The Lakes FC Premier women's team placing second in the W-League competition. Photo / Supplied
The Lakes FC Premier women's team placing second in the W-League competition. Photo / Supplied
Hakinakina Iwi Kainga - Local Community Sport OPINION:
The Lakes Football Club was only formed in September last year but it is already the largest football club in Rotorua, with vision to create 'better people' - using football as the vehicle.
There was a gap in our local game regarding pathways for junior players, and the newly-formed club looked to address this opportunity.
U15 Lakes FC winners at the Papamoa tournament. Photo / Supplied
The two largest junior clubs, Eastlake and Otonga, merged to establish the junior membership and provided the platform and confidence to build and attract other youth, female and senior players and teams looking to be part of this developing movement.
It is no secret that behind any successful sporting community is an amazing volunteer roster, and the Lakes FC is no exception.
You can check out the crew on www.lakesfc.com/contact, where the bio profiles and pics really gives you a sense of community and personal touch that resonates with the club's values of 'find the good', 'everyone matters', and 'create smiles'. Whilst 'humility over ego' is also a key value, from my brief encounters with key club officials, you get the sense that there are some particular volunteers that have steered proceedings and deserve a mention.
Fred Shilton, Lakes Football Club president. Photo / Supplied
Fred Shilton (President) and Catherine Donovan have played particularly key roles with regard to getting the club to where they are today in such a short period. They will be quick to pass on any attention and accolades to others such as Tony Waites, Jiten Manu, Daniel Gibbs, Darren Vedder, Andrew Gibbs, Rich Barter, Scott Downs, Mark Chapman, and Adrian and Jeanene Lysaght. I suggest this is still just a snapshot of the volunteer resources they rely on to deliver the code to their members, alongside their major community sponsors Progressive Print and McDonald's Rotorua.
Catherine Donovan. Photo / Supplied
At the end of their first winter season, they can look back on managing 42 junior teams, 20 youth and 5 senior teams - 67 teams in total, including 11 female teams. 710 players are proud to call themselves members of the Lakes FC.
There is no rest post-season, with ongoing coaching programmes scheduled, futsal teams in action, and a summer football series kicking off this week at Linton Park.
Within five years, they hope to grow their membership to more than 1000 members and develop their resources and facilities to reflect what will be Rotorua's largest sporting club.
I suspect they have only just scratched the surface with regard to what this club can achieve in the near future.
Lakes FC are already a major part of our amazing Rotorua sporting community.
He kaitakaro tika, he iwi ora. Great players, better people.
For your Rotorua community sports news and stories, please contact me at Crispian.stewart@eves.co.nz
