National Volunteer of the Year 2023 was awarded to Amanda Kapsaskis during this year’s Female Football Week for her outstanding commitment to the Edgeworth Junior Football Club in Northern NSW.
Described as the “bones of the Club” by one of the people nominating her for the award is accurate; football is in her bones.
“My grandparents opened a junior club when my dad was little, and created a junior club, so I was born and bred into a soccer family where they would help,” Kapasaskis explained.
“[From a young age] I worked out if you don’t have volunteers at soccer in a community club then the club doesn’t run.”
Having grown up around football, and playing for her local club and school, Kapsaskis first got involved at the club completely by circumstance.
“How I started at Edgeworth was my son was just joining with his preschool friends before kindergarten,” she said.
“Two of the dads were going to coach but before the season started one of the dads got injured and then the other went on a holiday just before round one and he said ‘You can do this’. So I jumped in and they won by a mile, and when he came back and he said ‘Well, I don't want to coach because I've got a new job and you look like you’re doing an okay job.’”
So she continued to coach the team from under sixes all the way up until under nines when the boys got into different junior development pathways and Kapsaskis too looked for a change.
“Once my time of coaching was over, I kind of said, ‘Well where can I help within the committee?’ And that's when I became kind of like an assistant Facebook person and Assistant Treasurer.
“I got a look at the bits and pieces behind the scenes and definitely noticed that some things needed to change and improve.
Kapsaskis has since dedicated her time campaigning for these improvements for the club for the last five years as the Secretary and the Registrar or what she calls herself the ‘Secretary Registrar’.
“Just bits and pieces that we've changed, like we were paying everything by cheque or cash before I started, and now it's all eftpos, and online,” she said.
“We have the head of Northern New South Wales, refereeing come in and run the Mini Roos referee course. We have a scheduling roster system that I created that I've passed on to our Mini Roos coordinator.
“I’ve made the committee decision that if coaches want to do more coaching we pay for all those courses as well which wasn’t advertised before, just all these little changes that make all the difference.
“I created a mum's team three years ago that plays Friday nights, low grade and it's just for fun, but I probably could have created two teams out of it. Next year, we're creating an extra [team] again, it just shows that soccer is for everyone.”
With 71 teams and over 830 players, all of whom Kapsaskis knows by name, it’s hard to see how she does it all. But it’s maintaining connections with everyone is what is so important to her.
“I just love the community, love meeting new people and where everyone kind of knows everyone, I really enjoy it. It’s for the kids at the end of the day and seeing what they get out of it.”
“I've always had great relationships with the staff at Northern NSW Football and invite them into our community club, we really value them to be involved. They have previously handed out our Mini Roos certificates to the children and acknowledged the skill development achievements of our members which is greatly appreciated."
When opportunities come around, Kapsaskis jumps at the chance to provide the kids with a once-in-a-lifetime experience that gets them more involved in the game of football.
“We offered a whole heap of kids to come in and finish school early to go to the Spain game when the Matilda's played at Newcastle. They all had to get there at like 1:30 but I never say no to any of that because I just think if we say no once we're gonna miss an opportunity at some point, and the kids love it.
“I love all the Disney programs, the Matildas books, Female Football Week, anything we can do as an extra that’s not just playing the game that’s going to bring kids in.
“We share those experiences on our Facebook page which people see what we’re doing as a club and then want to come to Edgeworth because we get these opportunities, it’s great.”
For Kapsaskis, just seeing the kids enjoying their football is enough, but hopes winning the award will create a legacy to inspire others to volunteer their time in some way.
“[The committee] started talking about [our legacy] last Friday night, how can we get more people wanting to be more involved in our club and want to volunteer.
“If they're watching us do X amount of hours that might put people off but if they know you don't have to be at our club every Saturday, all day, every day. But if there's something small that could be helped out, like doing a roster or checking on the referees, you don’t have to take everything, just share that workload around.
Her advice to anyone wanting to get more involved would be to find that support.
“Just go out and meet everyone, find the helpers, you don’t have to take everything on board. You can certainly delegate some smaller jobs to help.
“Communication is key. That’s what I think we do best, just have good communication.”
