The DVBA would like to congratulate our very own Ash Boek for her nomination for the Pauline Toner award, which was presented at the International Women’s Day Breakfast on Monday 5^th March.

The prize is awarded annually to a young female who has made a significant contribution to the wider community.

Ash has been a major contributor to the Diamond Valley Girls Buddy Program. This initiative pairs volunteer athletes from our U16 and U18’s program, with junior girls from our U12’s and U14’s program. The vision is to help buck the trend of female participation declining rapidly from ages 12-15 years old and provide assistance for mental health and education. Through this program Ash has been trained in Teen Mental Health First Aid and is currently mentoring our younger athletes within the association. She was also a driving force behind the programs first community project- The Walk to the Valley for the Pat Cronin Foundation. She petitioned to get donations as well as encouraged people to participate. As a result, the group raised over $1,500 in donations and registrations and Ash participated in the walk with Vicki Ward.

In addition to all of this, she is the assistant coach to an U12 girls team, a referee and is a member of our Youth League Women’s team, proving that she is a fantastic role model and club member.

Buddy Program coordinator, Zoe Carr, believes the nomination is just the beginning for Ash.

“Ash is the epitome of a club person. She loves being an Eagle and she is always willing to help. The work she, and the other members, are doing within the Buddy Program is exceptional and I can’t speak highly enough about them. I think we are going to see great things out of Ash in the future.” Carr said.

Congratulations Ash, we are very proud of you and look forward to seeing our Eagle running the country one day!