The last position Jo Davies added to her list of volunteer roles at the Alphington Netball Club was president. Which, she admits drily, was not so much taking a step forward as failing to join her fellow committee members by successfully stepping back.
Davies comes across a lot like one of the capable, busy people you call on when a job needs doing. And, netball-wise, there have been many tasks already.
Indeed, a decade after joining the committee as its inaugural and ongoing coaching coordinator, the mum-of-three continues to coach both her youngest daughter Gemma’s ANC 18/U team in addition to Banyule Open and 13/U sides.
As for the presidency, typically, it was far less about ambition and more about the fact that the former schoolteacher, who now works in Netball Victoria’s Sporting Schools program, found herself sitting in the big chair when the music stopped at the last AGM.
So it’s just as well, and surely no coincidence, that what Davies describes as “a fantastic hard-working committee” shares a common goal: finding somewhere for their club to call home.
“We’ve had 10 years of trying so hard to just gain a place where we can lay the committee books, where we can connect with the greater community, where we can say ‘everybody’s meeting at 6pm here’ and it’s always at the same place,’’ says Davies.
Pursuing that ambition involves consistent messaging and communication with Netball Victoria, three local councils and multiple associations. Finally, though, progress in the storage and facility-related areas is being made on behalf of the 14 junior and three Open teams spread across three or four training venues, plus a healthy number of participants in NetSetGO.
Unlike local football, soccer, cricket and bowls clubs, for example, there is nowhere to congregate after games are played at the Banyule and Darebin stadiums. Nowhere, either, for social events - including presentation nights - for a 250-strong gathering, meetings or presentation nights. All important in fostering a sense of community.
“So that’s what we’re working towards and have done for many years, is having a place where we can be a club as a club,’’ says Davies, noting that two different storage areas have at least now been obtained.
“We’re slowly getting there. So we are taking our equipment out of lounge rooms, which is really lovely. It’s taken 10 years to get to that. So anything now is a bonus.’’
All of which is occurring while Davies wears her presidential hat (or 'bib' should we say), the multiple strings to her coach’s bow notwithstanding. When the committee decided earlier this year to keep a log of hours spent on voluntary netball business, the record-keeping proved prohibitively time-consuming. Ah, the irony.
As coordinator, she organises coaching for the coaches, mentors, organises venues, etc, etc. But, without more volunteers, there will be insufficient human resources to accommodate the extra 20-plus girls and boys who might approach Alphington wanting to play each year.
The Opens are self-coached at the domestic - not rep - level. As for the juniors: “Mostly it’s parents, and then a couple of us who have got longer legs in netball do inherit the coaching of the older teams. Again, that’s our resource, and we’re not going to be able to do that forever.’’
Thus, eyeing the future, what particularly pleases Davies is the fact that six members of the 18/U group she leads are now involved with coaching Alphington’s younger teams.
“I love the idea that they are also prepared to volunteer their time,’’ she says. “And then at NetSetGO level we introduce 14-year-olds who are interested in coaching to become coach assistants and work out whether it’s what they’d like to do. Which is a pretty tough entree into netball!’’
But the hope, too, is that they will continue on, and keep giving back, just as anyone who has played community sport has benefitted from the contributions of those who made their own playing experiences possible.
People like Davies, who says she continues to both give and receive.
“It sounds a little cliche, but I’ve been pretty lucky with people who have mentored me, so I’m hoping that I can pass some of that on, and share some of the positive experiences that I’ve had,’’ she says.
“There’s nothing quite like the joy of an eight or nine-year-old who realises they ‘can do’. So for the younger ones, it’s ‘I’ve got this’ and for the older ones I coach, hopefully I can give them something that their other coaches don’t give them.
“It might be a different sort of strategy, it might be just a different language, and for them to go ‘oh, ok, there’s some value in what she’s offering, maybe?’.
“I really love, love, love being part of the community and this is just a vehicle for it. I hope I’m giving some mentorship in the same way that I received it.’’
