Waverley Little Athletics Centre Inc.

Family, Fun and Fitness since 12 November 1968
Victoria's Premier Grass Track

Profile

Shirley Desa

Shirley Desa is the Centre Mentor of the Waverley Little Athletics Centre Inc. She has been involved at the Centre for 5 years and has been a member of the Committee for 3 ½ years, taking over as Treasurer half way through the 2017/18 season.

In charge of the Centre’s finances, Shirley sets our budget, handles our profit & loss and balance sheets, banking requirements and ensures we remain compliant with Consumer Affairs and LAVic. We are a non-profit organisation but thanks to Shirley and former Treasurers, we are in a very healthy position.

On a weekly basis, Shirley organises the canteen float money, assists in running the canteen and administration and on a Saturday is out on the track as an official, currently the U7 Age Group Leader.

Shirley is a positive contributor to Centre, has an accounting background, is very well organised and is perfectly suited as our Treasurer. She manages her commitment as well as raising two young children.

Life Member Nomination 2025/26:

Shirley and her older son, Liam, first joined Waverley Little Athletics Centre in Summer Season 2016/17, and has now been involved for 10 years. Her second son, Lachlan, started in Season 2019/20.

 

She helped out in Seasons 2016/18 as an U6 then U7 Assistant Age Group Leader. Halfway through Season 2017/18, Shirley joined the committee as Treasurer when the previous Treasurer was unable to continue.

In charge of the Centre’s finances, Shirley set our budget, handled our profit & loss and balance sheets, banking requirements and ensured we remain compliant with Consumer Affairs and LAVic, by completing the audit and financial report for our AGM. She also reported on our bank balances and spending at committee meetings. With an accounting background, she was well organised with the financial side of the centre.

On a weekly basis, Shirley organised the canteen float money, assisted in running the canteen and administration and on a Saturday is out on the track as an official, usually as an Age Group Leader or assisting one her boy’s age groups. This has continued to the present season.

In Season 2022/23, Shirley relinquished the Treasurer role and became the Centre Mentor. She was then responsible for recruiting parents as Age Group Leaders, training them, getting their WWCC and keeping an accurate list, so they can be thanked at the End of Season presentations. Then washing the age group leader vests, ready for the following season. This role was also covered by Shirley in Seasons 2024/25 and 2025/26.

 

Shirley really stepped up by taking on the Centre Relay Coordinator Role as well, from Season 2022/23. This requiring overseeing the centre relay program, garnering athletes’ interest, helping organise relay teams with Age Group Relay Coordinators, making sure the relay teams were accurately registered for MentoneLAC Relay Day and SMR Region relays, being Centre Team Manager and organising fulfilling centre duties and sending out information to the relay families.

 

An initiative Shirley introduced in Season 2023/24 was the Welcome Pack, as production of the Handbook seemed to have ceased in the last couple of seasons. This document contains information about centre and how we run, to give out each season to new families. Then another initiative was the slide show, first shown at the Summer Season 2022/23 Presentations. This covered a summary of the season, lots of photos, list of people to be thanked including committee, age group leaders, other officials, and people who helped out regularly during the season. And then the athletes’ names & recipients of the Age Group Awards and Major Awards. 

 

The other big project Shirley covered was revamping the weekly program. There were a lot of event changes that LAVic introduced from Season 2017/18 and it was getting to a point the weekly program needed a major overhaul and to make more efficient use of the tracks. This required learning how to update the program in the backend of website, making sure there was an even spread of events over the season, making any changes after feedback and keeping track of any event changes LAVic may have introduced for that season. Shirley first started this during Season 2022/23 and has finessed the program over the next few years.

 

Over the last ten years, Shirley has made many positive contributions to our centre, in lots of different areas, to improve our offering to our families and give the kids a fantastic athletics experience. It is people like Shirley that step up, take on different roles and initiate and make constructive changes to improve our centre that keeps our Little Athletics Centre alive and relevant. The requirements for Life Membership, as stipulated in the Centre’s Life Membership Policy, have well and truly been covered by Shirley Desa and she is a worthy recipient.

 

Honour Board

Centre Involvement

School Involvement

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WLAC Relaython Group Photo - 2019/20