Dear Members and Supporters,
We are now past the halfway point of the season and it is timely to give you all an update on our progress to date. There has been a number of Club initiatives that have begun in season 2019 and not all supporters have an insight into these plans.
OPERATIONS
We are the first club in Australia to utilise a new concussion management software developed at the University of Texas, as reported in the Herald-Sun two weeks ago. The Club’s use of the program will be highlighted this Friday night on Channel 31 on “The Local Footy Show’.
The appointment of Mitch Wright in his role of High Performance Manager has added further depth to our Football Operations Department. Mitch, a qualified exercise physiologist, manages twenty-two GPS units purchased by the Club during the preseason. The game day data for each player is downloaded, analysed and given to our senior coaching staff on a weekly basis. The data is used to manage player training loads and gives insights to player workloads during games.
In the past two weeks our senior men have defeated two top four teams whilst playing up to four Under 19’s players including Harvey Chinn, Jake Mellis, Nathan Hare and Mason Storr. The average age of our senior team during those incredible victories has been around 22 years of age, or even a touch younger! What that tells us as supporters is that this Club still has significant upside in the years to come.
Our senior women’s team has 33 players in the squad and is showing huge improvement in their skills, fitness and game play under the coaching of Ray Lacey and Scott Nicholas. Four wins on the board already and an inclusive team culture that has earned them a strong reputation in the league.
Over the next month our senior men should get back Robertson, McKernan, Rutherford, Henderson, Bowes, both Watsons, Millen and Collins! That is some talent and experience to join our young senior side as we strive towards, hopefully, another finals campaign.
We have begun our relationship with ‘Outside the Locker Room‘, an organisation that assists community clubs by running sessions that focus on mental health awareness for players and staff. We have one more session planned for this season.
Our two netball teamsare proving successful in 2019, with many new players to the Club, often through connections with family and friends. It also great to see some of our girls playing both netball and football with the Hawks. The generous support of Steve and Bec Moore of GJ Gardner Wantirna South sees the girls looking great in Club hoodies
Our senior men and women players have been incredibly supportive of our junior teams, particularly by supporting our Boronia Auskick program on Friday nights and junior training nights.
Our coaching staff headed by Matt Clark in the seniors and Andrew Catley in the juniors, have continued to set standards that mirror our Club’s Mission Statement. We couldn’t be prouder of our head coaches and assistant coaches and we hope they continue to enjoy their involvement in our Club.
CLUB FACILITIES
The Club, in consultation with the Boronia Cricket Club, have now had ‘Concept Plans’ drawn up for a new club rooms facility at Tormore Reserve. We are now in the strategy stage where very shortly we will be sharing our Club’s aspirations with Knox City Council and our local members of State and Federal Parliament. We need their backing to take this project further. There are absolutely no guarantees that this concept will progress to new, improved rooms for our players and supporters, but we can assure everyone associated with the Club, we will be giving this a 100% crack!
The Club has recently had new solar lighting installed around the ground perimeter and pathways. Very soon, the new landscaping upgrade will be completed, with BBQ and picnic facilities as well as a half-court all-weather basketball surface.
The redevelopment of Miller Park is looking great. The new surface is outstanding, the new fencing looks great and should keep the rabbits out! (Yes, they are an ongoing problem). The contractor has recently put a new cricket pitch in, so the ground will be up and running for this year’s cricket season. We can’t wait to access this facility for junior home games next year.
The Club has also purchased a much-needed upgrade to our sound system for the social rooms at Tormore Reserve. This will be a great boost for all club functions.
Our new 100 lux Ground Lighting will be fully installed and operational by the end of July or early August. This improved lighting will give our Club far greater flexibility in game allocations and hopefully will enable our women’s football team to play at a more suitable hour than 8.30 am on a Saturday morning! Thanks to Kristan Wood for his work as Project Manager.
CLUB DEVELOPMENT
This year has seen the whole club hold a very successful Family Day as a One Club event. Combining the first senior men’s home game with the Junior Jumper Presentation and unfurling of the three 2018 premiership flags was very successful, with a great crowd at Tormore Reserve.
We are always looking at ways to build our junior numbers. In addition to the Family Day, we participated in the Knox Festival, the St Bernadette’s / St Joseph’s Fete, the Knox Primary Schools Girls Footy Day and we will be also attending The Basin Primary School Fete in October. An enthusiastic Junior Committee and great One Club support allows us to seek out new ways to recruit and promote our great Club.
Our Junior Club now has 105 registered Boronia Auskick players. This is an incredible achievement! As a result, we also have two new Under 8’s teams, a first for the Club.
Our new Under 12 Girls team keeps building as the season progresses and these girls are loving their footy. Our Under 16 Girls team merged with Knox early in the season as both teams were on low numbers. This has been a huge success with the girls from Boronia / Knox having great outcomes on game days.
We have nine boys playing on permit to Bayswater in their U14 and U15 sides. This has been a great partnership between two local clubs. This has given these boys the opportunity to still play as a Boronia player but under the Bayswater banner. They have all had great seasons. We are striving to have these boys back at Boronia playing in their respective age groups in 2020.
FUNDRAISING AND EVENTS
Our Sponsorship Programs have been very successful through the tireless efforts of our volunteers, with particular thanks to Samantha Dunkinson for her work on Player Sponsorships and Community Partnerships. Our new electronic scoreboard at Tormore Reserve provides additional advertising opportunities and we have expanded our fence signage and in-house TV promotions. We are very grateful for the tremendous support and generosity of our sponsors and their confidence that our Club is good for their business.
We have proactively supported wellbeing programs through support for Love Me Love You, Beyond Blue, Pancare, Fight MND, and a Walk in the Park for Parkinson’s Disease.
We have once again been awarded the hosting of the EFL Division 1 Finals series for this season. This has the capacity to be a significant fundraiser for our club.
David Murrihy is running the event so be prepared for a tap on the shoulder as we need our volunteers to band together to make this special!
Our fundraising efforts are all on track. Our GK Travel + Cruise Major Raffle raised over $10K and we have had successful functions with the Season Launch, President’s Lunch, Gala Ball and Ladies Lunch.
In the coming weeks we have the 1969 Triple Premiership Reunion, a Hawks Nest Coterie Lunch, our 200 Draw (see Michael Goldsack for tickets) and we have already sold out our final Presidents Lunch in August. We also have our last raffle running now which is the FTG Motor Group Raffle to win a brand new car!
Finally, our Club is continuing to grow and as Dave Nicholas, our Finance Director, so aptly stated, our only enemy is complacency. That will not be allowed to happen, and our next three months should give us all much hope, enjoyment and gratification!
GO HAWKA!!!!
Greg Hannon, Senior President & Ellisa Schmidtke, Junior President
Boronia Hawks Football Netball Club