Dear Essendon Netball Club family,

Round 1 is upon us!

It’s hard to believe but this Saturday marks the start of the 2024 EDNA Junior Winter Season and I for one am pumped!

Our Volunteer Committee have worked tirelessly to get the Club to this point. I extend my heartfelt thanks to the amazing Juniors cohort that coordinate and navigate all the complexities of registration, training schedules and player movements with ease.

We have once again experienced growth this season. With 24 junior teams taking the courts this week, there is sure to be red and black everywhere. Our club has also seen our award-winning NetSetGO program go from strength to strength driven forward under the expert leadership of our Vice President and NSG manager Jessica Johnston. It’s great to see some many kids starting their netball journey with bright smiles and contagious energy and we’re so thankful they have chosen our club to partner with. Jess has also launched 2 Under 10s Rep Ready teams at Parkville as a pilot program preparing players for an introduction to the association representative program ‘Essendon Thunder’. These are proving to be highly successful so keep an eye out for future development in this space. Our Senior teams are also weeks into their new season and doing incredibly well across both the Monday and Thursday night Parkville competitions.

Growth has also taken place across our coaches with some coming from other clubs or giving it a red hot go for the first time. Whatever their social or professional netball experience, all our coaches know that they have the full support of the Committee and all our members in the role they have taken on. We must always remember as parents, family members and supporters that our Coaches job is to do their best. It’s our job as a netball family to allow them to do their best by being supportive, flexible, and understanding.

To our amazing sponsors, F. Vitale & Sons, Rendina Real Estate and LG Logistics, we simply wouldn’t be here without your continued valued partnership. We are very excited to ensure this is a two-way relationship and will advocate, promote, and encourage our netball family to get behind your businesses across our all social media channels and beyond.

Our clubs relationship with league body EDNA is as strong as ever. We have put our full support behind their leadership team and have already started to see positive change. They have been working relentlessly on getting plans finalised for Saturday and schedules finalised. This is a timely reminder to all that community sport and in our case, netball is all about inclusion, equality, diversity, and fun. It’s incumbent on all of us to make sure we’re aware of all Codes of Conduct across both our own policies and those of EDNA. Reminder to all that these players aren’t the Vixens or Mavericks and any breaches of the Codes of Conduct policies held by either our Club or EDNA will be met with the full penalties available. There is no place for this type of behaviour at our Club, the leagues we play in or any Community Sport for that matter. There are some changes to the by-laws and game day regulations that have been set out by EDNA so please engage your team managers and coaches for updates on these.

Lastly, I’d like to say that this year across our club is one not to be missed. We have already had a taste of what special events lie in store with last week’s shooters clinic run by MJ from the Vixens. It’s our 30th Anniversary and we have so many incredible events being planned by a full committee (yes, every role is filled!) that will not only celebrate but also highlight the past, present and future of our great club.

Thank you again for your passion and commitment to our great club.

Go Essendon!

Glenn Round

President