Which is more important the seniors or the juniors?
It's three years into our licence and this chicken and egg conversation still comes up inside and outside the club. The short answer is both and importantly both equally, and that’s the philosophy we as a Board are working towards.
You will see it in how we train our players and coaches, how we communicate to our membership and to the GV community - and it was definitely on show when so many of our Senior players and coaches stepped in to assist with refereeing at our practice matches and the home round against Eastern Lions.
As Chairman I can give you a long answer about the importance of thinking and acting as one club particularly given our regional location, but the simple fact is our NPL licence demands we do.
Our licence requires us to field teams in all age groups - Seniors, 20s, 18s, 16s, 15s, 14s, 13s, 12s and provide a Skills Acquisition Program - that's at least 120 players of elite NPL-standard. If we fail to put a team on the park and so forfeit a game in any youth age group, the Seniors pay the penalty with zero points from their next game. So no matter how good or talented our Senior team is, their success depends on our ability to attract younger players and field teams every week of the season.
The flipside is that under the NPL points cap system, our Senior team is the primary beneficiary of the success of our youth development programs. Homegrown players have 1 point deducted for each year they have played with their club (max 5 points) and well before they make seniors, our young players who make National Training Centre or the FFV’s Skillaroos benefit the Senior team by at least 3 points for each youth player. If you want to know more about this points system here's a great
summary.
We are committed to developing a predominantly homegrown Senior team, but it will take several seasons to develop the depth of talent we require across all the age groups. At the moment we are creating opportunities for players to step up and begin their progress to Seniors which is fantastic, but it cascades back through the squads and is particularly obvious when our youth and senior games are played on the same day nearly 3 hours apart as was the case last weekend.
On Saturday we had seven players eligible to play U18s playing for our U20s. Some are regulars, others were stepping up but combined with transport challenges we had only five squad members for the U18s and eight for the U16s. Our U15s played a second even a third consecutive game at least one if not two levels above their age group.
I would like to thank the players and parents for making this possible. I would also like to congratulate the U16 and U18 squads for their leadership - its not easy to bring new players into the team on game day and come together as a group to play at your best. The scorelines were tough and certainly do not reflect the development we are seeing from individuals in these groups.
Which brings me back to the start, the success of our Club depends on the success of our youth and our Senior teams and I am excited by the success of both. Our Senior team is hosting matches of a spectacular standard at home in the GV. This alone has increased the interest in soccer and creates a reason for the wider community to come along and see games against some of the oldest and strongest clubs in Australia and featuring players who have, are and will be a part of Australia’s international success.
The flow on effect is the increased junior interest in soccer through the SJSA, GNEFA and our NPL competitions. Our youth teams are complementing the Senior’s success and providing a reason for non-traditional audiences to come and see what all the excitement is about. Our youth teams are also bringing a steady stream of at least a couple of hundred visitors - players, coaches, parents and supporters - to Shepparton for each home game across the season.
While I am sure every region and Club thinks it has incredible talent, at just three years of age the GV Suns youth squads have produced three NTC players, nine FFV squad members and four Victorian representatives - including the captain of the under 12 boys squad. Obviously many of these players began their careers in local SJSA and GNEFA competitions which shows the importance of these competitions to a successful NPL club.
So while the Senior’s performances are providing some exciting content for the existing round ball community, our youth squads are connecting the beautiful game with new and broader audience. And as a united Club we are building something amazing for our sport and our GV community.
Go Suns!
Mick Crisera
Chairman
Well done to everyone who participated over the weekend vs Nunawading or to put it another way a 3 year old club took on a 45 year old club! Its always a pleasure to play against them and while the score lines may not show it, I am very pleased that we were competitive across the board and playing football. Despite a few results in the older age groups a very pleasing weekend.
GV Suns SAP class of 2016
We are very excited to announce our new batch of GV Suns players for 2016.
U10s:
Lucca Pena
Brodie Pena
Jake Cirillo
Fiorina Iaria
Charlie Martinek
Trey Depalma
Chris Rossignuolo
U11s:
Jacob Kinnane
Tasman Hall
Callum Horsman
Reece Reedy
Miles Dalgliesh
Rhys Carey
Kayan Mariano
Training will commence 4:30pm Monday 18 April from at McEwen Reserve. Training will run for 1hr to 1.25hrs and more information will be provided on at the first training night. If you trialed and did not receive an email please contact operations@gvsuns.com.au
To all GV Suns SAP coaches(u12, u13, u14) and assistants. We have organised with the FFV to host a FREE SAP workshop for the club on Wednesday April 20 starting at 6pm. This is a compulsory workshop to aid you in producing better sessions.
Collect your FREE GV Suns Family Pass
Your player registration fees include a 2016 season family pass to enter all GV Suns Seniors' home matches.
To pick up your pass phone or email Fiona and collect it on game day or at the gate.
Please remember, there are strict rules associated with our liquor licence and to make sure we meet these requirements and everyone stays safe:
- an adult must accompany anyone aged 14 years or younger to the game, and
- younger supporters who arrive unaccompanied will not be allowed entry until their adult guardian comes and collects them at the entrance gate.
Reno's reflections
While overseas, Reno is providing some valued insights on preparing for games. This week Reno covers the second of the three Rs of football - Reflection / Rest / Rehearsal. This week Reno covers the second R - Rest!
Training at football clubs needs to be intense so that players can appreciate hard work.
No one ever gets anything in life unless they work hard. Therefore , you cannot expect to improve in football without working hard on the training track and in games. Taking this into account players, therefore need proper rest. They need to practise football daily and make sure that they rest well.
It is suggested that a young players needs at least 7 to 8 hours sleep each night beginning two nights before the game.
Parents and players should consider the following.
There should be no social media, x box, Fifa games before bedtime. This activity should cease well before night time. The body needs to be in a relaxed state before sleep and this type of activity is not ideal. It would be better to read a required textbook for school or a book on football skills to help get settled for bed.
Players at school need to be organised and up to date with their work. A proper plan for homework is also essential. If you are behind in your work it can create unconscious stress which students tend to take to bedtime. You feel better within yourself when you are up to date with your studies and organised.
Junior players need to ask the seniors and research how good players prepare for their games. Two days out from a game requires a particular diet and an emphasis on actvity and rest.
The change room prior to kickoff needs to be calm without social media or mobile phones andwithout unnecessary boisterous activity. It needs to be full of concentration and rest.
In my next wrap I will write about a form of concentration which I refer to as rehearsal.
I hope all of our players are noticing an improvement in their game. Please refer to my last two wraps because they are relevant to a players progression if they want to try to succeed.
Cheers for now, Reno
Are you on duty this weekend?
Thank you to all the families who helped out at our last home game. You are now off the list for at least a few weeks.
The following is a summary of the families on duty this weekend - if you can't make it please email Nat at annanatpat@bigpond.com or for this week to arrange an alternative time slot.
| Canteen |
Families |
Set up
8:30 - 9:30 |
Rachele, Georgiou, Humphries & Raditsas |
| 9:30 - 11:00 |
Giaccherini, Simpson & Crichton |
| 11:00 - 12:30 |
Martello, Mawley & Pigatto |
| 12:30 - 1:30 |
Saron, Corso & Lawrence |
Pack up
1:30 - 3:30 |
Crupi, Corso & Minicozzi |
| Grounds |
Families |
Set up
8:30 - 9:30 |
Chandler, Dodson, Pena & Maroney |
Pack up
2:45 - 3:30 |
U16 & U18 parents and families |
Weekend game wraps
Under 12s
Tommy Giuliani
With an 8.45 am kickoff and coming off a disrupted training week our boys probably lacked the fluency of their previous performances. In saying that, our football in the first half was ,at times, of a high standard and with a little more cutting edge in our attacking third we may have found ourselves comfortably more than 1-0 up at halftime. Again,our midfield proved decisive in providing lots of opportunities with quick ball movement. In this period our ball retention and our collective pressuring to recover possession was terrific.
The second half began in similar fashion,our defending solid and midfield picking holes in Nuna's pressing game. Unfortunately we were unable to retain our "football DNA" after a raft of substitutions.
The last ten minutes were not up to scratch and we became reactive and panicky, unable to retain possession and our defensive line got deeper and deeper. The challenge for this group is to keep the standards high and strive for even contribution.
We will be working very hard to try and achieve this but I could never fault the commitment or effort of any player, and some players, such as Daniel Linton who was superb in goal in the first half and reached new performance heights. Four games into the season including two tough away assignments, I believe this group to be a very competitive and coachable.
This week we'll work hard on the track to make sure our core skills stand up under pressure.That is the challenge for some of our boys and coaching staff in all age groups,to develop their game to the point where they can feel comfortable on the ball in an elite environment that the NPL provides.
South Melbourne beware!!!
Under 13s
Matt Lelliot
The boys started the brighter of the two sides going up and Diesel opened the scoring for GV Suns with a tidy finish from a tight angle.
Nunawading started to gain momentum as the game continued and we were mostly on the back foot but the boys worked hard for each other and made it a contest. We narrowly went down 3-2 in a thrilling contest which on another day could have easily gone our way.
I was very happy with how the boys attempted to get as wide as possible when we had possession which we worked on during the week, but the best thing to come from the match was the effort every player gave - 110% - and special mention to Garang Kuol and Gerald Corbo who made their 13s debut up from the 12s and both were excellent
Under 14s
Nathan Saron & James Lelliot
A Training this week focused on BP effective possession Playing out from the back and Friday a lighter session on mid-3rd possession. Now that we have started Cycle 2 the boys are working hard at sharpening up all skills.
Game day talk was for the boys to be confident and use the back four to switch the ball quickly if passing lanes were blocked, to be positioned correctly on BP and BPO goal kicks.
It was a good team performance with a couple of stand out players which held us in a great position for most of the game.
We lost our structure a bit in the final minutes and Nunawading City took advantage of this. We are conceding too many goals, we need to tighten our defence and close opposition passing lanes. Well done to the boys on their attitude and positive aggression in the contest, keep it up.
Under 15s
Shaun Kane & Glen Wilson
It was a busy week for the boys with a midweek game against Box Hill as well as preparing for Nunawading on Saturday. The boys put on a fantastic first half display against Box Hill, although failing to take our chances and capitalise on the strong performance would cost us. We were always in the contest but we were unable to replicate our first half showing and were eventually downed.
The performances week by week are getting stronger and I certainly can't fault the work ethic. For the Nunawading game I was keen to reinforce our defensive shape and pressure, to make us hard to beat and limit the goals we have been conceding.
In the Nunawading game I certainly feel we achieved this, I was very pleased with the team performance. As well as some very good football being played and several chances being created, the work rate and pressure to win the ball back from a very good footballing side was excellent. The boys thoroughly deserved their first win 2-1 and we hope we can kick on from here.
In the coming weeks we will go to 3 sessions a week to improve the team's fitness as well as continuing to work on our defensive shape, organisation and pressure as well as our decision making and final product in the final third. All in all I am happy with the progress made by the players individually and collectively as a team and we will keep striving to improve in every department.
Under 16s
Paul Nieuwenhuizen & Shaban Mehmet
Well another week and again we struggled to put a full under 16 team on the pitch. Only 8 of the 12 man squad turned up to play. Transport to and from our away games is clearly proving to be a big challenge for this age group with several catching a 7 am train from Shepparton to ensure their availability for a 1:30 kickoff. Once again we called on under 15 players - Lucas Enders, Bowdie Chandler, Connor Dobson, Vincent Barca and Nick Elder - again a big thanks to the players and parents.
Assembling a team on game day meant we were unbalanced with players required to play in positions that didn't match their natural strengths, and as a team we had to learn each other's playing style on the go.
The team task was to stay compact to shutdown the passing channels and limit scoring opportunities. Against a well drilled and organised opponent who moved the ball and themselves with great speed the boys found it very difficult to stay true to our team task.
The positives from the weekend were the continued effort across the 80 minutes and the commitment to play the ball out from the back third into our forward third.
Under 18s
Pat Kielty & Shaban Mehmet
At training we focused on retaining the ball and creating overload when we are in possession of the ball with the goal of providing goal scoring opportunities. This training principal assumes we have at least eleven fit and fresh players who are able to put into practice on match day what we have practiced at training.
The actual match day started badly when it became apparent that we only had six genuine under eighteen players. We had to make up the team with fourteen and fifteen year old players from other age groups. We lost the game nine nil and but for the amazing effort of the whole team it would have been a lot worse. When, towards the end of the second half, we have players who are too tired to run or who are running while limping you know they have given everything they have. We make no apology for the score as the players did the best they could in the circumstances.
We knew before the game that Nunawading are renowned for playing "tikka take" football, Barcelona style and so it proved on matchday. We also noticed that they had five substitutes on the bench and their squad were genuine under 18 players.
Thank you to Charlie Maude, Rodney Immanuel, Alou Kuol and Thomas Corso from the Under 16 squad who finished their own game then played for us five minutes later, and thank you to Fraser Gosstray, Liam Kielty and Kaine Humphries from the under 15 squad who played earlier in the day. These seven boys who played a second game gave us two substitutes. Three of these players were also carrying injuries they sustained in their previous games earlier in the dayt
Under 20s
David Davkovski & Matt Maiorano
We lost 2-0, however it was our Best performance of the year. Our application and attitude was perfect. We brought Makuac up for another go in the 20's and this kid is developing well.
Tactically the boys were good, technically we struggled at times and ultimately cost us the game but again as the year goes on we are developing more and more players for first team football which is what this is all about. We have a tough couple weeks coming up especially with the injuries in the Seniors so player management is paramount.
Seniors
Nick Kalafatis & Serkan Aktas
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Our Social Club gets hot and steamy!
That's right, our Social Club have purchased a new food steamer for the canteen and now everyone can enjoy hot, steamed old including dim sims on game day.
Thanks to everyone who contributed and to the Social Club for making this possible.
Armchair expert - Was that a goal?
