While plenty of sports clubs claim to be family- focused, few have the sort of runs on the board that could match Caroline Springs Cricket Club.
In round two of the Williamstown District Cricket season, the Lakers had brothers Nicholas and Christopher Vulic lining up side by side in A grade.
In the second XI, father-son duo Darren and Jerome Arandez lined up, and in the thirds Troy Blackman played with his three sons, Bailey, Lucas and Reece.
The club’s fourths continued the trend with Stephen Young playing alongside sons AJ and Dom.
And when, in fifth-grade, Stefan Vulic made his senior debut, his father Zelko marked the occasion by pulling on the whites to play with him.
Caroline Springs president Steve Collins says it was a special day for the club.
“There was such a great feeling around the place,” he said.
The youth focus is nothing new for Caroline Springs. One of the main goals for the club’s committee is to have the senior and junior squads as closely aligned as possible.
“We are very much a family-oriented club,” Collins said. “All our functions, all our get-togethers, everything we do has a family feel to it. Our presentation nights are juniors and seniors combined so we can get all the families there.”
On the field, Caroline Springs has made a hot start to the WDCA A-grade season with a round one smashing of Melton South.
The win was a welcome change of fortune for the club after winning just one game in its A-grade debut last season.
Although the results were hard to take at the time, Collins says they taught the younger players valuable lessons.
“It was a difficult year finding out feet,” he said. “I think the pain that we went through last year … has started to hold them in good stead.”
Caroline Springs will take on defending champion Grand United this week.
