THE 2020 season will always be remembered as one of the toughest to date for the Batemans Bay Seahawks.
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From the bushfires, which burnt many of the club's properties, to COVID-19, which saw AFL Canberra remove them from the 2020 competition, the Seahawks have dealt with it all.
And one of those reasons the club is still standing has been the ongoing work and commitment of Jaimie Petterwood, who was recently named AFL South Coast's Volunteer of the Year.
"In any typical football season, Jaime and husband Heath would have been a more than worthy winner of our prestigious Volunteer of the Year award," AFL South Coast regional manager Matt Graham said.
"But in 2020, Jaimie has done so much more.
"Following the horrific bushfires which devastated the very suburb Jaime and Heath live in, the couple jumped to action when locals and in particular members of their own football club, needed help the most.
"Jaimie and Heath, along with the Batemans Bay Seahawks committee, provided hands-on support for the clean up of properties impacted by the fires.
"Week after week, an army of Seahawks members, coordinated by Jaimie and Heath, could be found helping others in the community in any way they could."
One of the highlights during this tough time was the Sydney Swans' visit to the South Coast, as part of their annual AFL Community Camp.
"Jaimie and Heath planned and organised all of the properties where the Swans' players went to, along with organising a community event at Hanging Rock Oval, which left a lasting impact on anyone who came across the Swans," Graham said.
Just when normality was starting to creep into their lives and the Seahawks were looking forward to their 2020 campaigns, coronavirus hit Batemans Bay - seeing both the club's junior and senior season was thrown into disarray.
"Jaimie worked tirelessly through this period to try and get as many kids as possible onto the park," Graham said.
"Ultimately, only a couple of the Seahawks teams were able to continue on in the 2020 season, however, this was through no lack of effort from Jaimie.
"Jaimie sent countless hours trying to get players back and ensuring a safe environment for all participants."
During her role as Seahawks' junior coordinator over the past two seasons, Jaimie has been the driving force behind the junior players and teams competing in the Shoalhaven juniors competition.
"Despite all that's gone on, the junior numbers have grown and if it wasn't for COVID, the club would have filled teams in all grades and would have been a real force," Graham said.
"Jaimie looks for no praise or thanks for the work she does - in fact, she is pretty quick to deflect it from herself and thank others.
"But we at AFL South Coast are grateful for all of her work to assist the Seahawks club and broader Batemans Bay community get through this challenging year.
"Congratulations to Jaimie on this honour."