Big goal kicked by futsal club

THE home of futsal in the region has been recognised in this year’s Football Victoria Community Awards.

Futsal Ballarat was crowned the Futsal Club/Centre of the Year during an awards event held at Melbourne’s MCG last week.

Futsal Ballarat’s director of operations Dermott Tebb said the win is an acknowledgement of the organisation’s role in the regional growth of the sport.

“It gives a lot of significance to the club and a lot of credibility which will obviously help bring in further players and stakeholders,” he said.

“There’s been a number of regional areas that have grown within the sport and I think we’re obviously a leader in that space which is shown via accepting this award.”

Established in 2009, Futsal Ballarat has more than 1100 players, about 175 of which are women.

On the operational side, the club is led by two directors, three managers, and 25 coaches and referees.

Tebb said female participation numbers is a key growth goal for the club’s future.

“We started it a couple years ago and we have a dedicated girls only night now which includes pathway and development opportunities, as well as our girls only competition,” he said.

“We’re expecting with the credibility from this award to really grow, but also we’ve grown about 35 per cent in girls over the last 12 months alone.

“We’re hoping that number continues to grow and we share the same goal Football Victoria have to get to 50/50 gender participation in the near future.”