President of Hoppers Crossing Sports Club and Hoppers Crossing Junior Netball Association, Darren Hellmann has a lifelong affinity with sport. The 50-year-old Tarneit resident tells Charlene Macaulay why being active is so important.
What’s your connection to the local community?
I’ve lived in Werribee for 45 years. I had a brief stint in Lygon Street, Carlton, which was interesting, but when everything that’s important in your life happens in Wyndham, it wasn’t really practical.
You’ve been married for 25 years this year. How did you meet your wife?
I knew her brother; he’d moved over from New Zealand and I was a mate of his, and she came over and it was kind of love at first sight.
We’ve been married for 25 years and have three beautiful daughters.
Tell me about your involvement with Hoppers Crossing Sports Club.
I started playing cricket there in 1986 and then got on the committee of the cricket club, was president of the cricket club, then got involved in the sports club.
I’ve been president of the sports club for 11 years. We have teams for football, cricket, netball, darts, golf, swimming, fishing, Auskick and Milo.
The sports club has recently undergone a renovation – what works have been done?
Council contributed about $5 million to upgrade the facilities, including new carparking, fence signing, some landscaping, replacing hard wickets and turf wickets.
It’s basically brought the reserve up to a standard in keeping with all the new reserves that are opening.
There was a time when the council was focusing too much on the new areas and forgetting about places such as Hogans Road and Mossfiel Reserve.
We took it upon ourselves to finance a new pavilion. We wan
ted to provide something for our members that wasn’t just a basic, council-provided set-up.
What kept you part of the club for so long?
I’ve got a passion for helping and volunteering, which started years ago. My dad was a life member of Werribee Apex. I grew up going to various working bees and doing newspaper runs, and doing all the things that service clubs do.
That instilled a passion for volunteering and helping others. A lot of people don’t have that community spirit that we used to have in Wyndham.
I’m also president of the Hoppers Crossing Junior Netball Association.
What is your favourite sporting moment?
When Werribee won the 1993 VFA (Victorian Football Association) premiership.
We’d been so close a couple of times … that was a pretty big buzz. The town was rocking that night.
What do you like about living at Wyndham?
I like the fact that we’ve pretty much got everything that we need.
