With the announcement that Karen O’Sullivan is the 2018 KFNC President, for those who missed the KFNC Annual General Meeting, below is a copy of her speech:
Firstly I’d like to start by thanking outgoing President Rob Waters, who stepped up to lead the Kyneton Football Netball Club five years ago during the some of the Club’s darkest days.
I’d like to begin by telling you why I wanted to take on the role of President.
Sport has been a big part of my life, I grew up playing tennis, netball and hockey and was always fiercely competitive…. I didn’t play at any high or representative levels but I really enjoyed participating … and yes winning!
After Martin and I had our four sons, sport again took on a whole new meaning.
It became our family time, weeknight trainings at the Tylden Football Club, where Martin also coached many of our current Kyneton senior players ….back when they were snotty nosed Under 11’s!
Little athletics was our Saturday morning outing, before cricket came onto the scene just a few years ago during the Summer months. Our children made great friends through their sporting clubs, and as a couple we have also made life-long friends. For me and my family, the sporting Clubs we have been involved in have become our community. And that’s what I want for other families just like mine to feel the Kyneton Football Netball Club is their community.
I have watched the Kyneton Football Netball Club’s transformation over the past 4 years. It is now the Community’s biggest sporting Club with over 300 young boys and girls playing Kyneton junior football, including aus-kickers . Over 100 men and women choose to play football or netball for the Kyneton Tigers.
Our amazing and loyal supporter base is also one of the biggest, if not the biggest in the Bendigo League, Tiger fans often outnumbering other Bendigo Club’s home game supporters base when we play away! We are grateful as a Club to have your ongoing support. Many supporters are also volunteers, who we simply cannot thank enough. Throughout juniors, seniors, netball and women’s football, we could not function without the help of volunteers, so thank-you, thank-you, thank-you.
With an impressive pool of young boys and girls playing football, committed parents making up the Junior Committee and an abundance of volunteers, Kyneton’s Junior Department is now the envy of other Clubs in the Bendigo League…for their performance on and off the football field.
This year the Under 16 Reserves won the Premiership, a fitting win for the boys, many who were playing their last game of junior football before advancing to the Club’s Senior ranks next year. Many of them will play Under 18’s and some will make their debut in the Senior squad.
They will be in good hands. We have a solid and reliable team of local born and bred football coaches in the club’s Senior ranks. In the Seniors first final this year at the QEO, Local players doubled the number of players recruited from beyond the Macedon Ranges.
This year was the Senior’s third consecutive year to be bundled out of finals at the first game…….. …I know the entire group wants to take the next step, and win a final or two or even a premiership ! Now wouldn’t that be nice in our 150th anniversary year.
The Club’s Netball Department is now going through its own rebuild, fielding just 2 out of a possible five teams in the Bendigo League this year. With strong coaches and leaders in the netball department, the future is bright. However we face challenges with the structure and dynamics involved with netball in our region,.. with our young Kyneton netballers firmly embedded in weekend competitions in Gisborne. We must find ways to draw those girls into the ranks of our Under 17, B Grade and A Grade teams where they can compete at a high level for the Tigers in the Bendigo Football Netball League.
Our Women’s Football Department is going from strength to strength on and off the field. Again with dynamic leaders, and committed coaches, the women are in good hands. This year, their 3rd year since formation, they started winning games, they are having more fun than ever and they have shown they are a force to be reckoned with in the Central Vic competition next year. Our women bring another dimension of having fun while playing football, their enthusiasm is infectious, and I look forward to watching their department grow.
Behind the scenes a hard-working Executive meets every fortnight to ensure the Club is running smoothly, please join me in acknowledging the work of this year’s Executive, Rob Waters, Chris Plowman, Hayley Short, Tyson McAadie, Natalie Korinfsky, Ron Rutledge, Angela White and Cara Grambeau.
We are now giving back to the Community in many ways, a portion of funds from our Track and River Fun Run have gone to a local Multiple Sclerosis Support Group, the Macedon Ranges Shire Council’s Live4LIfe initiative to help adolescents with mental health problems, and the next event in February we will donate 10% of revenue from the fun run to the Royal Children’s Hospital good Friday appeal, the Hospital that saved the life of little Francesca Beattie. Our Netballers are regular helpers at the Kyneton Community Lunch on a Wednesday, and our Community Goodwill fund facilitated by Jellis Craig enabled us to offer financial assistance to two local families with members experiencing serious medical conditions
SO WHY DO I WANT TO BE THE PRESIDENT?
Because there is more to be done before the Kyneton Football Netball Club can be the best Community Club it can be.
While our growth has been quick and continues, it hasn’t been reflected in our infrastructure. We have outgrown these social club rooms, and have nowhere indoors and undercover to call our own where our juniors can gather as a Department, hold Senior presentation nights or major functions.
Generous Grants from the State and Federal Governments, as well as the Local Macedon Ranges Shire Council will see a much needed upgrade of the Showgrounds Home and Away rooms before the next season begins, …. in the near future the bottom oval pavilion will also receive a refurb, to include unisex toilets and showers, and new umpire rooms.
But the Club’s Executive has identified the most critical infrastructure needed going forward is a new or upgraded Social Clubrooms and commercial kitchen. With a large space that could seat up to 300 people, the Kyneton Football Netball Club will then have the infrastructure to take the Club to the next level. We can hold our own functions in a new larger space, as well as being able to rent out the venue to other community organisations, or groups who could hold weddings, conferences and other large functions without having to leave the town.
The Kyneton Football Netball Social Clubrooms have the potential to become the local go to place for all town folk and their families wanting a parma and a pot on a Thursday night.
Preliminary work is being down to lay the foundations for funding for this project, one that will really take the Club to the next level.
While we have come a long way, there is still a lot to be done.
We need to do more to build strong connections between the junior and senior departments,…we need to do a better job at supporting, acknowledging and thanking our generous sponsors and individuals who support us financially year in year out, and we need to be more inclusive, ensuring more of our families are involved in functions and fundraisers more frequently …before we can really be the best strong Family and Community Club we can be.
Next year is going to be a magnificent year for the Club as it reaches the remarkable milestone of 150 years.
To commemorate the Anniversary we will build the 150 Foundation Wall. We have a vision that it will be filled with the names of current and past players, supporters, committee members and any other individuals or groups, local business and sponsors who have ever been or want to be associated with the Club.
My boys don’t know it yet but thats what they’re getting for Christmas.
I encourage you to purchase a plaque for $150, … these funds will go a long way to help secure the Club’s financial future. It’s a way of cementing your support for the Kyneton Football Netball Club, and it will be there on the wall for the next 150 years.
I look forward to being your President and thank-you for giving me the opportunity to lead such a wonderful club.
Karen O’Sullivan
President
Kyneton Football Netball Club
