Sarah Oliver
A new field, courts and facilities will result in Eynesbury Football Netball Club grow and change in the coming months and years.
The new grounds were opened the same week Victoria entered its latest lockdown, making them unused and ready for training.
Committee member and club 18s football coach Aron Lombardi said one junior netball team had a play on a new court, but the rest of the club were yet to experience the new grounds.
“[Eynesbury] has never had any facilities at all, except for a little patch of land, so this is a long time coming for the whole community,” he said.
Lombardi said training will be starting soon for the football and netball teams who can’t wait to get onto the field and courts.
Last year the men’s senior football team played their debut season, with four wins and four losses before the competition abruptly ended due to COVID restrictions.
Lombardi said having the new home ground has helped attract new players to the club and that they’re looking forward to a competitive season.
In more football news, the club are excited to introduce a new team for under-15s boys.
“Especially with not having grounds, we weren’t able to get the numbers for the team,” Lombardi said.
“It’s still touch and go, but pretty confident it’ll go ahead.
“We know there’s other kids in the community…this will give them an opportunity to play in the community.”
Lombardi said the main reason for fielding an under-15s team is to keep the younger kids in the Eynesbury community.
“We don’t want to have kids at the club finishing then going to another team, so it’ll be good to keep them at the club.”
Lombardi said a lot of the senior players who play in the club 18s side are getting involved with coaching and mentoring the new team and that the link between the seniors and juniors is “awesome”.
The club will be organising some special development opportunities next year for the under-15s and 13s.
Lombardi said they’re in the process of organising some clinic sessions in January or February next year through a company who has three state level coaches to help run the program.
“Being that age group where we lost players before, we want to just give them something for their development and also to enjoy their footy at Eynesbury,” Lombardi said.
“Good for the kids, good for their footy and good for the club as well.”
With the new grounds and community sport back in action, Lombardi said they expect memberships will increase.
“Now that we have everything here, it’s going to explode,” he said.
