By Callum Ludwig
The resurgent Yarra Junction Junior Football Club is offering free footy for players once again for season 2024.
Having already waived the cost of registration in 2023, the opportunity was available again due to the generous support of local sponsors and businesses.
President Kyle Ousley said they are thrilled to be able to offer free footy again.
“After Covid and the effect it’s had on our kids and I’m sure other people’s kids, where they wanted to be sitting on the couch playing their Nintendo Switches, we figured if we can get by without get by without having to charge the families anything, why not,” he said.
“Everything that you try and go and do, whether its footy or basketball or tennis or netball, the parents are always forking out money,”
“We don’t need to make money around here, we just need to get the kids out there playing sport and having fun.”
Next year, the Eagles will be fielding Auskick for kids aged 5-8, an Under 9s boys team, an Under 10 Girls team, an Under 11s team and an Under 13s team.
Vice President Georgia Strahan said this year gave kids who were wanting to try footy for the first time the opportunity to do so.
“It really gave them the opportunity to be able to just try it without that financial burden on the families or parents, they could just come and have a go for one game, and most of them did that and then stuck with it as well,” she said.
“Being able to play a team sport is really important for kids, the kids might not go to the same school but they’ll see each other at the shops and they play footy in the same colours so it creates a kind of family and to meet other kids they wouldn’t necessarily meet.”
A milk crate full of second-hand footy boots is on hand at the club for kids to borrow and give it a go until they are settled, while families can also return footy shorts and socks if kids decide footy isn’t for them.
Ms Strahan said being able to work together as a team helps kids for the rest of their lives.
“I look back to my junior footy here and junior basketball and it sets you up to then be able to work as a team in your business life or later on in your life,” she said.
“I think it’s really important that we give the kids the opportunity to be able to do that and have a safe place where they can go and for us to create a good culture around them.”
For a period between 2013 and 2017, the club was unable to field any junior sides, until a small group of dedicated parents and volunteers revived it, starting from the ground up by reestablishing Auskick.
Ms Strahan said there are lots of family connections around the club.
“When we did have juniors, it was such a strong club and there are people who’ve gone right through from juniors right through play seniors, even if they went and played somewhere else for a few years and then came back,” she said.
“I know for myself, my son now plays here in the juniors, my daughter in the Auskick and my daughter’s dad plays in the reserves side so the kids get to wear his jumper number and stuff, which is significant to them.”
Anyone interested in joining the junior sides can contact Kyle at 0417 124 828 or Georgia (girls) at 0425 459 370 or email yjjunioreagles@outlook.com.
