Rogers is one of the club's finest stalwarts and received the accolade having spent 41-years (and counting) playing for and administrating at Telangatuk East.

Despite being an obvious candidate for the honour Rogers said he wasn't expecting it.

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"It was a bit of a shock because we'd just had the Christmas tree (event) at Telangatuk that night and Luke Rees started saying a few words and asked if I could come up and he presented me with a Life Membership," Rogers said.

"It's something I've always hoped for or dreamt of I suppose."

Rogers' mother played for Telangatuk East and his association with the club began when he was just eight years old when he started playing juniors.

He took a liking to the sport and "could handle [himself] reasonably well".

"I played the first two years as a girl because we were short of girls in the district," he laughed.

"So it took me three years to get a game as a boy and I went from there."

Across the 41-years Rogers - who served as captain and club president at various times - had many highlights, but pointed to some of the silverware the club won as a standout.

"We won four premierships at Telangatuk I think and one year my wife played and my three kids all played in the team," he said.

"That was special for our family."

Rogers is also proud of the season Telangatuk East spent in the Pennant Division in 2019, where they tested themselves against the region's best.

"It meant a lot to me that we reached the highest level for our district down here," he said.

"We did enjoy it."

In total, Rogers has played tennis for fifty years, something he said was always a goal of his.

In that time he had stints with Horsham Lawn and Central Park Tennis Clubs; winning a premiership at the latter.

These days he continues to turn up for his beloved club in the A Special division of the Central Wimmera Tennis Association, where his side currently sit in sixth.

"We're not going too bad," Rogers said.

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"We've got a pretty young team in A Special. There's quite a few young ones in the district that are playing, which is good."

On court, Rogers is still enjoying himself but is "more than happy to stand out if the younger ones want to play".

"I find myself playing on most weeks," he said.

"I still feel I'm reasonably competitive, though not as fast as I used to be.

"My body's still going alright so I'll probably still go around for the next couple of years."

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