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.
These clubs were nominated by their State Sporting Association because of their success in increasing levels of participation and valuing and promoting inclusiveness.
How a Sailing Club Keeps Afloat – Albert Sailing Club
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), staffs 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.
How a Sailing Club Keeps Afloat
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
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.
Hockey Club Sticks to the Ground Work
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
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.
A Rescue for Puberty Blues
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
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!
Cunning Running Puts Bendigo on the Map
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
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.
Family Spirit fuels Motorcycle club
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
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.
A Homer Away From Home
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
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.
Kicking the goals that countKicking the goals that count
More information
Contact Glen Eira Junior Soccer Club at www.gleneira-jsc.com.au
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"Tennis Everyone?" – Kingsville Tennis Club
'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.
Tennis Everyone?"
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.
Positive Communications Keeps Club out of Deep Water
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
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.
How Bowling Became 'The Business'
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
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.
Tackling Life with Heaven's Game
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
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.
Peninsula Shows Ponies Not Only for the Rich
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 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.
Netballers and Slaughtered Rams Keep Natimuk Alive
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
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.
Bend Them, Shape Them
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)
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.
Blowing Away the Myths with Some Straight Shootin'
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
The Sunshine Heights Cricket Club was founded by a group of local shopkeepers back in 1954 at Castley Reserve in Sunshine West. For over 55 years, the club has led the way in promoting cricket participation in one of Melbourne’s most culturally diverse communities. Immigrants have flocked to Sunshine for many years. In the 1960s, post-war Europeans (including Greeks, Italians, Poles, Turks, Cypriots, Maltese and Yugoslavs) settled and raised their families in the area. More recently, arrivals have come from Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India and Sudan.
I Don't Like Cricket...I Love it!
More Information
See http://sunshineheights.cricketvictoria.com.au or phone Chris Hatzoglou on 0416 101 637.
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From Little Things, Big Things Grow – Waverley Little Athletics Centre
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.
From Little Things, Big Things Grow
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
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.
An Easy Crosse to Bear
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