Wanneroo Wolves

Those in attendance at the Wolves Annual SBL Awards Evening, witnessed the presentation of a very special award for the Wanneroo Basketball Association.

 As most Australian sporting clubs would be aware, the attraction and retention of quality volunteers is a very hard task.  It is even harder to find volunteers who 'bleed the colours' of the club and truly make a difference to all of those who participate in the clubs activities.  The Wanneroo Basketball Association has established a new prestigious award, which is second only to life membership of the Association, which recognises the outstanding contributions of these members.

 The John Hayter Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Wanneroo Basketball Association

 It is definitely fitting to name this award after John, a Life Member of the Wanneroo Basketball Association.  John was involved in so many things that our members take for granted within the Association.  The Stats bench - he built it.  The floors - every year he resurfaced them.  Marketing - he did it.  Maintenance - he did it.  There was never any job too big or too small.

Sadly John passed away earlier this year.  John joined the Board as a member of the Greenwood Basketball Club. He coached many junior teams with Greenwood and then joined the Wanneroo Board over 12 years ago. John also coached for many years a ladies Giants team up until recently. He was awarded Life Membership with Wanneroo Basketball Association in 2006. John spent countless hours of his own time helping the Association. His dedication, support and willingness to help out in any situation will always be remembered and he will be sadly missed.

 The inaugural recipient of this award is Andrew Doe.  Andrew's impact on the Wanneroo Basketball Association and its success has been significant in recent years.  A few years back Andrew became President of the Padbury Pumas - at a time when they had around 7 domestic teams.  Through some hard work and attraction of good quality help, the Pumas are now teh largest club within the Wanneroo Basketball Association boasting over 40 teams.  Andrew has also been involved with many other important projects for the Wolves, including a number of maintenance projects such as the resurfacing of the concrete surrounds that were in desperate need of attention.  A club cannot operate without the commitment and support of such individuals.  But most importantly is Andrews recent efforts with the Under 10's free basketball initiative that has been launched by the Wolves.  This program is critical to the future success of the WBA and Andrew was tireless in his creation of coaching programs, support to get the project launched and of course leading each session on court.  As you can see, Andrew is a deserving recipient of this inaugural award.

This award should remind all members of the values that the club and that there are many tireless committed volunteers working behind the scenes - just as John did.  Without this commitment the Wolves would not be as strong as they are today. 

The WBA is always grateful to those who uncover these hidden gems - just as Kerry Matthews did when she convinved John to come down and get involved with the Wolves after he had moved the family to Perth.  We look forward to this award proving to be rewarding recognition for those who support the Wolves and congratulate Andrew Doe on being the inaugaral recipient of the John Hayter Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Wanneroo Basketball Association!