Devonport Strikers' Chris McKenna. Video by Emily Clooney.
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00:00The Devonport Strikers is Chris McKenna's home away from home. From player, to coach,
00:05to board member, and everything in between, Chris has done it all in his 31-year tenure
00:10at the club. But he wouldn't have it any other way.
00:13Look, it obviously means a lot with my involvement over so many years, but I guess it's the community
00:19aspect of it, giving people an outlet to be able to belong to something. I think it's
00:27really important, particularly in today's day and age, that people have got a support
00:32network around them. In many respects, sometimes a sporting club can be that, where there's
00:39areas of their life that might not be quite as good, or they might not have that support.
00:44I think a sporting club can provide that. I think that's one of the aspects of our club
00:49that's really important.
00:52The Strikers have become a force to be reckoned with in Tasmania's National Premier League
00:56and Women's Super League competitions. For the better part of a decade, their NPL side
01:01has sat at the top of the table. While in-season success is among the highlights for Chris,
01:07the club's 2016 FFA outing ranks among his fondest memories.
01:11We had a very successful year that year. I would say that one, I think so much work went
01:19into that day. Unfortunately, it poured with rain, but it didn't sort of detract from the
01:27occasion. Obviously, we had success in winning the game, which was fantastic. But just to
01:33see so many people in the community and from other areas of the state and even interstate
01:40come and travel for that game was just fantastic.
01:45For Chris, the 2025 season will look a little bit different as he prepares to scale back
01:50his involvement on game days. But he hopes that the next wave of volunteers will make
01:55their way to Valley Road.
01:56I think most sporting clubs would probably say that there's never enough volunteers.
02:02We've got a fantastic band of volunteers here. Again, never enough. There's just so many
02:11wide and varied roles and some much, much bigger than others. But everyone, I guess,
02:18plays a critical role in piecing together what effectively ends up being a successful
02:23match day or a successful environment for our players to develop through. They're so
02:30important to the club. Again, we certainly would like to have more of them, but we certainly
02:37value those that do contribute.
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