Seeking to improve lives through cricket

NATARSHA Williams’ goal has always been to improve the quality of life of both animals and people.

A child of farmers, Ms Williams became a veterinarian, and enjoys helping sick animals to recover.

“It’s such a mystery,” she said. “They can’t tell you, so you’ve got to figure it out and you’ve got to start from scratch.”

A passionate cricket fan, Ms Williams said she realised the sport could be a vehicle for positive social change when her four sons started playing with Wendouree Cricket Club.

“I’ve always been driven to help people, and animals, that can’t help themselves, and I was taken by the excessiveness of our society,” she said.

“Every year, I’d see all the new cricket gear kids would have at training and wonder what happened to the old stuff.

“I thought we could give it to someone else who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to play cricket.”

This idea was the seed of the WCC Cricket Without Boundaries program, where second hand cricket gear, like pads, bats, helmets, sports clothes, and shoes are collected in a box at the clubrooms and sent to communities in need across the world.

“Our first donations were sent to Yuendumu, an Indigenous community near Alice Springs, and we send more things through Northern Territory cricket who do workshops and leave the cricket gear behind for the kids to play with,” Ms Williams said.

Equipment has also found a second home with young people in Bangladesh, where WCC’s biggest-ever overseas consignment went, as well as Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, India, Vanuatu and Nepal.

“I’m particularly proud that we sent some gear to Syrian refugees who are in a camp in Lebanon,” Ms Williams said.

“We’ve got a photo of the kids playing cricket between the tents. It really resounds with me.

“Sport is a good equaliser. It doesn’t stop you starving, or the miseries in life, but it’s a positive. It allows people to get out, engage, socialise, and be healthy.”

With sustainability in mind, WCC has donated recycled stationary to the BRMC homework club and students in Sri Lanka.

They’ve given books to children in Zimbabwe and delivered workshops for Indigenous young people in partnership with Ballarat and District Aboriginal Co-operative.

“We had our kids and BADAC children, one-on-one, they played cricket for an hour, and we gave them healthy afternoon tea,” Ms Williams said.

“It was amazing for them all. My kids went and were so excited that they’d been able to teach someone else how to throw.

“It was one of the resounding moments in my life to see that.”

Ms Williams has worked as a vet in England, and throughout Victoria. After having her four sons, she was Ballarat district veterinary officer and she’s been a consultant and TAFE teacher.

Currently finishing her PhD on animal welfare, Ms Williams also works with the government in emergency animal disease preparedness.

“I’m working to develop an animal welfare risk assessment tool, so we can predict when we go out to a property whether a person is going to offend, or re-offend, and hopefully that will drive change,” she said.

For all this and more, Ms Williams has been added to the Ballarat’s Great Women honour roll by the Zonta Club of Ballarat this year.