THE proverb ‘many hands make light work’ is as true today as when it was first uttered back in the 1300s.
For the Swan Hill Basketball Association (SHBA), that saying is as essential to the running of their competitions and representative programs as basketballs, goal rings and backboards.
Like all good community sports organisations, the SHBA cannot function without volunteers, with literally thousands of hours of unpaid work going into running the sport in our region.
Although the club has an army of volunteers working tirelessly behind the scenes either, coaching, umpiring or scoring every week, there are two families whose commitment to the association goes above and beyond, with the SHBA recognising the efforts of both the Davies and Roberts families recently.
For years, both the Davies and Roberts have devoted themselves to giving our regions basketballers the best opportunities to succeed, to the point where every single member of each family is now involved at the association as a volunteer in some capacity.
Swan Hill Basketball Association’s Sharon Denham spoke with The Guardian this week and was effusive in her praise of both families and their contributions to the league.
“I think with the volunteers that our association has had over the years, they tend to come and help out and as their kids grow up, they move with their kids,” Ms Denham said.
“But these two families in particular have stuck around and have taken on any position to help out the association, especially within our domestic competition.
“It’s great for our community and both families have really put back into something that’s happening here in Swan Hill and is an important part of the sporting culture within our community.
“They have all had different roles over the years and I think it’s fitting that we acknowledge the fact that it’s not only a big thing for one person in any family to volunteer their time, but for everyone within an entire family to volunteer in some way is very special and something that we really appreciate.”
For the Davies family, the basis of their volunteering is through coaching at the domestic level, with Stephen coaching domestic teams in the under 14 boys and under 16 boys competitions, and wife Belinda coaching one of the under 14 girls teams this season.
Daughters Madi and Montana were also hit by the coaching bug, with the pair coaching teams in the under 12 girls and under 14 girls competitions, while younger brother Rory referees up to four domestic matches every week.
It is a similarly impressive CV for the Roberts family, with Ash not only performing the task of domestic head coach, but also refereeing every week when he’s not filling in as coach.
Ash’s wife Jenelle is the association’s publicity officer, on top of being court supervisor for their domestic finals and one of many weekly scorers.
Joining the husband and wife team is daughter Miela, who not only coaches two domestic teams, but also referees every week, along with younger brother Deacon, who is also a regular whistle blower for the SHBA.
With so many jobs needing to be filled every week, Ms Denham was keen to point out that while the hard work and dedication of families like the Davies and Roberts shouldn’t and doesn’t go unnoticed, that old adage about many hands making lighter work will forever be relevant.
“There’s a lot of volunteers that all clubs have and some of them are in the visible jobs, but there’s a lot of people that do the behind the scenes stuff too and these families (Davies and Roberts) have filled those roles as well,” she said.
“People often only see the ones who are refereeing or coaching, but there’s a lot more people that do a lot more good work than just that.
“We are always looking for people to assist us in any way they can, and the more people that put their hands up every years the better off we are as a club.”
