NICHOLS Point’s soccer club is celebrating after being named Football Federation Victoria’s Regional Club of the Year.
Awarded to the regional club that best exemplifies the sport as one for all Victorians, the award comes after a strong period of growth for Nichols Point as a club, particularly at the junior level thanks to a ground swell of participation.
President Roxanne Jones said it was a whole team effort by members of the Football Federation Sunraysia club to earn the award.
“It’s pretty exciting, I personally think it’s well deserved, our guys put in so much effort so everyone has worked hard and I think it’s nice to have that acknowledged,” she said.
“It’s (a) massive (amount of work) especially because we are expanding all the time, we’ve had about a 70 per cent growth in our junior program this year so that then entails organising so many extra things that we didn’t have in place.
“Extra coaches, extra kits, making sure the kids have got everything they need to hit the ground running and make sure there are teams for them to go into.”
The growth has meant the club has needed to improve on the fly throughout 2019.
“It’s been a bit of a moving target this year, new teams have been introduced to the season part of the way through just because of the growth we’ve had,” Jones said.
“So it really is pretty much a full time job, the commitment the committee volunteers and coaches put in is phenomenal, I don’t think people realise how much of their personal time they put into this.
“It reflects quite a lot on the work they put in, to actually stand out as the regional club of the year throughout all of Victoria it’s a pretty good thing to have awarded to us, we have put in a phenomenal amount of work this year.”
Jones said the award would help the club grow in the future, with a new pavilion for Nichols Point Reserve a project the club is part of with other user groups.
“It helps us champion for getting some sponsorship, and fundraising going to get this pavilion built,” she said.
“It’s all pretty exciting though because the club is growing and the kids are loving it, we’re seeing a lot of happy faces and that’s what it’s all about.”
