Once again, some of our St Mary’s players are doing the Push For Better push up challenge to raise awareness and much-needed funds for mental health.
It’s completely free to join the challenge and 6 players are already signed up: Jack Dean, Raygan Tate, Liam Fyffe, Lockie Potter, Myles Guldon, and Nick Gedge.
The players will complete 3,139 push-ups over 24 days in June to represent the number of Australians who died by suicide in 2020.
There will be a different push up target each day based on a mental health statistic.
You can aim for 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100% of the push-up target based on your own fitness levels and personal goals.
If push-ups aren’t your thing, you can always do sit-ups, squats, lunges, or a combination instead! If you are interested, join the Burra team here!
That’s a wrap on National Volunteer Week! Take a look at our players waving their appreciation for all our SMFNC volunteers 😃👋 Volunteers are the backbone of our Club, so we again want to extend a huge thank you to all our volunteers!
We are pleased to announce that we have successfully received a grant of $9605 from Change our Game.
In Australia, women are under-represented in organised sport and Change Our Game does amazing work to improve the participation of women and girls in sport.
Committee Member and Women’s Team Manager Jessie Bickerton shared her excitement about receiving the grant.
“Our goal is to be a Club that champions women in sport, so we are so excited to receive this grant and have an opportunity to act on that goal.”
“We have put so much work in to getting our women’s team up and running, and our current women’s players are so passionate about the club and their team.”
“This will be an fantastic way to thank the players that have been with us for the whole journey, and hopefully encourage more women and girls to come along and join in.”
Stay tuned for more details on our women in sport event!
You can read the press release from Change Our Game here.
For those that don’t know, Liz has been organising our Thursday night dinners for the last 4 years, and you can also find her husband Wayne at the Blue Oyster Can Ban at every home game!
Liz and her family first became part of the St Mary’s community in 1994, when they joined the Junior Club after deciding it was a great place for her sons to start their footy careers.
In her time at the Junior Club, Liz, and her husband Wayne, took on various administrative roles, committee positions, and were even involved in organising social events like karaoke night!
Liz and her husband were awarded Life Memberships from the Junior Club in 2002 to recongise their tremendous contribution.
After joining the Senior Club in 2009, Liz’s passion for St Mary’s saw her jump straight in to help out which was much needed in the brand new Club.
While she has helped out across a host of jobs in her time, she has been helping out with Thursday night dinners since she joined. Initially helping with the cleaning, she has now been organising and preparing our delicious dinners for the last 4 years, and shows no signs of stopping even though her sons have retired from footy!
Speaking of her long-standing relationship with St Mary’s, Liz shared why she continues to volunteer at the Club.
“I just believe that you should give back to the community if you can, and volunteering somewhere you love certainly makes it a lot easier!”
“I love it at St Mary’s; it has a great atmosphere and there are terrific people here.”
Club President Mark Stanley thanked Liz and shared how valuable all our volunteers are to the Club.
“Liz is an incredibly valuable part of our Club, and it is volunteers like Liz that are the lifeblood of this Club.”
“Her dedication and generosity every week of every season, embodies what we value at St Mary’s, and there certainly wouldn’t be Thursday night dinners without her!”
“The selfless commitment of all our regular volunteers is incredible, and we cannot thank them enough for their support.”
If you are interested in volunteering with Liz, sign up here!
Did you know 70% of LGBTQIA+ people do not feel that sport is safe and welcoming?
Today is the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia & Transphobia (IDAHOBIT). IDAHOBIT Day is a day is a chance to celebrate LGBTQIA+ people, but also show support to LGBTQIA+ people to live safely without fear of abuse or violence based on their sex, sexuality or gender expression.
Everyone deserves to feel safe in sport, and that’s why are committing to providing a inclusive and diverse environment for our players, members, and supporters.
Today is the start of National Volunteer Week, a chance to recognise the the vital work of all the volunteers that contribute to SMFNC and say thank you.
Volunteering brings people together and build communities like our SMFNC community. We are #bettertogether 😃
We can all agree that this Club would not be the same without your continued dedication every single week, and we all want to send you a huge THANK YOU!
Club Vice President Fiona Hocking also shared her thanks for all the volunteers at the Club.
“This week is so important as it is a chance to stop and thank the many, many people who make time in their busy lives to give back to the community by volunteering at our Club.”
“We are so grateful for their ongoing commitment to our SMFNC community, and know that keeping this club going simply would not be possible without them.”
“Whether it is helping in the canteen, making Thursday night meals, participating in the Committee, or carrying water on game day, each volunteer has made a difference and we sincerely thank you.”
This week is National Road Safety Week, and with TAC being great supporters of local footy and giving us $10k in funding last year, we want to repay the favour by promoting road safety at our Club. Every year, approximately 1200 people are killed and another 44,000 are seriously injured on Australian roads. These numbers are preventable if we all “drive so others survive!” So this weekend on your way to footy, remember these safe driving tips:
Plan your schedule with extra time for traffic disruptions
If you feel tired, take a 15 minute power nap before driving
Set your phone to do not disturb while driving You can also commit to safe driving by taking the road safety pledge today! For more information on road safety, check out our road safety highlights reel above, or visit TAC or VicRoads for safe driving tips.
St Mary’s Football and Netball Club is proud to be supporting the Pat Cronin Foundation across this weekend’s round of matches.
The Pat Cronin Foundation was formed in 2016 following the death of 19-year old Pat due to a coward punch.
Pat had just finished playing his first senior game of football at Lower Plenty alongside his big brother and was out for a few quiet drinks with his mates.
Unfortunately, when Pat stepped in to remove his friend from a brawl, it was Pat that was hit with a coward punch.
While we have a come a long way from brawls at the footy being an exciting attraction at games, negative attitudes still exist, and violence is still prevalent in sport where emotions are often high.
The Pat Cronin Foundation has been working to end the coward punch and reduce violence, but they need everyone’s support to achieve this goal.
Club President Mark Stanley shared why St Mary’s support the Pat Cronin Foundation.
“People look to sports clubs as leaders in the community, and we need to play our role in spreading the Foundation’s message and ultimately reduce violence in communities.”
“We want to be a club that embodies respect, speaks up when something is wrong, and always display good sportsmanship, and that’s why we are supporting the Pat Cronin Foundation this weekend.”
Our players will be wearing yellow armbands this weekend to honour Pat’s memory and show our support for the Pat Cronin Foundation.
Starting his footy career 17 years ago with St Mary’s Junior Football Club, and joining the Senior Club in 2014, James ‘Jimmy’ Girolami has now played about 250 games across both Clubs!
Jimmy saw lots of success from a young age across about 140 games in the Junior Club. In Under 13’s he won the Club B&F, in 2012 won the Colts Coaches Award, and in 2013 won the Gerry O’Hara Best Clubman Award, recognising his contribution to the Club culture.
He moved into the Senior Club in 2014, and after just missing out on a Colts Premiership two years in a row, was keen to finally take home the trophy. With some hard work, that dream came true, and in his first year in U19s Jimmy, along with 37 other former Junior Club players, took out the Senior Club’s first ever football premiership!
Jimmy has continued to be a standout player and key to the Club’s success, being involved in many of our best Club highlights. He was integral to the Reserves three-peat in 2016, 2017, and 2018, with the NFNL even describing him as “single-handedly bringing the Burra back into the game” in the 2017 Grand Final.
However it was after the third Premiership in 2018 that his skills were recognised and rewarded as he won the Club B&F, NFNL Division 3 Reserves Leading Goal Kicker with 72 goals, and placed 2nd in the NFNL B&F!
Senior Assistant Coach Ben Joyce shared how much he has enjoyed working with Jimmy.
“Jimmy has been one of my absolute favourites since he walked into the Senior Club for the first time in late 2013.”
“In his first season he played as a full-back and had a really strong year with a great ability to intercept and kick the ball with precision.”
“Alongside the other bottom age boys like Castagnini, he was a key part of our side in the 2014 season and added plenty of skill to the group.”
“Over the years, Jim eventually settled as a key forward and was instrumental in the Reserves three-peat success.”
“He has been one of our best and most reliable performers in finals; nobody could forget his match winning after the siren smother in the 2016 Grand Final against South Morang (and the celebration after it – I’ve never seen him move so fast!).”
“However, for me his best game was the 2017 Grand Final against Banyule. We looked like we were in trouble in the third quarter but he turned the match around.”
“Footy clubs are built on people like Jim, and he has been a huge part of creating a great culture at St Mary’s.”
This season we are working with St Mary’s Greensborough Junior Football Club to help develop future footy stars!
Senior Club players are joining Auskick each Friday night at Whatmough Park, led by U19s Coach Ben Shelton, to help the youngest players start to develop footy skills through fun and exciting activities.
In return, the Auskick kids have been coming along to the Senior home games to provide half-time entertainment, and show their support by giving out high-fives to all the Seniors as they take to the field.
We absolutely love being involved in St Mary’s Junior Club Auskick, and can’t wait to meet more of the up-and-coming players this season!
SMFNC 