Greenacre Eagle mother takes out top award

Bankstown District Amateur Football Association (BDAFA) recently held their annual awards presentation night at Revesby Workers Club to recognise the achievements of their members.

Award categories were Club Volunteer of the Year, Golden Boot Awards for the most goals scored, Player of the Grand Final Awards, Player of the Year awards and the top award of the night was the prestigious BDAFA Volunteer of the Year award.

The top award went Ola El-Zahab who is the Junior Vice President of the Greenacre Eagles Football Club. The award as voted by the Board of Directors was in recognition Ola’s hard work and dedication throughout the 2017 season.

“Ola has been an amazing asset throughout the 2017 season and her hard work and dedication was not only to her Club but to BDAFA as well. She is quite passionate about women’s football and is part of the Women’s Development Committee,” stated BDAFA Chairman, Glenn Rufford.

Ola was instrumental in the inaugural Bankstown Football4All Program which provided coaching clinics to students with a disability from three local schools. Ola attended each week and every week ensuring she was the first person there and the last to leave. She even provided caps for the students and prior to the final day of the program she helped pack gift bags for each student from the programs’ sponsors.

“When I got the call to help out for volunteers I was so excited. I love working with children with a disability and just to see the smile on their face made it all worth it. It was amazing to see how much they improved during the program,” explained Ola.

Ola coaches two teams and assists in the coaching of two others during the season. Her Grade 14 Girls team finished Minor Premiers and were unfortunately beaten in the Grand Final. As they were crowned Minor Premiers, Ola’s troops are now playing in the Football NSW Champion of Champions tournament played during September and October.

Ola is quite humble in her response to her dedication to her Club and BDAFA “I do it for the love of the game and to give children the opportunity to play the world game.”

“The association is so lucky to have Ola and the other Club Volunteer of the Year recipients. They are the reason why our Clubs run so smoothly. It’s hard to realise just how many hours our volunteers put in week in week out”, ended Mr Rufford.