Gary Schickerling Award

Carlton Cricket Club legend Gary Schickerling's connection with Moonee Valley has been honored with our Under 16 Gold Best Player Award being named after him.

Gary was at hand at our Under 16 presentations on April 24 to present the inaugural Gary Schickerling Trophy, which was won by Kam Kenny-Jones for the 2008/09 season.

Gary has taken a keen interest in what's going on at the Valley, and has attended a number of our functions with Tony Gleeson, the 2008/09 MVCC women's coach, past Moonee Valley senior coach and now team manager of Carlton's Seconds.

Pictured above are Under 16 Gold coach John Brelis (left), while Kam Kenny-Jones receives
the Gary Schickerling Trophy from the great man.

Gary's incredible career with Carlton spans 57 years, and includes an unbroken 20-year stretch when he held the position of either president, secretary or treasurer of the Premier Club.

He joined Carlton in 1952 as a player, and has played as a top-order batsman in every grade. He was played in Carlton flags in every grade except the Firsts.

"Schicka" was treasurer again of Carlton in 2008/09, as well as being scorer for the Seconds. He has also been Treasurer of the old Victorian Cricket Association - now Cricket Victoria.

In introducing Gary and announcing the naming of our new award, Moonee Valley president Charlie Walker said our Club would be in good hands indeed if anyone from MVCC put up their hand and devoted more than half a century to our cause.

Charlie told the Under 16 players and parents that Gary walks past Ormond Park each day on his way from his Ascot Vale home to Princes Park, and is not backward in telling Carlton what it should do to emulate the community involvement of Moonee Valley.

Charlie also said the direct link with Gary and Tony at Carlton will stand our juniors in good stead if they decide they want to try out for Premier Cricket. While our connections with these two key administrators at Carlton are not a guarantee that our juniors will get a trial, at least we can make a call and our teens will know a familiar face.

And Gary's not entirely unknown to Ormond Park - he advises that his father was an inaugural member of the Moonee Valley Football Club when it founded some 75 years ago.

And Gary wasn't the only Premier Cricket star at our Under 16 presentation night.

Our Under 16 White Best Player wins the Sean Sturrock Award - named for the former Moonee Valley junior and now Melbourne Premier Cricket First Eleven player. Sean was on hand to present his trophy to Lalith Buddhadasa.