HISTORY
For over 40 years, Templestowe Junior Football Club has been providing junior football facilities in the local community.
Formed in 1969, our club started as the Doncaster Heights Junior Football Club with a small tin shed as its headquarters at Rieschiecks Reserve on the corner of George and Victoria Streets East Doncaster. Times were tough in those days. While the council of the day supported us in providing the tin shed, members of the club had to erect it and concrete the floor themselves. This was constructed at the Victoria Street end of the ground until the present pavilion was built.
From those humble beginnings with one team of Under 11s, we have progressed to become a strong club with representation in all age levels in the Yarra Junior Football League.
Over this time, we have won 33 premiership flags in various age levels and have produced many players that have risen to AFL ranks. In the recent past are names like Trent Croad (Hawthorn/Fremantle/Hawthorn), Aaron Lord (Geelong/Hawthorn/Geelong), Andrew Collins (Hawthorn) and Brett Chandler (Fitzroy/Kangaroos).
Doncaster Heights, in conjunction with Templestowe Football Club and Templestowe Park Primary School and Donvale Auskick joined forces and developed their unique pathway program in which children can have a strong and clear pathway in their football careers, from Tackers (Under 9s) right through to senior football.
The club entered a new phase during 2006 when the decision was made to change the colours from the traditional green, gold and brown to the purple, red and green strip of the Fremantle Football Club which has become our affiliated senior AFL club. In 2005, the club made a historic decision to change colours to the away strip of the Fremantle Football Club
In 2010 a new facility at Templestowe Reserve was opened which we share with Templestowe Football Club, Templestowe Cricket Club and Templestowe Park Auskick. We have full use of both grounds and the rooms every Sunday during Winter.
However the much loved Rieschiecks Reserve remains a training venue for some teams.
In 2014 we changed our name to Templestowe Junior Football Club to reflect our new home and strong pathways program whilst preserving the proud ‘Heighters’ history.
JOHN JENKINS MEMORIAL PRESENTATION
Each year, the “John Jenkins Memorial Medal” is awarded to the U9 (formerly Tackers), player considered by the coach and team manager to be the best and fairest and showing particular skills and potential to be a real club champion.
But just who was John Jenkins? John was an active member of the club for over seven years from 1972. A keen student of football, John believed emphatically that many boys playing competitive football sadly lack basic skills. In 1976, he introduced our first skills clinic which proved to be an immediate success with both boys and parents alike. He devoted an extraordinary amount of time in preparing coaching manuals, training sheets, skills acquisition sheets to ensure that his coaching methods could be demonstrably shown to be of benefit.
He extended his skills clinics into primary schools schemes in conjunction with the then Junior Football Council.
His whole life was devoted to football. Starting in his early years, he played at Richmond FC and then later at North Melbourne FC. He then went on to coach Preston FC, Vermont FC as playing coach before moving to Doncaster Heights.
John was a big man in both body and spirit, a quietly spoken and friendly man who revelled in the enjoyment of bringing football into the lives of junior players.
So if your son or daughter is lucky enough to win his medal, be enormously proud, because this award was introduced in honour of a man whose devotion and skills to junior football is unsurpassed.
