In a sport where fair play is everything, Templeton Cricket Club is proud to be named Club of the Year in the Knox Sport and Leisure Awards.
The win recognises their commitment to being an inclusive club that provides a supportive culture for volunteers and demonstrates good governance structures.
As the club celebrates their 40th anniversary, president Sean Meehan says they've come a long way and members are humbled to be recognised for their efforts.
"That social connection that people make at a community club like ours is as important as actually learning how to play the game of cricket," he says.
"We have quite a multicultural membership base. So, we have a 'Taste of the world' night where we encourage our members who have been born in other countries or have a link to other countries to bring traditional foods of their countries and encourage everyone to come up and experience those different cuisines.
"The other thing that we've made a conscious effort to do is develop our female cricket program at our club. Our first junior girls' team was established in 2017. We've expanded that to a point where 20 per cent of our playing group are now females.
"We're not just providing a hub for males to make those connections but females as well, and for both our female and male members to make new friends across our membership base."
The annual Council awards, established in 2016, celebrate volunteers within our local sports and leisure clubs.
"We have 14 junior teams so it's one of the larger junior programs for a cricket club around the area and we couldn't do it without the contribution that all our junior parents make as junior team coaches and team managers," Sean says.
The second club recognised at the awards was Ferntree Gully Tennis Club, who received the Best Club Initiated Program Award for their All Abilities Program. The program was developed in collaboration with Tennis Victoria, VicSport and the NDIS, as well as Council, and provides opportunities for people of all abilities to connect and engage in physical activity through tennis.
