By Dongyun Kwon
The passion for cricket and children’s welfare of a Yarra Glen resident was recognised by a regional cricket association.
Yarra Glen Cricket Club junior coordinator Julian Holland received the Volunteer of the Year award from the Ringwood and District Cricket Association.
The award recipient gave credit for award-winning to everyone in the club who worked hard.
“I know I got recognition for the work that I’ve put in,” he said.
“But there were other people at the club that have put in just as much work as I have, like Travis, the president, has done a heap of work.
“The ladies in the canteen have done a heap of work, preparing meals on a Thursday evening for the players and organising afternoon teas for home games, so it’s not just me.”
Holland has been actively involved in the club, focusing on junior cricket.
He has coached junior teams for the past seven seasons and has also run the Woolworths Blast Program for kids aged five to 10.
“(Woolworths Blast Program) is a beginner program for young kids. We do lots of cricket drills and games to get them familiar with the sport of cricket,” Holland said.
He has been junior coordinator for six seasons since its inception in 2019-20, has been child safety officer for four years since 2021-22, and was on the club committee from 2018 to 2023.
This season, he coached the Under 14s and Under 10s.
“Under 14s team was a combined team. We only had seven players and were struggling for numbers at the start of the season last year, so I had to try and find another team that might have been in a similar position,” the junior team coach said.
“I contacted Kilsyth Cricket Club, and their junior coordinator said, ‘Yes, let’s go ahead with a merge.’, so I coached this merged team.
“The league (SEDA U14-5) only had four teams in the end. We finished third in the home and away season and then we won our first final against Wandin, and we lost to Mt Evelyn.”
The coach said the Under 10s league is for development without official results.
“That’s similar to the Blast Program. There are no results officially published online, and we don’t keep count of runs. We don’t give awards out in Under 10s.
“But the kids still know if they won or lost games. I think we lost two games for the season and won all the others. We did a really good job.”
Holland works for Healesville High School as a PE and maths teacher.
“Coaching kids is easy for me because it’s just what I do, that’s my day-to-day job,” he said.
“I’ve got four young boys and they love cricket.
“I wanted to make sure that there was an opportunity for them to play, but also for all the kids in the town of Yarra Glen.”
The PE teacher emphasised the benefits of being a part of a sport team.
“It helps with children’s physical, social and mental health.,” Holland said.
“That’s why I encourage my children to play team sports.
“We just want kids in the town to play in a team, build friendships, and keep them off the couch.”
Thanks to Holland’s passion and effort, the local cricket club now has a healthy Blast program, four junior teams in total (a junior team in every age group), and three senior teams with many junior players playing senior cricket.
He has also put himself in a senior team as a player but couldn’t play during the latest season due to a knee injury.
Holland was also voted as Best Club Person by the Yarra Glen Cricket Club executive committee and coaches.
Yarra Glen Cricket Club president Travis Gloury said Holland makes everything work and doesn’t look for praise.
“RDCA recognises the person who contributes to a club over a given period, they generally asked for that to be over five years,” he said.
“Julian ticks that box well and truly has been involved with the club since 2017.
“Whatever is required at the time, whether or not it’s something to do with the RDCA, something to do with the juniors or even if it’s on game day for whatever reason, he’ll jump into and work with what he’s got available.”
