Fun, Friendship and Community. That is the motto of Hills Spirit. Worn by every player when they take the field each weekend as guidance on how they should play, but also a guiding path for a club situated in a hotbed region within the association.
Beginning as a culmination effort by Our Lady of the Rosary Kellyville, St Angela’s Castle Hill, Our Lady of the Angels Rouse Hill and John XXIII Stanhope. The club has grown far beyond their primary school reach, developing into a sustainable grassroots club with over 500 active players.
“We started out with those three sorts of schools coming together to participate in the Catholic Schools Association, and we have been going for 48 years now,” Hills Spirit President Kate Angelini said.
“We’re trying not to get too much bigger because we like the idea of being more of a community club. Everyone knows each other. Everyone works with each other. You’re not just a number at Hill Spirit. We really try to make sure we put that effort into all our members.”
Participation and opportunity are driving focuses for Spirit, as evident by their growth in female football, which led to them receiving the Violet Nutt Award from Hills Football for an outstanding contribution to Female Football in 2024. To their new Thursday night level-up program for kids aged eight to ten years. Spirit is striving to get the best out of every player through giving them the best opportunity on and off the field.
“We worked hard at getting those in place, engaging the community, encouraging people to come out and get involved,” Angelini said.
“Thursday level ups [allows kids to come] down and have more game time, mix up into teams and play. We also try to get more training from coaches on game play and game situations and those sorts of things.”
“We’re just doing what we can to make the most give the most opportunities for our players.”
Finally, their pillar of community is exhibited through their ongoing relationship with other local Hills Association Member clubs. Situated in Kellyville, Spirit are surrounded by fellow member clubs such as Bella Vista FC, Glenhaven FC, Kellyville Kolts SC, Kellyville United FC, Norwest FC and North Kellyville FC.
Spirit understands and embraces its role in the footballing ecosystem, and whether kids are wearing blue and white on the weekend or another team’s colours, having active participants is the greater purpose and responsibility of the club.
“We’ve developed a really good working relationship with Kellyville United, Glenhaven, North Kellyville, and even to a certain extent, Box Hill,” Angelini said.
“We’ve been working really well together over the last few years to share fields, to share players [and form as many teams as possible.]”
“The presidents are understanding of that and try to work with us to get as many people as possible on the pitch anyway we can, whether it be with our club or their club. That’s been working really well over the last few seasons.”
