Sport provides many opportunities for pride, and sometimes, disappointingly, the opposite.
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As administrators and players of sport we have many examples to recount. But every now and then we have the privilege of witnessing an extra special moment - one we immediately know we'll be recalling for years to come.
A moment that is the very essence of why we become involved in administrating sport and all that it entails.
Our U9s team includes a young lady who is not your typical member of a sports team. In fact we were a little surprised she returned for a second season and on the first day of registrations!
Our U9s take turns at playing in goals each week and this week was Elsie's turn. It's fair to say the coach spent a great deal of thought on whether to even ask Elsie to play in goals.
Our aim for her first season was simply to kick the ball on purpose during a match. Just last round she actually attempted her first ever tackle during a match. The prospect of playing in goals may have been overwhelming, but fair is fair and the opportunity was provided.
Upon hearing it was her turn to play goalkeeper Elsie's eyes lit up! The coach and parents were a little nervous about how it might pan out but it was clear in the first minutes that we were going to experience one of 'those' moments.
From kick off Elsie's team members were amazingly supportive, with Aiden and Bella setting up to defend hard - their goal and their goal keeper.
With the support of her coach Elsie did her part - saving a few goals just like she'd been shown and passing it out to her ever present defenders.
And the smiles! There may be nothing better in sport than being part of a team that fosters the participation and inclusion of a non-sporty member. Except perhaps being a parent of those players, or even better, the coach.
Thanks Coach Emma Green for orchestrating what might be the moment of the 2019 season.
Round 4 saw all but two of the Robertson-Burrawang Rovers teams playing at home in beautiful Hampden Park.
As usual it saw the fabulous volunteers at the park by 7am to get the fields and canteen set up. It was finally a little cooler for the early matches which was very much welcomed by the participants of our winter sport.
The littlies bounced around the fields with their usual exuberance - the spirit of junior sport is unsurpassed and it's a real joy to see the future super stars running alongside the social butterflies.
In the week that saw the Young Matildas achieve a high scoring win our matches at Hampden Park also saw some big results, and like their young Mary Fowler who hit 5, some of our players also achieved good numbers in the goal scoring.
Our U13s met a lovely Hill Top team and came away with a huge result winning 15-2.
Duke Garske was our top goal scorer hitting a double hat trick, backed up by Hamish Chapman with 4. The winner in this match though was very much the experience - of two teams showing the best in sportsmanship and two coaches setting the example with their support and encouragement.
It truly was the perfect example of what junior competitive sport should be, where despite the disparity in the result both the winning team and the losing team exhibited everything sport should be.
Thank you Coach Jeremy Phillips and his team.
Our U15s team came away with a good 4-0 win against Mittagong, with super sub Judah Wright scoring two and Ethan Shobrook and slotting a couple.
The ladies teams competed in the Noelene Munro Cup which combines all ladies teams in the competition, and the results reflected this with the Gold team going down to Moss Vale White 9-0, and the Maroon team overcoming the Yerrinbool team 8-0.
The Gold ladies maintained their good spirits despite the peppering and were generally happy with their performance against a much stronger team.
Rhianon Hol worked hard in defence with Ellie Handley and Lizzie Green also putting in big efforts. The Maroon ladies faced the opposite with their big scoring win which saw young Erin Sommers hitting four lovely goals, Emma Green achieving her hat trick and the hard working Natasha Wann adding one to her season tally.
They were well supported with good performances from the whole team and in particular Amy Webb.
The mens teams both had good wins, with the Gold team having a 4-1 win over Hill Top and the Maroon team also getting a 4-1 win over Yerrinbool Green.
Each of their combined eight goals were scored by a different player which reflects the good team work from each of the teams.
For the Gold team there were goals from Corey Zakara, Luiz Goncalves, Kurt Crawford representing the youngest of the team and Ally Haining at the opposite end of the age spectrum - he still has it!
The Maroon lads benefitted from the assistance of our youth graders, who missed out on a match, with three of them coming away with a goal - Will Hore, Mason King and again Kurt Crawford - with their youth grade coach David Wright not to be outdone and chipping in with one of his own.
Go Robbo!
