North Warrnambool Eels president and division one player Jamie Harry understands better than most the importance a supportive community has on a thriving sporting club.
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The veteran cricketer and 2014-15 division one premiership player has spent a large chunk of his life at Bushfield oval and been a driver in its growth over many decades.
But he is always trying to find new ways to welcome more young cricketers and families into the club.
Part of it comes with the fast-paced and big-hitting Twenty20 format.
The Eels will launch their Warrnambool Twenty20 Cup campaign on Thursday, November 30 from 5.30pm with a home game against division two club Hawkesdale.
Harry said the club was keen to welcome in a big crowd from the area to cheer on the side and catch a glimpse of what the Eels were "all about".
"The area around Bushfield and the northern part of Warrnambool is growing a lot and there is a strong supporter base with the football club as well," he said.
"As a club, we've been working hard to get the community involved and it's a great opportunity to get people along and see what we're all about.
"We're hopeful we can get a really good crowd to cheer us on."
Harry will play in a near full-strength Eels side featuring captain Bailey Jenkinson, in-form batter Kory Howlett, champion quick Hank Schlaghecke and brothers Adam and Matthew Wines.
He said the importance of the competition couldn't be underestimated.
"The prize at the end, if you're fortunate enough to win, $15,000 doesn't come around often, it's a lot of hard work off the field to fundraise that," he said.
"We've been fortunate enough to win it twice since its inception. We know how much benefit it's brought to our club and it's helped us grow substantially off the field.
"And as cricketers too we just really enjoy playing it, it helps expand our game and it's a fun game to play."
He said the format was different to the one-day game despite it both being played with the white-ball.
"The Twenty20 is a more strategic game, you need to do a lot of things throughout the overs, whether it's slower balls, bouncers, yorkers, to how you set your field," he said.
"You then need to have the batters not mess around but you want someone to go deep and you want to be on the ball right from the start. There's a lot to think about.
"It's a fair bit different but it's good fun."
Harry expected Hawkesdale, a club he viewed similar to his own, as one to watch on the night.
"We respect Hawkesdale and what they'll bring. We've been on a really similar journey to them maybe 10, 15 years ago when I was coach and we were in division two looking to come into division one and we were fortunate enough to play in the Twenty20 comp," he said.
"We thought it was a good opportunity to showcase the talent within our team and grow our club down the track.
"We've got no doubt they've got some really good players and will put on a show."
Nick Creely
Sports reporter with The Standard
Sports reporter with The Standard
