Behind the scenes of Shepparton United Football Netball Club

The giant has been battered and beaten during its decade-long rest, but once this Demon stirs, the hallowed grounds of Deakin Reserve will again rumble with Shepparton United’s might.

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On the men’s senior football front, United has struggled down the bottom end of the ladder in recent times, having been unable to finish higher than 10th — the Demons did finish ninth in 2021, but it was a COVID-19 affected season — since 2015.

The A-grade netball team has been a more consistent performer, but neither top-level part of the club has won a flag since the glory days of 2009-14, when the senior football side won two premierships (2010 and 2011) and the A-grade netball team won three (2009, 2010 and 2014).

Since those golden years, the club has faced challenges on-field with its performances and off-field with the global pandemic.

However, the darker clouds of the past decade are clearing, with the netball side making it to the A-grade grand final in 2022 and the senior football team being rejuvenated with youth.

United has changed its outlook on running the club in recent years, with president Rebecca Monk believing that a holistic approach from the Demons will see success return to the famous Goulburn Valley side both on and off the field.

In her third year as president, Monk knows the club isn’t perfect and is always open to ideas on how United can continue to develop and grow.

“I don’t think there is a formula (on how best to run a club),” Monk said.

“We are dealing with volunteers and something bigger than ourselves.

“The important thing to know is everyone has something to contribute and to look at how we can get those positive connections and bring everyone together.”

Monk is part of United’s women’s football side, which has become an integral part of the club since its inception in 2022 when it joined the Northern Country Women’s League — alongside the club’s junior girls, who play in the aligning Youth Girls League.

One Thursday night training session, before the senior netball and football sides took on Mooroopna in the Goulburn Valley League, the women’s and men’s football sides continued their scheduled training despite a downpour of rain.

Both sets of players had every right to be miserable and sluggish during their session in the wet and wind, but in both camps, the voices were loud and filled with encouragement and laughter as United decided to face the grisly weather with a grin.

But what was helping to keep the mood up during the rough session, especially given the senior men’s tough start (one win and one draw from the first seven games) to the season?

Senior women’s football coach and club stalwart Grant Searle believes the addition of a mental health wellbeing program during the off-season has reinvigorated the Demons’ culture.

“The whole physical and wellbeing team oversee everyone and it doesn’t matter if you’re (male, female, player, staff, junior or senior) everyone is included in that program,” Searle said.

A mental health wellbeing program seems like the perfect fit for a community football and netball club.

After all, how often does organised sport get referred to as a “welcome distraction” from troubles at home, work life or other forms of stress or anxiety?

There’s nothing wrong with sports helping people have a break from struggles they face in their day-to-day lives, but pushing one’s worries or issues to the back of mind can harm a person’s overall wellbeing.

In a time where there is growing concern over the mental health of young Australians, United seems to be leading the way in integrating organised sport and wellbeing support into its club.

This move makes sense as sporting clubs are often where young people aged 12-25 spend their time — especially in regional Victoria.

Searle made the point that clubs teach players to kick, duck, shoot and weave on the field; why not have off-field coaches performing a similar role in teaching those at the club how to deal with their mental health when they are away from the sanctity of sport?

“A lot of these kids will spend days where they are included in school or excluded from school,” he said.

“Some of these young people have a number of issues at home and in their own environment.

“Their escape is to come here.

“All they do is sport to block out what is happening; what we are trying to focus on a lot more is to assist them through some of the struggles that they are having.

“If we can recognise that or give them a focal point, someone they can recognise to talk about some of their struggles, which may be at home, school, job environments, whatever, then I think we are doing the right thing.”

Searle has been a part of United for more than two decades.

First starting as a dedicated and talented footballer, Searle continued playing for the Demons until he was 52.

Nowadays, he is on the club’s committee and coaching panel; Searle’s passion for football and the club runs deep and he admits his attempt at taking a break from the club after he hung up the boots didn’t last long.

“I did have one year off once and I was absolutely bored and I had no idea what do with myself, so I came back to the club,” he said.

Like many community sports clubs, United noticed a drop in the size of its crowds and the number of players across all of its sides after COVID-19.

As the club focuses on staying true to its “One Club United” slogan, Searle explained that the Demons had a belief similar to that of Kevin Costner’s character in the classic baseball movie Field of Dreams.

“I think we are trying to provide a culture here at the club that is not only sustainable but builds a desire for people to want to join us,” he said.

“I think if we continue to work on that, then if you build it, they will come.

“We aren’t going to go out and chase people and say COVID-19 is finished, you need to come back to the club, but certainly, if we build something that looks magnificent from the outside, they will want to be a part of it and that is what we have been working on for two years.

“We are after one big club where everyone knows everyone.”

It may seem like a lofty goal to create such a socially interconnected club, but the Demons are striving for it as they seek to set United up for sustainable success on and off the field.

Michelle Barzen is a member of the club’s committee who has helped steer the ship through the tumultuous waters of the past couple of years.

After joining the club from Shepparton Swans in 2002 as a netballer — she played 293 games for United and 445 games of Goulburn Valley League netball in total — Barzen has had a role in nearly every job imaginable at United.

Barzen has been on the committee, coached junior sides and headed up netball operations for a decade.

In her rare spare moments, she also helps run the canteen on match day and assists in the kitchen for Thursday night training dinners.

One key part of United’s plan to have a one-club mentality is to give more attention to and provide more opportunities for the juniors, which Barzen (a primary school teacher) believes is important.

“I think kids need to be involved in something; it could be dance or sport or whatever, but I think they need to be involved in something outside school,” Barzen said.

“Because that is the environment I have grown up in and been a part of as my dad played at Invergordon, and he played at (Shepparton) Bears; this is just what I am used to and I don’t know any different.

“I know that it has shaped me into the person I am and that’s the kind of life I want kids to be influenced by as well.

“In the GVL, it is very hard to find that family feel in a club because we didn’t have the juniors, whereas your minor clubs like Shepp East and Congupna, they start from under-11s.

“We want to be family-orientated; it means we have to look really hard at our juniors and that is where it needs to start and build up even more from there.”

In the past couple of years, United has added under-10 and under-12 programs to help promote grassroots sport and create a more family-friendly atmosphere at the Demons.

Part of making the club more family-centred is ensuring that United positively impacts the lives of its players and volunteers.

After the rain-soaked Thursday night training, Barzen explained how Trent Suratman, one of the club’s well-being workers, was doing just that.

“At the moment, he (Suratman) is in the room next door with some junior netballers,” she said.

“A couple of them are struggling on a Saturday and not feeling like they are playing to the best of their ability, so he is in there now mentoring them about that mental side of sport, to not get so hard on yourself and just a few strategies to work through.

“At that young age, those girls are getting those (feelings) all the time; they are having ups and downs, even if it is not netball related or whatever.

“He is just having a chat with them now about their mental health and how you have to look after it.”

Concentrating on being a family-orientated club goes hand-in-hand with United’s focus on mental health.

“All they do is sport to block out what is happening; what we are trying to focus on a lot more is to assist them through some of the struggles that they are having.”

The wellbeing program is run by Nicole Lewis, who leads the physical and wellbeing aspect alongside Suratman.

Suratman runs a company called Infinite Performance, which helps athletes find success by focusing on physical and mental training.

The company works with everyone from community sportspeople through to the AFL, with GWS’ Lachie Ash and Adelaide’s Josh Rachele having used Suratman’s guidance.

According to Suratman, the program installed by himself and Lewis at the start of the season was aimed at working within United’s culture to help create a more powerful club.

“Last year, the club approached me to be involved in the wellbeing program,” he said.

“One of my duties and roles was to make sure we support the players with not just the physical component but the mindset.

“(We wanted the program to be) something that is supportive for the playing group and certainly for parents to feel assured that you can drop your kids off here and they will be well looked after with physios, trainers and myself.”

The wellbeing program has already been a success for United, but Monk, Searle, Barzen and Suratman believe they are only just getting started in terms of working on their players’ and staff’s wellbeing.

It must be said that implementing a mental health program into a community club is not cheap, with Barzen emphasising that United could not have done it without the support of its sponsors.

However, Suratman believes that the wellbeing program has scope to positively impact the lives of those involved at United.

“From the age of 14 through to about 25, (community sports clubs) are a great social circle, as long as it is done in the right manner,” he said.

“It gives them (players) the opportunity to be around like-minded people and it keeps them having a purpose.

“There’s not a lot of activities to do in the Goulburn Valley if you’re not involved in sports, so it is a hub for weekends for most and I just feel if we can improve the standards for local (sport), not just from a performance perspective but from an all-round wellbeing, I think we are in a better position.”