Parkes and District Amateur Soccer Association have recently announced their two newest life members at their recent AGM.
Wayne Osborne and Angela Bottaro-Porter have been valuable members of the Parkes and District Amateur Soccer Association for a number of years and were recently recognised for their dedication.
"Angela and myself were lucky enough to be nominated for life membership for our work over a number of years for Parkes soccer so we were super excited about it and very honoured to be put in as life members," Wayne said.
Wayne has been president of the association for eight years and has been part of the Parkes soccer community much longer.
"I started coaching soccer when my kids were little and I just found it a really welcoming atmosphere to be involved with," he said.
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Angela has been involved with Parkes Soccer for over 20 years starting as a player and being a valuable referee, coach and committee member over the years.
"Ever since I moved to Parkes I have been part of Parkes soccer," Angela said.
Angela has held various roles on the Parkes and District Soccer committee including, treasurer twice, vice president, and secretary.
"We've been fortunate to work with some very excellent people over that time and we've seen some of our plans come to fruition as far as facility upgrades," Wayne said.
One of Wayne's highlights over the years has been what they have achieved at Harrison Park working closely with Parkes Shire Council.
"We've got this beautiful upgrade to the car park on Nash Street, in 2018 we got the new showers and toilet facilities, the new storage shed and there's constant upgrades to the playing surfaces.
"There's a number of different highlights for me as far as a coach to an administrator but probably that is what stands out over the last eight to 10 years."
Both Wayne and Angela have put a lot of effort into developing their soccer players through rep programs with Angela recently receiving Female Regional Coach of the Year at the recent Football NSW Coaching Conference.
Angela was nominated by the Lachlan Soccer Association for the award.
"It was a bit of a surreal moment but a great honour. Wayne and myself don't do what we do for the accolades, we do it as we love seeing kids improve, learn and enjoy the game," Angela said.
The pair has spent time trying to develop coaches within the association to raise the level of accreditation of coaches for junior teams, holding a variety of workshops to develop their coaches throughout the years.
"We see that as a big plus of trying to develop players to a high level by having a better coach, so what we have been trying to do there has really started to pay off for us too," Wayne said.
Looking to the future Angela would love to see soccer in Parkes as big as it use to be and Wayne hopes to see many more improvements to the facilities at Harrison Park.
"The masterplan for this facility has been upgraded so over the next four to five years we will have the opportunity to continue developing the facility to make it more user friendly for our members and the community.
"Hopefully with some upgrades to the facilities here we can also bring our premier league team back to the home of soccer in Parkes which is Harrison Park."
The two passionate Parkes soccer members aren't leaving Parkes soccer anytime soon after their recognition.
"I think sometimes a life membership can be seen as the golden handshake 'thanks for your service, and you can now retire', kind of scenario but I think Angela and myself still have a lot to do for Parkes soccer.
"It's more like the half time break for us to say you've done well in the first half and here's a bit more of an encouragement to keep going towards the future so that's the way we kind of look at it to be elected as life members.
"It's certainly not the end of our career, it's something that will spur us on hopefully to bigger and better things over the next few years and try to get more people involved in our sport," Wayne added.
You can keep up to date on what is happening with Parkes and District Soccer on facebook at Parkes and District Amateur Soccer Association Inc and via their website: websites.mygameday.app/assoc_page.cgi?client=0-7290-0-0-0
