The club was chosen for the award for inspiring positive change after joining the Good Sports program and strengthening the club community.
West reached the highest level of the program in its first year, which club treasurer Tracey Kipping said was a proud achievement.
She said the netball club joined the program after the football club had been a member for many years.
Kipping said a major focus was about attracting families back to the club after games, to be more involved on a social level.
“Over the past few years we struggled to get families back to the club for tea after a long day of netball,” she said.
“We wanted to encourage families to come back to the club, so we introduced games at tea, if we had social events we started at tea time with dress ups so the kids could get involved.”
Kipping said the netball community at West had jumped on board and supported the program well through its inception.
“They have really got behind us and supported us with what we want to do,” she said.
“It is a slow process.
“This year we really focused on three netball teams and hopefully we can build on that and move forward.”
Kipping said the Good Sports organisation had been a big help to set up the procedures and policies, inspiring the netball club to put things in place for the younger members.
She said the football club has been a Good Sports member for many years, which helped with the netball transition from its original Star Club program.
“We have had the Good Sports program well publicised around the club for a long time,” she said.
“We just wanted the netball to get on board with it.
“When we have a function we always put in newsletters we are a Good Sports club, to act responsibly and it has worked well for us.”
To gain the national rookie honours was something Kipping said the whole club was excited about.
“The lady we were dealing with from Good Sports in Adelaide encouraged us to put our application in because she was very impressed with what we had done,” she said.
“We did not expect to get anything the first year so we were really excited.”
The Alcohol and Drug Foundation manages the Good Sports program and praised the West Gambier netball club, calling it a community champion.
The program is funded by the Australian government and the SA Motor Accident Commission.
It works to build a healthier sporting nation, with more than 9000 clubs on board across the country.
The three-tiered program provides resources for clubs to create a family-friendly environment regarding alcohol management, plus education about tobacco and safe transport.
