Gabriella Vukman
This year Hoddles Creek cricket club and home of ‘the mighty wombats’ has introduced its first ever women’s side.
With 11 registered players so far, the club rejoices for their new ‘Stage Two Girls’ juniors team.
Club president Grant Rankin (Wakka) said, “It’s a huge moment for the club and it’s going to bring a whole new dynamic.”
Compiling the push for women’s sport that has ramped up “more so than ever” in the last few years with the success of their juniors teams, Hoddles Creek Cricket Club sought to “get a girl’s side going.”
“We thought, this is our year to have a crack at it and we were able to ring around and get enough girls together to register and make up a side,” Grant said.
Being a small club in a district without a town, Hoddles Creek members called upon friends, family and the local community to get the ball rolling. Although the club has assembled a team, Grant noted “it was a pretty big hill to climb.”
“As our juniors program has strengthened over the last few years, sisters have come down and a lot more girls have been involved. My daughter and other girls played cricket at Hoddles Creek but with the boy’s team for a number of years. We thought we could actually tap into this and get a stand alone team together,” Grant said.
Grant noted the positive reception of the girl’s team and said, “the reaction from the community and members of the club has been fantastic. All the members are really supportive when we discuss issues and things that need to be done for the girls.”
The club is facilitating the women’s team by “providing gear” and “enabling the uniforms to be modified.”
Having secured some grants for “gear for the girls,” the club is still keen on funding to upgrade its change rooms and ensure that the women’s team is there to stay.
“Funding and all that sort of stuff is a challenge. We’re doing what we can with what we’ve got. If we can gain some more momentum then we may be able to get some assistance from the local council.”
The Hoddles Creek ‘Stage Two Girls’ team is open to girls of any skill level within the age brackets of 12 and 17.
“We have got a lot of girls who are starting for the first time so it’s not about their ages, it’s more about their ability,” Grant said.
Grant acknowledges the support the club has had from the community and club members.
“You just need the right sort of people around to champion this stuff.”
“For the last 10 plus years we’ve had a really good juniors program and some really good work from some former presidents and community people and it just builds on those foundations and the women’s team seems like a natural next step,” Grant said.
While maintaining that the women’s side is “the first step for bigger things,” Grant said, ”we definitely need people to keep pushing for women’s teams in the future.”
