Over the last few years Adelaide University Rugby has been pursuing a long-term, whole-of-club uplift strategy with a commitment to fostering a positive and inclusive rugby community, focused on improving the off-field experience of the members as well as the on-field performance of the players.
As everyone knows, you can’t keep doing the same things and expect different results. The improvements AURugby is chasing mean a lot of change, and a lot of extra work for volunteers. The positive changes that they are seeing are only possible because a handful of volunteers have gamely taken on this challenge and put their shoulders to the grindstone.
First among these heroes is Sophia Costello. Soph single-handedly does more than twenty average club members put together.
In addition to playing in the Women’s XV, managing and strapping that team from time to time, and parenting her own junior player Lucas, Soph is also Club Captain, Club Secretary, Coaches the U7s, plans and runs social events, supports multiple recruitment and activation activities each year, and so much more.
Over and above ‘business as usual’, Soph is also at the heart of the small team of Club Faithfuls who are determined to change the status quo at AURugby. In the last year that team (including Gus Crouch, Kim Evans, Alex Gwiazdzinski, Gabi Mahney, Shona Swart, Gareth Thomas and others) has:
- Introduced Thursday and Saturday meals averaging 80 meals a week;
- improved the bar, canteen and kitchen operations and offerings;
- reinvigorated the Club's connection with the University and its on-campus presence;
- increased fundraising, grants and sponsorships;
- improved the club's sideline management;
- undertaken the major job of giving the clubrooms a much-needed makeover via countless hours or repairs and maintenance, scrubbing, polishing windows, getting new furniture, restoring memorabilia, and creating a space for a refs room (which also serves as a med room and a changeroom for junior girls).
This has all resulted in bringing a sense of pride and belonging back to the club, nourishing a great social atmosphere which keeps members connected and engaged, bringing new players flocking in, and significantly increasing club revenue which allows the club to increase its investment in rugby programs. Soph has been one of the main drivers of this improvement.
Surrounded as she is by strong personalities – often in their turn loud, opinionated, impatient, single-minded - Soph is routinely the calm and sensible voice at the table. More often than not, she ends up in the role of peacemaker, mediator, sounding board, spleen-catcher, and counsellor. Her broad shoulders, excellent judgement and kind heart make her the glue that holds the rest of the rabble together; on top of all of her other roles, she is the Club's Executive Director of Cat Herding.
We at AURugby are incredibly proud of the community we are building. We are grateful to all the volunteers who are working so hard, but particularly to Soph whose leadership and sheer hard work are having a revolutionary impact at the Club. We are unbelievably lucky to have her.
