Ayad and Dunia Botres were recognised as Hume Residents of the Month for their work founding the Roxburgh Park Soccer Club. They spoke to Michaela Meade about how they felt about the award and why they started the club.
What’s your connection to the northern suburbs?
The northern suburbs has been our home since the day we resided in Australia. Dunia has been living in Moreland and Hume suburbs for the past 23 years, Ayad in Hume for the past 17 years, We’ve lived in Roxburgh Park for almost 12 years now, our children grew up here and attend local Catholic schools. Ayad volunteered in Good Samaritan Primary school for few years as a soccer coach along with other coaches who are still until this moment volunteering in the club.
What are some of your favourite memories?
One favourite memory is the the open day of Roxburgh Park United. Now we can look back and see how far the club have achieved. As a community we create so many precious moments that we are grateful for.
How did it feel to be awarded Residents of the Month for July?
No words can describe it. The resident of the month award was an honourable recognition of the work that we did, it gave us a push to do more and give more. We’ve been trying our best to give to the community, to help our children grow in a healthy and friendly environment – we believe that it is our duty to help the community as residents and as parents. This award was a nice gesture from Hume City Council, that we believe will motivate more residents in the community to work hand in hand with others to shape the future of our community.
What made you start Roxburgh United, and how has the journey been?
The rapid growth that Roxburgh Park has experienced through the last few years has been so high, and watching our children grow, as a family we started thinking about what sports they enjoy more. We questioned how to keep the children occupied and where they would spend their spare time? What can we as parents do to lead them into the right direction and what is this area lacking? A soccer club! Soccer is what we know, as I – Ayad – am a former player, and a coach of many years. So I’m passionate about soccer, and wanted to pass the knowledge and skills on to children who are the future of the game. Soccer is what will keep the children active and healthy. Soccer will bring the children together and form friendships between them, form friendship between families and, on a larger scale, form a strong, friendly, multicultural community. As everything in life, nothing comes easy. We had to work really hard to get to the point that we are now at. And none of that would have been possible to achieve without the support that we had from our family, as we both lucky enough to have our extended family here. The helping hand of our precious volunteers who joined the club as parents of players and ended up finding themselves stuck with us in our journey, helping in anyway that they can, to them we say a big thank you.
What’s your favourite local cafe/restaurant and why?
That’s a hard question to answer. There is a variety of restaurants in the area, but personally our family enjoys middle eastern food.
