Over 70% of our community sponsorship supports local youth with a strong focus on getting kids active post the years of the pandemic. The activities sponsored range from surfing on school holidays, roaming through Melbourne on Urban Camp to enjoying weekend sport.

This year, the team at the Community Bank Seddon have been thrilled to partner with the Footscray Rangers All-Abilities kids soccer team. By sharing their story in The Westsider, they were able to attract over 20 families to their ‘Come & Try’ Day in February.

This engagement has enabled the club to field a team of 10 and be part of two All Abilities Gala Days as hosted by TAC Victoria/Melbourne Victory and Football Victoria.

The children come from a range of specialist schools around Western Melbourne, with weekly training and fortnightly games as part of Football Victoria’s All Abilities soccer league. The program aims to improve children’s social health by providing them with opportunities to connect with children from similar backgrounds and provide them with meaningful opportunities to participate in physically challenging sports situations.

Even better, the parents have commented that they very much enjoy the community element of our program, as being part of the team has meant that they too are able to connect with other parents with shared lived experiences and are developing a robust support network with them.

Team Manager, Nathan McLean has been thrilled with the growth of the team. “Specifically with Bendigo Bank Seddon’s help, we have been able to purchase training equipment that is suitable for these children (including the correct sized balls and goals). The equipment means that we are now able to not only offer improved training programs to our own children, but we can also host tournament days (such as the one we will host in July for 10 All Abilities soccer teams) which provides even more opportunities for our community to grow. The team are now linked in with Western United Football Club’s ‘Half Time Heroes’ program and will be involved in a half-time game during season 2023-2024.”

We look forward to seeing the growth and development of this winning team and program.