At Jindabyne Rugby Union Club – home of the Bushpigs, the Miss Piggies and the Piglets – Nicole Raine is treasurer, registrar, women’s team manager, and licensee.
In a community where winter has traditionally been synonymous with skiing, rugby’s presence has been expanding thanks to the tireless hard work of Nicole and her fellow rugby club members.
Nicole threw herself into her club’s behind-the-scenes work when a tragic injury ended her playing career.
“I was actually driving the rugby bus when a car lost control and ran into us, shattering my legs,” explains Nicole. “It was pretty painful and took a while to get back to normal, so that was the end of my rugby playing days.”
However, on the sidelines, Nicole has continued to go from strength to strength. She started a non-contact rugby season for U10s players in the summer, which lead to unprecedented strength in the Jindabyne’s U10s Piglets team the following winter. The summer training clearly helped the youngsters. This weekend the U10s Piglets will play in the grand final at Viking Park, Canberra at 10.40am on Saturday 3rd September.
It’s people like Nicole who make rugby great. That’s why the ARU, in partnership with HSBC, is running the HSBC Volunteer of the Year program, which aims to recognise the outstanding efforts of club volunteers across the country.
If you know a volunteer with as much passion, perseverance or permanence as Nicole, now is your chance to put them in the spotlight and thank them.
And the best part? The winner for each category of HSBC Volunteer of the Year will win their club a $5,000 or $10,000 grant* from HSBC.
There are only two weeks left to nominate, so if you know a deserving winner, jump on board and NOMINATE TODAY.=#RUGBYVOTY
