Bonnie Doon Netball and Football Club President Report 2025
Wow, as a first-year president following on from all seven teams again making the finals in 2024, and coming away with three premierships, to this year where we had all seven teams making finals again, and for the first time ever, six teams into the grand finals.
A very humbling experience for me.
The Bonnie Doon community, committee, supporters, mums and dads, and sponsors are all completely thankful for our teams giving them the joy and success throughout this year.
The committee started the year making a clear and bold statement.
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Player welfare will be our number one priority, and all seven teams are equally important to our club.
Yes, the media, sponsors and the general public, look at clubs’ success based upon their senior netball and football sides’ performance, but this success can only be delivered with the depth and quality of the entire playing groups.
This year we invested in 4 fully qualified trainers, and two massage specialists, with the prime function of preparing our players, and focusing on injury management.
Our club has experienced larger than normal injuries this year, and without the dedicated training staff working pre-season, Tuesdays and Thursdays, along with game day, our seven teams could not have gained the success they have achieved.
Our netball department continues to drive success through a clear focus on player skill development, team coordination, and having fun.
For the second year in a row, our netballers have achieved the unthinkable and have all five sides playing grand finals.
What stands out, is that the A grade side now has 4 players who initially played in our under 15 and under 17 teams in the past.
This progression demonstrates that our leadership groups, along with the coaches and staff, continue to grow the skills and professional strength in the playing group.
At the start of this year, both our Senior Netball Coach and Netball Coordinator were looking to step back and focus on family and lifestyles, but as a first-year president I asked that they continue for one last year to allow me to understand the netball department functions with their help.
And I am extremely grateful for Michelle and Leith assisting me and to them both I say a very sincere thank you.
For 2026 we will be looking to replace them both and have already had excellent candidates within the current department coming forward with interest.
In the last three years, all our teams have won a grand final, except for the reserves football team.
Their success story this year, in making the grand final, is truly remarkable considering our senior team has experienced 14 serious injuries this year with 6 reserves players filling in for them each week.
Back in 2017–2018 our club was at its lowest point, and could not field a senior football side, which meant the reserves all played seniors and we forfeited the entire year of reserves football.
Big losses of 100–200 points were normal every week, but these guys stuck with the club and many of them will be lining up against Bright on Saturday and will have their time to shine.
Win or lose, their remarkable achievements have been a delight to see in these last 4 weeks.
With Bonnie Doon traveling every second week, a two-hour drive to and from our homes is not unusual, and our U15 team starting just after 9 am, means we are all on the road well before 7 am.
This requires a huge commitment from mums and dads, coaches and trainers, timekeepers, umpires and scorers, that a president cannot but just marvel at the commitment of our volunteers, who are the backbone of our club.
The presidency becomes a pleasure, when so many club volunteers turn up and help each and every week.
Finally, it is a pleasure to hear from mums and dads of our opposition, who freely talk to me about the club.
Our U15 and U17 netballers have won many games this season by big margins, and a key focus within our playing groups has been, “it’s not how you lose that counts, it’s how you win.”
It is not hard to be humble, and to have compassion for those that tried their hardest but were not good enough on the day.
Our young netballers have shown week in and week out that their sportsmanship is outstanding, and opposition parents have been freely telling me this each week.
This is the epitome of the Bonnie Doon Netball and Football Club.
Thank you to my executive committee, Tim, Cass and Morgan, along with our 14 committee members for donating so many hours and days to driving success at our club.
