Vale - Laurie Debritt
25 September 2010
It was with great sadness that the southern highlands polocrosse community learnt of the loss of one of the truly 'good guys' involved in our sport. On the 29th of August, Laurie Debritt had a fatal accident while riding his dirt bike with some old mates, another sport he loved since he was a kid. Laurie was only 46.
Laurie started his polocrosse career as a junior and played for many years with the Hall Club, just outside of Canberra. He went on to play A Grade and represented the Southern Highlands Zone on many occasions.
He followed in the footsteps of his father Mick and the extended Debritt clan. All were keen horsemen and women, and between their support for polocrosse, pony club and various sporting gymkhanas, the family are local community icons always supporting family oriented horse sports.
Laurie really was true to the Debritt name, a bloke who could fix anything, would have a go at anything, and just about always, he would be good at it. He was always the first to offer someone a hand, a good sportsman and far too much fun to party with.
Laurie married his childhood sweet heart, Kerrie Rawlings, also a keen rider and polocrosse player. They had two daughters, Hayley and Brooke, and took a spell from playing polocrosse as they built a home and took the girls to pony club. Having moved to Murrumbateman and with the girls growing out of pony club, Laurie and his family once again turned to polocrosse and joined the local Yass Club in 2007. Despite the spell was also quick to return to form and was soon once again competing in the A Grade.
So typical of Laurie's character, he volunteered for a range of roles in the Yass club, from the cutter of firewood, the emergency farrier, to selector and Vice President of the Club.
In 2009 the Debritt's played as a family team at the Harden carnival, with Laurie, Kerry, Hayley and Brooke teaming up with Laurie's sister Vicki and her husband Cliff Walters. All proudly watched and cheered on by father and grandfather Mick. They took out the B Grade Competition, and Laurie picked up Best and Fairest B Grade player. But we all knew his biggest prize and joy that weekend was playing with his family. In 2010, the Debritts once again played as a family unit and again took out the B Grade competition. More recently Laurie was proud to watch both his daughters representing the SH Zone in the finals at the NSW Championships.
Laurie was a hard working family man. He was also always there for his mates, and he had lots of them. He was a good bloke to break down in front of, you knew he would be the first to stop and he would always be able to get you going. For so many people polocrosse will not be the same without him.