Congratulations to Pascoe Vale FC's Secretary Athena Babo who won the 2019 Volunteer of the Year Awards at the 2019 Victorian Sport Awards on Wednesday night in Melbourne.
The Victorian Sport Awards is the night of nights for the Victorian sporting community, recognising and celebrating the achievements of our home-grown premier athletes, grassroots heroes and those who have shown commitment and dedication to community sport in Victoria.
Athena is the true definition of a volunteer. Her vast duties include:
- All secretariat work;
- Corporate sponsorship;
- Canteen duties;
- Club grants processes;
- Council liaison;
- Event management;
- Local community engagement;
- Heavily involved in the club’s women and girls’ programs;
- Implementation of a Wellbeing Committee and Personnel;
- Implementation of All Abilities Program;
- Implementation of Youth Development Program;
- Implementation of grassroots Program; and
- Football Victoria (FV) liaison
Athena was also instrumental in driving the “Save Hakeem” campaign, not only as a human rights defender, but constantly getting the word out there and engaging local, state and federal government authorities to assist with her campaign.
Congratulations also to Melbourne Victory's Women Coach Jeff Hopkins who won the Coach of the Year Award.
Melbourne Victory Women’s team won the Westfield Women’s League Premiership in 2019 and became the first ever Australian participant Club to be invited to compete in the Women’s Asian Club Championships held in South Korea during November 2019.
Jeff also received the award of W League Coach of the season as recognition for his achievements, which was voted for by his peers and the Football Federation Australia