Home to some of the best grass courts in the states South West, the Donnybrook Tennis Club is indebted to the tireless efforts of the volunteer grounds committee trio whose ongoing commitment ensures the clubs offering of pristine grass tennis courts.
Led by longstanding club volunteer and life member Chris Cain, the hard working Donnybrook Tennis Club Grounds Committee is bolstered by the efforts of Graeme Giudici and Brad Fowler who each play their part in ensuring the impressive grass courts and the clubs grounds are maintained to an immaculate standard year round.
Championed by the theme ‘Changing Communities. Changing Lives’, the upcoming National Volunteer Week will see the tireless efforts of Cain, Giudici and Fowler recognised and celebrated throughout the week of May 18-24.
A member and volunteer of the Donnybrook Tennis Club for more than 25 years, Cain has held roles as President, Vice-President and Men’s Captain; in addition to his current role on the Grounds Committee which he has held since 2001. Renowned for his reliability and selfless contribution to the club, Secretary Felicity Graham says it’s not uncommon to see Cain on the mower in his business suit.
‘Chris is completely selfless and will help out at any opportunity,’
‘Sometimes he’ll receive an urgent call to mow the courts due to changes in upcoming competitions, and with no warning at all Chris heads straight from the office to mow the courts,’
‘With no time to travel home to his farm to change, Chris often mows the courts in his business suit so that Graeme can then do the marking,’
‘And by volunteering his time and taking on the responsibility to mow the courts since 2014, Chris has saved the club more than $25,000 which has had a significant impact to the clubs viability and in keeping membership fees low,’ Graham said.
Claiming that small country clubs simply can’t operate or stay afloat without the efforts of volunteers, Cain says he’s been volunteering for as long as he can remember and simply can’t imagine life without volunteering nor one which didn’t involve contributing to the needs of the wider community.
‘My wife Vickie encouraged me to volunteer when we were first married and it has just been a part of my life ever since,’
‘And I continue to volunteer as I believe that country towns would not be able to survive if people didn’t help each other out,’
‘Especially sporting clubs. Friendships are nourished when working together for a common goal,’
‘In each role that I have had over the years, whether it be the football club, the Donnybrook marathon committee, the cricket club, the fire brigade or the tennis club, I feel like we are like family and treat each other as such.
‘Volunteering means a lot to me. I get satisfaction from being able to help the community in any way that I can,’
‘To see things evolve because volunteers were able to do something to make things easier for future generations is very gratifying,’
‘And I continue to get enjoyment from the volunteer work that I do, the best thing about volunteering for me is job satisfaction,’ Cain said.
As the quiet achiever of the group, Graeme Giudici has been a member of the Donnybrook Tennis Club for more than fifteen years and a committee member for more than ten years where his main role at the club has been to ensure that all line marking demands are met.
‘Graeme’s efforts in liaising with our ladies pennant teams, our junior pennant teams and the South West junior tournament directors ensures the clubs lines are always marked as required,’
‘He even goes as far as to mark the lines extra times during the week to make sure they are clear and defined and ready for competition,’ Graham said.
A late comer to the sport like Cain, Giudici aligns whole heartedly with the views of his grounds committee comrade, reiterating the significant role volunteers play in small country towns.
‘I joined the club in 2004 and the committee in 2010 when I became part of the grounds committee,’
‘Being from a small community, clubs only survive and can keep subs to a minimum by the efforts of volunteers, so I just continue doing whatever I can to help,’
‘For the last four years I have marked the lines of all eight grass courts every week for the summer tennis season which runs from the beginning of November to early April as well as helping to maintain the general upkeep around the club,’
‘The tennis club totally depends on volunteers as there is only about 50 senior members so I’m more than happy to do my bit. Sometimes it’s a good way to wind down at the end of a working day,’
‘If it wasn’t for volunteers, we wouldn’t have a tennis club, and many people would miss out. It gives me great joy to see all the great times had playing tennis and socializing afterwards,’
‘Seeing the joy people get out of the facilities is by far the best thing about volunteering,’ Guidici said.
With special mention for his ability to fix anything and everything, and in doing so well before anyone even realised it needed fixing, the groundsman’s all-rounder Brad Fowler echoes the sentiments of Cain and Guidici with a candid and straightforward response when asked about why he volunteers.
‘I do it because I can. It’s just a way of paying back to the community and club for what others have done before us, ‘
‘And being retired I have the time, I don’t volunteer for self-gratification, I just do it. It’s a small community town thing,’
In line with the theme, Changing Communities. Changing Lives of this year’s National Volunteers Week, Cain goes on in speaking more broadly to the larger impact which volunteering affords the people of Donnybrook. Attributing the collective efforts of volunteers with creating a strong sense of community in which everyone benefits, Cain says volunteering has enriched his life beyond measure.
‘I think volunteering can change a community because it creates such a strong sense of community,’
‘Volunteering in our community has achieved an innumerable amount of things,’
‘We were able to build a recreation centre with an indoor pool, squash courts, basketball and netball courts, maintain the golf course and create a BMX track, in addition to keeping our beautiful grass tennis courts and resurfacing our hard courts,’
‘In our small community, the people of the town have volunteered to help create these things and many more,’
‘By doing this our children, the elderly and our families have a happy and safe environment in which to flourish,
‘It makes me feel extremely proud to be a small part of this town,’
‘Volunteering is a very necessary, rewarding and satisfying thing to do and I would encourage everyone to give it a go Cain said.
Tennis West CEO Michael Roberts applauded the efforts of Chris, Graeme and Brad, in addition to all other volunteers, recognising them for the collective dedication to the delivery of tennis and proficient running of clubs across by metropolitan and regional WA.
‘Without a doubt our volunteers are the lifeblood of our sport, without them we simply couldn’t operate or deliver on our projects, programs and pathways,’
‘Australia wide, more than 5.8 million volunteers are estimated to collectively contribute more than 743 million voluntary hours to the community and we know that many of those hours are at the hands of the hard working volunteers in our clubs,’
‘We are enormously indebted to our volunteers and look forward to celebrating their efforts virtually throughout National Volunteers Week,’
Facilitated by Volunteering Australia, the 2020 National Volunteers Week will this year be a virtual celebration of Australia’s volunteers.
For more information you can head to: https://www.volunteeringaustralia.org/#/
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