Was formed in 1981 by a group of roaming netballers who wanted to compete in the local Saturday 'A' grade competition, but didn't want to play with the only two existing clubs. It was important to create a new identity within the Ballarat Netball Assosiation, so the group, from a variety of backgrounds, joined forces to compete in their first season as Missing Links. With the name falling onto the
team rather than being chosen, the challenge was to come up with an original name and uniform. Club stalwarts Marlene 'Twinkle' Lorensini and Karen Doyle got together to discuss possible options, with the name EUREKA successful and burgandy and white the preferred colour combination. After the first year with a new identity and purpose, the team expanded to include a A reserve team, but struggled getting two teams on the court each week. Step in Marian Waldron who approached the girls and suggested that her junior team 'KELLIES' did not have a senior counterpart and needed the opportunity to provide a stepping stone for her talented juniors. And so a wonderful partnership was formed!!! Throughout the clubs history, we have won and lost many premierships in many grades; discovered and developed many talented players, coaches and umpires; introduced many trends; and have prided ourselves on leading by example and not being afraid of trying new things. Eureka has grown from strength to strength, developing through each facet of the game we love. We boast many representative players at all levels from 11 & under all the way through to Masters, and even Victorian & Australian representation. Taking into account wonderful individual milstones, the most impressive aspect of our history, is the emergence of daughters & grand daughters from our 1981 players. Sascha Veldhuis & Tanya Caruana both talented home grown Eureka players who represented Vic. Johanna Curran 2003/2004 Played with Eureka then selected in the U21 Australian Squad. Recenctly playing with WA and Melbourne Vixens. We have all followed her progress over the past 10 years. EUREKA has also boasted an array of players who have been part of talent identification squads, as well as Victorian and Country Vic selections. The majority of our coaches are all accredited coaches. Their expertise and experience gives our players the opportunity to achieve their full potential. Our umpires are also amongst the best the Assaciation has to offer, With Jenni Nicholls(Waldron) an accredited umpiring tester, continuing our aim to encourage our young members to participate in all areas of our game. Our club is very proud of our many achievements and often boast to be the first to introduce many trends, including the introduction of lycra playing dresses. Over the years Eureka have offered school holiday programs & sent teams to tournaments. From very humble beginnings, EUREKA has continued to grow and prosper into one of the most professionally run clubs in the Ballarat region. We now have over 250 players playing junior & senior competions over each week. At a junior level we aim to give all our girls the opportunity to experience success and be challenged by placing them in teams which best suit their age, skill level and experience with the emphasis placed on participation, development and fun. As a tribute to our amalgamation with the junior KELLIES CLUB many years ago, all team names begin with the letter 'K' with our Premier League team named Kellies. Over the course of the introduction of the Tuesday night Premier League competition, we have been successful a number of times, but ultimately being the first club to win an unprecedented 'three-in-a-row' in 1998, 1999 & 2000, has so far been our biggest triumph. Since it's inception, our players have also featured prominently in the Most Valuable Players award presentations. Winners include Jo Peaples, who was a asssistant coach of Ballarat Pride; Di Rogers, Sascha Veldhuis, renee lane and Karen Doyle. Our Juniors over the many years have been fortunate to take part in many Grand Finals. EUREKA'S contribution and commitment to the development and enjoyment for all our registered players is evident in our short but eventful history. If you want to be part of our wonderful environment. Just contact us and be part of the EUREKA HISTORY.
