GV Suns 

Wet weather venue changes

The continuing wet weather means McEwen is not available for training this wee. Its availability for Sunday will depend on the weather and how the grounds recover from the schedule of Saturday SJSA games.

Training venues

Tonight  - Shepparton Showgrounds. Training times have not changed.

Friday - Indoor Sports Centre, Kialla. A schedule of training times will be confirmed prior to Friday.

Game day venues

There are no changes at this stage - all matches are scheduled to be played at McEwen BUT this may need to change and is being assessed day by day through to Sunday.

Please  be prepared to receive a change of venue email/text as late as Sunday morning - and check in with your team manager if you haven't received one!

All games at home this weekend

This weekend GV Suns seniors take on Sunshine George Cross - a club that is nearly 70 years old, while our Junior squads take on the Oakleigh Cannons - a much younger club at only 45 years. 

Remember its free entry to all junior games and free entry for all members to our senior games. If you haven't collected your membership pass email Fiona.

Mid season break 3 & 10 July - Juniors only

For the past few weeks we have included reminders that there is a mid season break - we just forgot to mention that it is only for our junior squads.
2 - 3 July
general bye for all NPL Junior teams
9 - 10 July  
GV Suns Juniors bye

The Seniors and Under 20s will continue their season with games against Nunawading FC (at home) and Dandenong City FC (away).

Its a great opportunity to take a break, recharge and get ready for the second half of the season.

We will confirm training days and times shortly.

Is ‘a lap round the pitch’ effective warm up?  

Cold weather, wet and slippery grounds and mid-season lows can all contribute to nasty injuries - but often our injuries are made worse by not taking the time to warm up properly. 

Click on this poster to read great articles, watch videos and view the exercises that can help our squads warm up properly and avoid injuries.

Please note the program is designed for male and female football players aged 14 years and older and claims that teams that performed the program at least twice a week had 30-50% fewer injured players. 

One on One

Player height 178  
Weight 80kg 
Age  21 no l mean 22?? (One of the harder questions for our Matt) 
Marital status   Matt said he was taken, not sure if that was aliens or???
  
How did you get started in soccer?   
Mum took me down to Ringwood city SC and left me there.  
   
Did playing other types of sport help improve your skills as a soccer player?
Played AFL for a while it toughened me up as it was more physical in tackling.

Who is your favorite soccer player?  
Paul Pogba the Frenchman who plays for Juventus.

What advice would you give to young players who want to become GV Suns seniors soccer players?
Never give up and make the most of every opportunity, this not only applies to soccer but life in general.
 
What is your favorite pre-game meal?      
Spaghetti bolognaise

Do you have any pre-game rituals you do to prep before a game?       
Always put my right boot on first.

Favourite movie and why?
Happy Gilmore, because it’s based on a true story and you cannot get yellow card whilst playing golf.

What are some of the lessons you’ve learned on your Soccer journey?  
Make the most of every opportunity put in front of you as they may not be there tomorrow.
 
What type of music do you listen to?
Aussie Hip Hop
  
What is your preferred social media?          
l am on all the media’s  Facebook or Twitter, snap chat          
 
Thanks to Matt, Joseph Sepi and half by James Giuliani ( mum said dinner is ready lets go!)

Are you on duty this weekend?

The following is a summary of the families on duty this weekend - if you can't make it please contact Nat at annanatpat@bigpond.com or phone 0412 355 713.

Weekend game wraps

 Under 12s
 Tommy Giuliani

It was another big away trip on Sunday for the under 12 Suns guns. After another heartbreaking final minutes loss to Bentleigh the previous week, I was pleased for the boys to belt out the winning anthem in the rooms with real gusto after a 4-2 win. While as a coach it's more important to see a "football performance" week on week, it can't be denied that these boys are competitive beasts and love to win. It's important to have that in their DNA.

Last week I said we needed to find that attacking threat and start scoring goals again and we did which was great. In the first half, our football was below the required standard - not as bad as we have been away but far below our best. Our shape was ok, as was our movement off the ball but we were just very sloppy and unable to retain possession. We just couldn't hit feet.Then we inevitably conceded a goal.

The response to going a goal down was positive, Christian Georgia was our only winner early on a right wing and his introduction into a more central area allowed us to gain a real foothold in the game.

Slowly we started to be crisper in our passing, our ball speed and tempo lifted and we began to open up Dandenong City with width and diagonal early balls. Dandenong City did have some real class footballers in their lineup, but our structures were better, we were superior in recovering possession and this allowed us to create numerous scoring opportunities  in our attacking third.

The second half, but for conceding a second goal, was better and it needed to be! Our back four were really solid and compact, Ed Uniacke and Christian Corso looked really comfortable as centre backs and Garang Kuol was really sharp up top netting four times. Tutu Taya shone on a right wing and the players who struggled early in the game all lifted. Sometimes when things don't flow you have to keep your chin up, stay positive and scrap - it's the only way to turn things around and they did this, at Richmond they collapsed.

After the game I asked the boys if they had fun. They all yelled "Yes!" We shouldn't forget why these kids play. We need to nurture this and blend the hard work in, that's my job once we go three times a week with training and we'll need to keep an eye on fatigue and intensity. 70 minutes hard and fast might be a sweet spot. We can all now see the weekly challenges, no easy game ever. If they're off they're in trouble. That standard is how they will improve their skills,under pressure and at the highest level.

Enjoy the win boys,but we'll need to be much better this Sunday against the powerful Oakleigh Cannons. Go Suns⚽️??

Under 13s
Matthew Lelliot

A long trip down to Melbourne for our young side but after a great week on the track we were full of confidence and eager to get a result. In an even first half it was Dandenong who had the lead 2-1, a well taken goal from Marcus Thomas with a chip over the keeper had us in good stead to go on and get something from this match because we knew we weren't playing as well as we knew we could.

During the week we worked on our defensive shape and really pressing their back 4. The second half in my opinion was our most complete performance all year and a dominant display as the opposition didn't get out of their own half for 25 mins and lead to us scoring 3 unanswered goals winning 4-2 thanks to a brace from Teng Kuol who turned it on and was the best player on the park, and Olivia Sarron with her first goal of the season who put in her best performance so far.

It was a great team performance and result, Joseph Sepe had his best game of the season and Jacob Martinek really lead the troops with another outstanding display. Diesel Batey looked composed and was rarely beaten in his new role at right back.

Well done to everyone involved and thanks to Ben Thomas for helping out on the day.
Go Suns. 

 Under 14s
 Nathan Saron & James Lelliot

 We started the game with a good burst of energy and created a couple of chances and were able to score first. As Dandenong worked themselves into the game we had done well to only be 2-1 down at half time, especially with Izaak saving a penalty. 

The bench issue made it hard for the boys to keep up in the second and it resulted with us losing 5-1.
We have another tough game to play against Oakleigh Cannons FC before the bye, so lets get our 
minds and team spirit right so we play good football for each other, the whole game and all future games.

GO SUNS!!!!

Under 15s
Glen Wilson & Shaun Kane

Our game on the weekend saw us come away with a 3 -3 draw, and although it’s all about the way we play rather than the result – we can’t help but feel we let a couple more points slip.
 
Once again our pre-game preparation wasn’t satisfactory due to late arrivals and access to the shared dressing room – these combined resulted in very limited warm up time prior to kick-off. 
 
This really showed in the first 10 minutes of the game as we conceded the first goal from a simple defensive error at the back.  It would seem that going a goal down stirred our lads into action and from that point on we had complete control for the remainder of the first half creating many scoring chances ….one of which Vinnie was able to convert after a lovely cross from Hakan on the wide left side.  Unfortunately, it was just the single chance converted as we could’ve easily had 4 or 5 before half-time such was our dominance.
 
The second half saw us a again a bit slow out of the blocks, and unfortunately a penalty was awarded to the opposition who appeared to have just slipped over in the mud.  Alou was able to stop the penalty, however the rebound went straight back to the opposition and allows them a simple slot into an open goal.  Being 2 - 1 down certainly moved our lads into positive action and once again we started to play much better football and it seemed only a matter of time until we equalised …..after quite a few opportunities spurned, a nice ball knocked forward towards Vinnie, by Lucas Enders, our returning from injury regular Goalkeeper, saw Vinnie out bustle a couple of defenders and calmly slot his second goal into the net.
 
Just when you have thought you’d seen it all – what happened next was very strange…..during the course of play the Referee stopped the game due an injured player on the ground……upon the restart he instructed their player to kick it back to us as we had the ball when the game was stopped…….strangely, one of their players swooped on that pass back and rolled the ball into the open net scoring their 3^rd goal .....this created quite a reaction as you could imagine.

In an act of GREAT SPORTSMANSHIP their coach looked at me and said…..”Well that’s not supposed to happen” and they would allow us to “walk a goal in” to even it out……..It did take a very frantic minute or so to get this message across to the players on both teams, interestingly, Vinnie was very quick to take advantage to complete his “hat-trick”. 
 
With all that aside, the game continued and we were well and truly controlling the play, we were just unable to find that final finish we were looking for ……definitely something we can and will be working on in training going forward.
 
On a sad note, Hamish who was just starting to find his feet back from his broken arm in the very first game of the season …..well, he broke his other arm midway through the first half and will be out again for a couple months.  We all wish him a speedy recovery.
 
Again, thank you to Alou for standing in goals for us, he is doing an absolutely sensational job…..what a fantastic all round talent he is!
  

Under 16s
Paul Nieuwenhuizen
 

We entered the game with a positive feeling. Our squad was boosted by Declan Maiorano stepping in to provide some great support to our backline and David Musafiri both from our Under 20s squad. Our players were confident and able to get forward a number of times into goal scoring areas but due to poor execution in the final passage of play we failed to capitalise. We found ourselves down 2 nil at halftime due to some poor decision making and communication from the players. At halftime, we had a quick chat about working hard on executing the games core skills better and trying to improve our decision making.
 

The 2^nd half saw an improved performance with the team continually working on creating scoring chances, while limiting Dandenong to a few shots that Declan easily dealt with. However, we conceded a penalty due to some poor defending and were soon 3 nil down. Despite this setback, the team kept trying to attack and we soon scored through a great effort from Charlie Maude after a great passage of controlled possession and build up play.
 

Once again I would like to thank a number of under 15 players (Fergus, Fraser, Vince, Callan & Conor) who stepped up to ensure we were able to put a team on the park. I would like to thank Declan Maiorano and David Musafiri from the under 20’s - both players showed why they are playing above their age.
 

Would also like to thank our Club President Michael for driving the bus down to ensure both the under 16s and 18s could field teams.

Under 18s
Pat Kielty & Shaban Mehmet

We went into this game believing we could win it even though we went with a depleted squad due to injury or other commitments. We welcomed Billy Reardon as a new player to the squad and he played his preferred position as centre back. At half time we were 2-1  down and by full time we were 5-1 down.

Its fair to say that with the exception of a couple of players we under performed on the day. I lost count of the number of simple passes we made that went straight to the opposition and the number of turnovers that occurred because our players tried to run through a group of  opposition players instead of passing the ball and moving into space.

After the game we had a chat and reiterated the importance of training and in particular training well with intensity. All in all a disappointing day but we will keep smiling and trying and we will improve. No one is giving up and we all still believe the results will come.

Thanks to Makuac Makuach from the 20's for making the long trek with us and for keeping us all amused with his views on life.

Under 20s
David Davkovski & Matt Maiorano

Game was postponed - date to be confirmed.

Seniors
Nick Kalafatis & Serkan Aktas

Make sure you read the wrap in this week's Shepp News.