so many broken bones, but she still comes back. She loves it. This is what it’s really about”.
More information
To contact the Mornington Peninsula Pony Club go to www.ponyclubvic.org
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Netballers and Slaughtered Rams Keep Natimuk Alive – Natimuk Football Netball Club
The social side of having the clubs together is fantastic. It's vital to a small country town to have a footy and netball club.
The people living in the tiny hamlet of Natimuk, located halfway between Melbourne and Adelaide, know the importance of sticking together no matter what. They know their future and the future of the town depends on the connections made either through adversity or shared triumph.
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The town of around 500 people has been reinvigorated as a base for mountain climbers heading to Mt Arapiles and also hosts a thriving artists’ community. But epitomising this small town’s courage is the Natimuk Football Netball Club. Only combining this year, the club is made up of two different sporting clubs with very different histories and fortunes.
The 120 year old footy club – ‘The Rams’ – has recently received attention for breaking all the wrong records. In 1997 the club reached the preliminary final but then started to experience some massive losing streaks, including one that lasted 46 games and stretched over 3 seasons. The club won one game in 2005 and has lost all matches since. A well publicised loss of 341 points to Laharum this year still didn’t crush it’s morale.
“We just had to keep going. Some junior players from the under 16s played three games for the club on that day and quite a few seniors were out with the flu. A few of us have played two games a day many times just to keep the club going. The club has been around a long time and we just have to keep working together. Now that we have a few junior teams we have to keep it going for them. We may not have won many games, but off the field we have had great successes”, club president Willie Hanson explains.
Ruckman, passionate climber and co-author of guide books of local climbs, Simon Mentz documented the club’s on-field losses with a video ‘Rams to the Slaughter’. Simon’s exposure to a large number of climbing tourists led to an innovative recruitment strategy.
“Simon would persuade climbers from all around the world to play for us. Some couldn’t speak English and many had no idea about the game. He would take them to his place on a Friday night, show them the video and get them all motivated. Then they would come all excited and play for our reserves the next day! Some of them would even play in their glasses!” Willie laughs.
Simon says his recruitment process also involved watching Friday night footy on the television and explaining the rules to the tourists. “What the climbers lacked in ball skills, they often made up for in fitness and tenacity. The local supporters loved watching the overseas visitors play and appreciate anyone who is willing to run out there and have a go regardless of their ability,” Simon adds.
UK climber Mike Weeks said “It’s not often that I am scared of anything that I do in climbing because it is second nature…even climbing hundreds of metres above the ground without ropes. But playing Aussie rules football and playing for Natimuk scared the crap out of me!”
But while the Rams were struggling, the Natimuk Netball club was one of the most successful clubs in the Horsham and District Netball Association with 3 senior and 4 junior teams all competing well.
“At the same time the footy club was on the verge of folding, we were having a lot of on-field success and had so many players. We felt so sorry for them. When I saw ‘Rams to the Slaughter’ I nearly cried. They had such a terrible run of losing. With us, if we lost one week we wouldn’t care as we had a chance to win next the week,” past president of the netball club, Debbie Keyte says.
Although thriving with 70 players, the netball club wasn’t without it challenges. A major health and safety issue facing the club was a lack of toilet and change room facilities for the players and umpires. The closest facility was a pavilion that was essentially a public toilet which was 300 – 400 metres away from the courts. Some players had to change in their cars.
“It was a major problem – some visiting players were leaving their bags in the pavilion which was a real safety issue. My dream was to get something for the future of the club. We kept missing out on grants so we fund-raised through hundreds of hours of volunteer labour,” Debbie adds.
The Netball Club raised enough money ($54,000), to buy a Safety Steel ‘Granny Flat’ that was constructed over a Queen’s Birthday long weekend in 2004. “About five blokes and three women chipped in over those days. We finally had some change rooms that were safe with toilets and showers,” Debbie says.
The club was rewarded with the opportunity to host a netball semi-final with over 150 participants and spectators enjoying the facilities. Netball Victoria awarded the club its Worksafe Safety Initiatives Award 2005 for the new change rooms that also now include disabled access and security-coded locks.
Debbie has played 470 games for Natimuk and hopes to get to 500 and then retire. Three of her sisters have also played for the club and between them she estimates they would have played 1200 games of netball representing Natimuk. The club is very family friendly and proud of the fact that many generations of the same families have played for both the footy and netball club.
“Our oldest player, Shurlee Skiller is 52 and has been a role model for me since I was young. She really represents the values we have at the club. I think we have real respect from other clubs and we have always tried to put something back into the game through coaching and umpiring. We have never had any trouble with any team and I think our court behaviour contributes a lot to that. I also think our facilities have become a benchmark for the league now,” Debbie adds.
Things have turned around spectacularly off the field for the footy club recently. In 2004 the club won a $20,000 competition held by Channel 9’s The Footy Show and sponsored by NAB. All it had to do was prove that it had the worst clubrooms in Australia. A quick video scanning the rooms and an interview with a junior player quickly convinced everyone who saw it that the club needed help quickly.
The win was a real high point for the club giving it some much-needed publicity and the $20,000 was a handy contribution to a new multi-use community building currently being built. The footy club then combined with the netball club, something many had wanted for some time. Combined football netball clubs are common in the Wimmera area.
“I wanted it to happen years ago as it is a matter of working together for the community and the clubs. It’s been great; the social side of having the clubs together is fantastic. A local footy club folded in a nearby town in 2000 and it is having a severe effect on the town. We know how important it is to a small country town to have a footy and netball club. A footy club has a huge effect on a town. It affects businesses, schools and the pub. These clubs are vital to the town,” Willie says.
The clubs are also vital to keeping the spirits of those in the town alive too. “Once a Rams player collapsed on the field with an aneurism. It was a really hard time for his family and 40 people turned up to a working bee to cut up wood and deliver it to his family,” Debbie says. The footballer has since recovered.
“Another time one of our netballers – a beautiful goalie – lost her eye from melanoma and then the cancer spread through her body and she died. She was only in her 40s. The club organised a sporting memorabilia auction and raised about $15,000 for a trust fund for her children. This is what clubs do in small towns, they stick together and help each other out”.
More Information
The Natimuk Football Netball Club can be found at www.natimukfc.vcfl.com.au
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Bend Them, Shape Them – PIT Mill Park Gymnastics Club
The club actively works at promoting itself, and enthusiastically participates in displays at shopping centres, schools and fêtes.
John Dorrington is a self-confessed big kid. Passionate about physical activity, he is concerned about the increasing rates of obesity among children and the lack of activity in their lives.
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“Kids need structured and unstructured play. They learn a lot thorough play – it’s so important. By providing an environment for play, we are expanding their life experiences.”
John is the director of the PIT Mill Park Gymnastics Club, a private organisation that has been running gymnastics classes for local children since 1980.
It has Olympic-style gym equipment and was the first club to have full-time coaches and to bring coaches from overseas.
It currently has a full-time coach from China.
John’s study of physical education led him to teaching gymnastics to students and kids and then setting up the business. It expanded rapidly, and several satellite programs were set up for children in Whittlesea, Craigieburn, Reservoir and other areas in Victoria.
John initiated the Victorian Institute of Gymnastics Men’s Program in 1992. It ran at RMIT Bundoora campus before moving to its present location at the High Performance Centre at Swinburne.
“I am a hands-on person”, John explains. “I had a passion for gymnastics as a kid. I was lucky enough to have some ability and got into the Victorian team really quickly, so I have had very positive experiences with gymnastics. The sport has given me my career. There is no division between work and play for me – I rarely have Mondayitis!”
The business has been running successfully for 25 years, an impressive feat attributed to the commitment and passion of John and his late wife, Annette.
The club has 500 members, mostly toddlers to 14 year olds. The programs focus on recreational gymnastics, but the club does have a large competitive girls’ and boys’ stream. It has received many plaudits for its men’s and boys’ programs, which are among the best in Australia, spawning talents such as Wade Petersen, who started in the Pit a Pats group at age 2. He became an international performer and worked with Cirque du Soleil before becoming a full-time coach with the Victorian Men’s High Performance Program.
“I am really proud of the results we are achieving,” John reveals. “Most clubs focus on girls’ programs. They are easier because of the larger numbers of girls involved in the sport. The men’s programs are much more difficult – six apparatus as opposed to four.”
“Boys need ‘safe blood and guts’”, says John. “We run ‘team extreme’ games that really test them physically, like hanging off bars and kicking foam blocks over obstacles and between bars (kicking goals). It’s physically challenging work with a fun component, and they are so busy doing the activities they don’t have time to muck around!”
The club is in the fortunate position of having professional administrative and coaching staff, which has resulted in happy dedicated teams across the organisation.
Administrator Nancye Hanson explains: “You have to have enthusiastic people behind a club like Annette and John’s. They are the reason the club has been so successful. Their ideas were way ahead of their time – 25 years in business as a professional sports club – it’s unheard of! This is really positive sporting environment to be in. I love watching the success of the kids. You can see how proud they are to belong to PIT Mill Park.”
The club actively works at promoting itself, and enthusiastically participates in displays at shopping centres, schools and fêtes. It even had a float in a Moomba parade.
John is proud of the club’s family focus. “We have really good parents involved in the club, and we try to give people tasks they’ll really enjoy. The men’s technical director is a parent, and we have eight or nine parents who are judges (clubs normally only have two). One parent is fantastic with a camera. She’ll hand me edited DVDs that we can show people and use for displays. We get a lot of coverage in the local paper; a few of the parents are really good at helping out with that.”
Like many sporting clubs, PIT Mill Park runs activities that bring families together. During the boys’ and girls’ Australian Club Championships, for example, the kids are accompanied by a parent. “How many fathers can say that they spent four days together with their sons?”, asks John.
The club has a Gymnastics Australia Quality Accreditation Rating of Star 4 and is keen to get to the top rating of Star 5. The accreditation system (known as Club 10) is a rigorous quality audit program aimed at improving the operations and management of gymnastics clubs. It involves a self-assessment and an external audit across 10 key operational areas. John is a national presenter for coaching courses; if the club succeeds in getting a Star 5 rating he will be able to run his own coaching classes.
John sees himself as “a phys ed teacher with traditional values” who is passionate about getting kids out and moving. He hates seeing people sitting around doing nothing. “Primary school kids are fantastic but the secondary school kids can be really difficult. They stand there with an expression that says ‘Entertain me!’”
John believes in the mental and physical benefits of play and activity. He develops programs that focus on physical development and activities that have a large fun component. “Sunday is a day when we run birthday parties and the children get to participate in less structured activity based on fun and having a good time. They can build forts and do stuff they can’t normally do.”
With John’s approach, he’ll no doubt be bending and shaping young gymnasts for years to come.
More Information
PIT Mill Park Gymnastics Club can be contacted at www.pitgymnastics.com.au
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Blowing Away the Myths with Some Straight Shootin' – Sporting Shooters Association (Springvale Branch)
The role of the club is to provide a sporting facility for the whole of the community and to educate people on the validity and safety of the sport.
Even though shooting has long been a recognised international sport and featured at the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896, the words ‘guns’ and ‘sport’ often evoke passionate responses.
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Sporting shooters say they have heard it all – that they are rednecks, time bombs waiting to go off, and people on the fringes of society who can’t seem to ‘fit’ in with the rest of us.
So who are these people who chose shooting as a leisure activity?
Mary Bingham, dynamo administrator of some of the sub-clubs of the Springvale branch of the Sporting Shooters Association, helps dispel the myths.
“It is amazing how many people are attracted to shooting. Lots of people ring up and say their kids are playing shooting computer games and they think they are going to be champion shooters. I say ‘great, bring them down and we will show them how hard it is!'. Or they say, ‘The wife would like to have a go at shooting, can she come and have a look?’. Shooting is fine and good clean fun. Everyone can do it.”
Julie Allan, former sport development officer at the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (Victoria), concurs with Mary. “People who have a licence and shoot at a gun club are not the sort of people who are going to crack and go off and shoot people. People don’t realise that when you become a member of a gun club there are a lot of things that happen before you are allowed to pull the trigger.”
The SSAA (Vic) is the peak body for Victorian sporting shooters and has 21 branches across the state, with various sub-clubs and disciplines. The association has just over 25,000 members. The sport is highly regulated. All firearm users are required to complete a firearm safety course before applying for their firearm licence. Safety courses are run by Victoria Police.
“Shooting is a very safe sport”, Julie explains. “It is not dangerous, it is done in a controlled environment, and anyone of any ability can become involved.”
Participation rates for shooting have increased, largely due to SSAA (Vic) programs such as Shooting For All, which has targeted people with disabilities and included an introductory course for women. Most people with a physical disability can compete on par with able-bodied shooters.
“The women’s program hosted at Springvale has been really successful. When the women sign up we ask them why they are here. The reasons are varied. One woman, for example, grew up on a farm and was involved in a shooting accident; she joined up to get rid of her fear of guns. For some women, their husband might be a sporting shooter and they want to learn about guns so it is safe for their kids”, Julie explains.
Mary and her husband, Allen, devote a lot of time to help run the club in areas such as administration, coaching, program development and maintenance. Their commitment, which often extends to 40 unpaid hours a week, has resulted in a vibrant club with upgraded facilities in the dining room and bar, which have become the social hub for many members on a weekly basis.
Shooters have told Mary that the club is a haven for them because "this is where we can come anytime and talk about our sport without anyone giving us a hard time".
The Springvale Club has received accolades for its community spirit and for its success in the juniors program and for the integration of wheelchair shooters.
“The junior program is a great program. I am really proud of that”, Mary says. “We have one shoot a month for the juniors. There are 80 kids aged between 12 and 21 years on our mailing list who want to have a go. About 50 come and shoot regularly.”
Safety messages are reinforced every time they meet. Juniors are also required to shoot under the supervision of a licensed adult at all times.
The Springvale Range is a small calibre range of 50 metres and is open to the public. Many sub-groups shoot at the range – disciplines include air rifle and pistol, practical rifle, field rifle, running target and a variety of pistol disciplines.
A small group of passionate club members has worked hard over the years to turn the club into an inclusive, non-intimidating community organisation.
“All the sub-clubs talk to each other now; they are not all separate groups. The club used to be a bit unloved but now we have cooling, heating and the floors look great because we had a working bee. It is great that it is a lot louder and happier and that there are more women here. We hosted a disabled shooting event and I was asked to present the prizes – I got a real buzz out of that. People at the club have been great looking out for the wheelchair shooters. I am really proud of how people are integrated into the club”, Mary says.
Mary firmly sees the role of the club as providing a sporting facility for the whole of the community and educating people on the validity of the sport.
“Hopefully the community will see that shooting is a legitimate sport. It is an Olympic sport. We don’t have weapons, we have firearms. I know that we help families dispel the idea that shooting is glamorous, like people see in the movies. There is so much more to it. It is a fun thing to do. You can travel and get badges. We probably have the lowest injury rate of any sport in the country. People don’t fall off their rifles – they don’t get tackled! It’s like golf; you are really playing against yourself.”
More Information
For more information on Sporting Shooters go to www.ssaavic.com.au
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"I Don't Like Cricket...I Love it!" – Sunshine Heights Cricket Club
Sunshine Heights Cricket Club is passionate about cricket, its members and about putting as much back into the local community as it can.
During the 1990s, the future of the Sunshine Heights Cricket Club was looking pretty crook. Fast forward to today and the club has enthusiastically celebrated its 50th anniversary and has become a multi-sport, multicultural club that receive accolades for its commitment to its members and the local community.
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President Chris Hatzistavrou explains: "Ten or 15 years ago was a crisis period for us. We were struggling to get players and we had to make a decision whether to wind up the club. If we lost the club where would we go? Once we realised that the social aspect of the club was the real reason it existed, the club just grew."
The club now runs nine cricket teams: an under-10 mixed team, junior under-11, under-13 and under-15 boys teams, an under-14 girls team and four senior teams. It proudly fields a soccer team ('The Crickets') and a wheelchair soccer team that has been state champion for the last three years.
The club has received positive attention for its seamless blend of ethnicities and cultures. The club prides itself on including as many people as possible. “We tend to accommodate a lot more people than other clubs. For example, some clubs won’t let people play if they can’t attend training. We are more flexible. If you want to come along and play, we’ll work it out with you”, says Chris.
It is also respectful of religious customs. “We have a fast bowler who was observing Ramadan. We were mindful of that – we knew that if he was fasting he would have less energy. We look after players in times like that. We had another Muslim player who asked if he could leave the field to pray and we said ‘of course’ and allowed a 10-year-old to take his position in the field (and he took a magnificent catch while he was out there!).”
Food is an important part of the club’s post-training activities and reflects the cultures represented at the club. It’s so important that Chris says the basics of the club are “batting, bowling, fielding and food!”.
“I think the health of a club is how it reflects the community that it is in. We are the club that people from different groups come to feel comfortable. We are a fruit salad mix of people. Our demographic includes people from at least 19 different nationalities including Indians, Sri Lankans, Greeks, Poles, Cypriots, Italians, Albanians, Ukrainians, Turks, Macedonians, Anglo Australians and Kooris. Multiculturalism works best when there are hundreds of cultures together, that way you must mix, you can’t stay in enclaves. We don’t care where you are from; as long as you are a nice bloke, you are part of the team.”
Over the last couple of years, Sunshine Heights Cricket Club and East Coburg Cricket Club have joined together to play for the Harmony Shield, a once-a-year match to promote multiculturalism in cricket. Over 33 nationalities are represented. The match generates large media interest and enormous goodwill between the two communities, and has been so successful that Cricket Victoria is expanding the Shield to include 10 teams. The event is seen as a vital way to decrease racial sledging in cricket.
Sunshine Heights Cricket Club is passionate about cricket, its members and about putting as much back into the local area as it can. It has a healthy committee of 8 to 10 people, which sometimes expands to 15, has no trouble recruiting players or volunteers, and actively encourages young people and juniors to participate in the club.
“Young people need to be included. It’s a very social committee, we like it to be a fun place”, Chris says.
The club avoids burn-out by being in the enviable position of having an assistant for every position. Ben Ciach, the 25-year-old administrator, has been with the club for 18 seasons and has a 19-year-old assistant.
“The club is inclusive; everyone is welcomed with open arms,” says Ben. “There is an amazing mix of personalities and backgrounds; there is a very warm feeling within the club. Growing up in Sunshine is not really easy. There are a lot of things that can go wrong in your youth. Every summer the Sunshine Heights Cricket Club looked after me and now I want to give something back.”
Some of the club’s committee members are also prominent leaders in the local community and vigorously lobby to improve the club and the community’s facilities.
Chris explains: “As we become parents we start thinking about where we are living. The western suburbs are not flushed with resources. We lobby local and state governments and attend community forums to raise awareness of the state of the ovals we are playing on; some of the grounds have been condemned. Clubs like ours need assistance to upgrade facilities. Without facilities there’s an increase in crime rates and directionless youth. It’s really sad that council puts a dollar value on things and can’t always see the broader social value."
Sporting clubs like Sunshine Heights Cricket Club demonstrate that belonging to a club can provide significant mental, physical and social health benefits.
Ben says it best: “If the cricket club wasn’t here I would be lost. A lot of my friends and I would be twiddling our thumbs – the club takes up a lot of our time. I wouldn’t know 90% of my closest friends if I hadn’t walked in the club 18 years ago. I will never forget something a life member said a few years ago, which I think sums up the club: ‘We are not here to become better cricketers; we’re here to become better people’.”
More Information
Sunshine Heights Cricket Club can be contacted by phoning Chris Hatzistavrou on 0410 431 375.
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From Little Things, Big Things Grow – Waverley Little Athletics Centre
Little athletes participate weekly in a wide range of running, jumping, throwing and walking events. The emphasis is on participation and personal improvement rather than winning.
From Little Athletics, big things can grow. What started as a small group of children meeting at a Geelong oval in 1964 has catapulted into a national active recreation program for children aged between 5 and 15 years.
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Over 4 million young people have registered at Little Athletics Centres since its inception, with 92,500 participating across Australia this summer.
The smell of freshly cut grass and brand new running shoes can stir the heart of many grown-up ex-Little Athletes, so much so that they often feel the need to return to the sport, albeit in an entirely different capacity.
Lindsay Harrison, president of the Waverley Little Athletics Centre, shares his passion: “I enjoyed being part of Little Aths so much as a kid, I really wanted my kids to have a chance to enjoy it too. I am involved because I love the club. I ran here when I was 11 years old and the club is identical to the day I left. Being here has rekindled great memories”.
Little athletes participate weekly in a wide range of running, jumping, throwing and walking events. The emphasis is on participation and personal improvement rather than winning.
“The smallest kid can participate and even large children can throw a discus and find themselves going really well in that event. We aim for personal bests, nothing else”, Lindsay explains. “Success to us is having the kids enjoy themselves, that’s it. A couple of kids have won state medals and that’s great but it doesn’t guarantee that they will become successful athletes in the future. It’s more about the enjoyment.”
Situated in the outer east surrounded by parkland and boasting “the best grass track in the state”, Waverley has historically been a thriving centre, with 1600 members during the 'baby booming' 1970s. The 400 current members represent the demographic of the immediate area, comprising many different cultures. Children of intellectual disabilities are also welcomed and participate enthusiastically.
Waverley Little Athletics Centre has received much attention lately, winning the Victorian Little Athletics Association (VLAA) Centre of the Year award in 2003/04 (out of 106 centres across Victoria) and the inaugural Monash Club of the Year Award for Sporting Clubs.
The awards are the result of the work of a core group of committed parents who began rebuilding the club after a serious financial situation almost caused the club’s demise.
Recent efforts have focused on recruitment campaigns and implementing healthy eating and healthy environment policies. The club’s Bring a Friend Recruitment Initiative won another VLAA award, the Best Recruitment Initiative, for its innovative campaign that turned visiting friends into new members. Seventy-five existing little athletes brought a friend along to the club; 40 registered as new members.
In 2004, the Waverley/Springvale Perpetual Trophy Day was developed to foster positive relations between parents and athletes of the neighbouring Little Athletics Centres. The day provides an opportunity for the centres to share ideas and to provide more stimulation for the athletes. The day is now a regular yearly event, hosted alternately by the two centres.
The club’s healthy lifestyle policies include the provision of healthy foods, sunscreen for all athletes, officials and volunteers, no smoking, no alcohol, supplying cold water in insulated jugs on hot days and strict adherence to the VLAA Safety Plan.
“I am really proud of the whole Little Athletics movement. It has a real fun spirit about it, and kids aren’t getting hurt. Little Aths doesn’t have a drinking culture attached to it, which is a good thing", says Lindsay.
The club, however, is only as good as the people who sustain it, and Little Athletics is one of many sports that rely 100% on the generosity of parent volunteers. “In the ’70s Little Aths was the place to be on a Saturday morning,” reflects Lindsay. “It wasn’t hard to get parents to volunteer. Society has changed a lot since then. Some parents get involved but a lot don’t. If Little Aths wasn’t around, a lot of kids would miss out on the great opportunity we had. And that is, to have fun!”
“It is a miracle that the club continues – the intensity of setting up equipment every week usually falls on the shoulders of too few. One parent from the 400 members is meant to volunteer every two weeks. If everyone did their bit it would be heaven.”
The club knows that the best way to attract volunteers is to make duties easier for them, but setting up and pulling down large cumbersome equipment is not attractive to many parents.
“We have high jump mats that take 30 minutes to set up and we need a trolley to transport them. We have timing gates and temporary discus cages that are heavy,” explains Lindsay.
One solution is permanent equipment, but the club has so far been unable to convince the local council to approve the equipment, even though it would cost the council nothing.
Despite the long hours and the many frustrations, Lindsay wouldn’t be doing anything else. “I am involved because I love the club, and as a coach I get a lot out of seeing the kids improve. I do get a buzz when they do exceptionally well, but it’s just as rewarding to see kids who were pretty ordinary at the beginning be able to jump well at the end of the season.”
“It is also really rewarding to see that the club is being looked after. Hopefully it will be there for the kids for many years to come.”
More Information
Waverley Little Athletics Centre can be contacted at www.waverleylittleaths.org
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An Easy Crosse to Bear – Williamstown Women’s Lacrosse Club
The club has been very successful at showing juniors that you can continue playing lacrosse as well as taking up umpiring and coaching for a sporting lifetime.
Who would have imagined that a sport first played by the indigenous peoples of North America would become a huge part of the culture of the Victorian bayside suburb of Williamstown? Some say ‘Willy kids’ are more likely to carry a lacrosse stick than a netball or a footy, such is the popularity of this sport.
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Hundreds of years ago the six tribes of the Iroquois (now Southern Ontario and Upstate New York) called their game ‘baggataway’ or ‘tewaraathon’. The game played a significant role in the community and spiritual life of many tribes across America. Folklore says the first Europeans to see the game were French explorers who thought the stick looked like a bishop’s crosier, renaming the sport ‘la crosse’.
The Williamstown Women’s Lacrosse Club proudly promotes its own history. Beginning in 1936, the club has 91 registered players, almost one-quarter of all players in the Women’s Association across Melbourne.
President Fran Whitty expands on the local popularity of a game she describes as “hockey in the air”.
“Lacrosse has always been a key part of Williamstown’s history. There are generations of families that have played lacrosse here. Lacrosse is part of Willy kids’ lives; if your brother or sister doesn’t play, your uncle’s bound to have, or your cousin or a neighbour plays.”
The club, with playing members ranging in age from 8 to 46 years, has a very clear focus on junior development and gears all policies and activities to ensure a family-friendly environment.
Fran explains: “A lot of our members are juniors. We have very ambitious talented kids who want to represent their state or Australia. Sometimes it’s a challenge balancing the needs of social players (and oldies like me!) and ambitious younger players who obviously want to be playing to their full potential”.
Although Williamstown Women’s Lacrosse Club doesn’t have trouble recruiting players, the club spends a lot of time working with schools to promote the sport.
“Several of our members, who are ex-Australian players, run clinics in local schools, voluntarily. We also run an annual inter-school carnival with 33 local primary schools. It’s a big day for everyone – kids and organisers alike. About 20 people from our club are involved. We all take time off to be part of the day. With 12 teams playing – both boys and girls teams – the day is a great feeder to our club. The clinics we run at the schools are a lead-in to this larger big schools’ carnival day”, Fran says.
Traditionally women tend to lose interest in organised sport around the ages of 16 or 17, or when they have children. The club is addressing this with activities that encourage women and girls to continue playing lacrosse.
“We introduced the ‘welcome back’ awards to encourage mothers to come back to the club. Most people are time poor so we run the club in a family-friendly way. We help the mums by providing informal child-care on the side of the field, and we really think about the timing of our events. There are a number of mums and daughters who play for the club, as well as families that have two or three daughters playing. The parents really appreciate the time and effort we put into making things easier for them. There is a real sense at the club that everyone is looking out for each other.”
According to Shelley Maher, president of Women’s Lacrosse Victoria, and a Williamstown player, coach and umpire, Williamstown Women’s Lacrosse Club is special for many reasons. “Williamstown has the advantage of having the sport entrenched in its culture and community. The role modelling and focus on junior development is fantastic. The club has been very successful at showing juniors that you can continue playing lacrosse as well as taking up umpiring and coaching for a sporting lifetime. There is a terrific mix of age and experience in all of the grades. Willy has had very strong representation in Australian teams. Young players are out there with ex-Australian players and current Victorian players. This automatically makes you feel special and privileged. Not every lacrosse team can offer that.”
The club has continued to thrive over many decades in spite of the fact that it doesn’t have its own club rooms. The club uses the rooms of the Williamstown Men’s Lacrosse Club on Wednesday nights for training and holds its home games at the Williamstown Baseball Club.
“It is a real challenge when you don’t have your own club rooms. How do you create a welcoming environment?”, asks Shelley. “What makes club rooms special are photos, memorabilia, a fire to sit around, a well-equipped kitchen. We don’t have that so we have to supplement it in other ways, like holding events at people’s homes.”
A lack of club rooms also affects fundraising opportunities. “Men’s sports clubs tend to raise money over the bar a couple of times a week. Women’s clubs generally don’t have that income stream“, laments Fran. “We have to be more creative in finding funds…we have become really good at sourcing grants!”
It helps that the club has a wealth of experience to draw from – many members are in senior sport, recreation and community sector administration and teaching roles.
Fran says a healthy club needs to offer healthy food choices, be smoke-free and have good risk management processes, but the more critical stuff is the culture within a club. “Players need to feel welcome and supported; parents want to know their kids are safe. When we make decisions we think about what is good for everyone – all ages and playing levels, families, and the sport of lacrosse as a whole.”
“There are fantastic friendships and loyalty within Williamstown Women’s Lacrosse Club. People rarely move to another club – why would they!”
More Information
Williamstown Women’s Lacrosse Club can be contacted by calling Fran Whitty (03) 9307 5837 (home) or 0433 183 672; email fran.whitty@dvc.vic.gov.au
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Pushing Boundaries – Football Victoria
Initiatives include the ‘You Kick Like a Girl…Good for You!’ promotion, a new junior girls competition, and pathways for females from Auskick to open age and into coaching and umpiring.
Females of all ages are flying high in football games around the State since Football Victoria enthusiastically accepted the challenge to develop programs which will increase the number of female players.
Hundreds of girls and young women have passionately described the thrill they experience playing a game they have grown up loving but previously not participated in.
Through a new three-year partnership with VicHealth, Football Victoria is working at boosting participation and making clubs more inclusive and welcoming to a wider range of people.
Football Victoria, one of 50 state sporting associations supported by VicHealth, is the peak body for the more than 1120 clubs involving 217,000 players across the state. The alliance has already benefited many participants (officials, volunteers, umpires and coaches, as well as male and female players), clubs, leagues and the sport in general.
Some of the initiatives underway include the ‘You Kick Like a Girl…Good for You!’ promotion, the establishment of a junior girls competition, and pathways for females from Auskick to open age and into coaching and umpiring.
Mick Daniher, Football Victoria’s Manager of Development and Planning, says that female football “leapt ahead in giant strides in 2004”. An increase in female players was recorded in all sectors including Auskick, junior, youth, secondary school and senior women’s competitions and programs. In 2005, female player numbers more than doubled from last season.
Football Victoria is also using the game to bring people together from diverse cultural backgrounds. Opportunities for Koori communities to get involved on and off the field are increasing and programs are underway to create interest and understanding of the game for children and parents from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Recreational football, a tamer version of the sport which has broader appeal, is being trialled. It’s giving supporters of the game a safer, easier version of the game that has strong parallels with the traditional game.
There are also campaigns aimed at volunteers, coaches and umpires to improve skills and encourage more people to take part.
To help community football clubs enhance their operations and make their club environments more healthy and welcoming to players, officials and members, Football Victoria recently launched an innovative Quality Club Program. With policies and processes in place for the responsible serving of alcohol, bouncing racism out of sport, accommodating people with disabilities, training volunteers, establishing community partnerships, and more, football really will become a game for everyone.
For more information about Football Victoria, go to
www.footballvictoria.com.au