The peak of their game

– Peter Sweeney
SHARON Kasper reckons herself and her dad, Bob Dodd, could one day get “life” at the Cora Lynn Football and Netball Club.
In the past, the thought hasn’t even entered their minds, simply because they haven’t been “around long enough” at a club.
Sharon and Bob are close in many ways … and have a most unusual sporting connection.
Sharon is the vice-president, junior co-ordinator and coach of the C Grade at Cora Lynn Netball Club, while Bob is the president, and coach of the under-17 and A Grade sides.
“Blood’s thicker than water and I follow him everywhere,” Sharon says.
And that has included three to four year stays at the likes of Tooradin, Nar Nar Goon, Garfield and Bunyip.
“But I think this will be the last club for both of us,” Sharon says.
“We’re not people to stay for years and years at the one club. Dad’s the one who comes in and makes things better and stronger for a netball club before moving on.
“He always coaches the pinnacle of the junior and senior sides, the under-17s and the A Grade.
“Some people might think we’re not loyal … but we give everything we can to the netball club we’re at and only move when things have improved with the administrative and playing side.
“But I think the moving’s over, as we’re getting older and dad lives over the road from the ground. (Cora Lynn) And he loves the place.
“This is his first year as president and my second year as vice-president.
“We put in eight to 10 hour days at the ground. But we love it. I love working in the canteen on footy and netball days.
“On Saturday, my daughter, Amy, 10, played her first game for Cora Lynn, as there was an under-11 netball exhibition netball game for sponsors and life members.
“We all loved it, but Katie, my five-year-old, wanted to be on the court.”
Earlier this season, the Cora Lynn Netball Club won $500 and 16 tickets to a Melbourne Vixens game from the ANZ Bank in its junior club of the week project – because of something Sharon penned in 200 words on why the club should win the award.
“We’ve got no pub, no milk bar, not even a telephone box … the sporting clubs are what keeps the town together,” she wrote.
As for Bob, he says he lives at town 3814.
“A postcode’s all we have – and we’ve even got to share that with Garfield,” he added.