All the expectations and excitement for our junior squads came to fruition on the weekend with many players lining up for their first games for the GV Suns. Our U/20s and Senior squads followed up later that evening to complete an eventful day.
Our regional rivals Murray United were our first tough opponents for the season. Although not all results went our way we were competitive in all grades and we will see improvement as the season progresses. Of the 8 games we came away with 4 wins and 4 losses.
Thank you to all who helped our operations team on game day whether it be as lines-persons, team managers, ground setup or canteen, every bit that we all contribute helps. Our U/16 and U/18 age groups are still low on volunteer support so if you have a child in these age groups please assist.
Our SAP trials commence this week and it was very pleasing to see our 2016 U/12 squad that has a core group of SAP participants from last season.
This week we take on Box Hill (away) in the juniors and our seniors will play their next FFA Cup match against the North Sunshine Eagles at home at a date to be confirmed.
Go Suns!!
Regards
Michael Crisera
Chairman, Goulburn Valley Suns FC
Kids born in 2005 or 2006 are invited to trials for our 2016 Skill Acquisition Program (SAP) squad. The trials begin tomorrow night, Thursday 17 March from 4:30 pm at McEwen Reserve and again on Monday 21 March at 4:30 pm at McEwen.
SAP is a FFA curriculum designed to perfect and accelerate the skill development of individual players so they can play at a higher level. As part of the SAP squad our young players will work through a 22 week season program with a Gala Day at the end of each 6 week cycle followed by a one week break.
SAP is a great way to introduce enthusiastic young talent to soccer and ensure they have the best possible guidance from the first session. For more information call Fiona or email operations@gvsuns.com.au.
Reno’s Wrap
I spent my time over the weekend watching the particular habits of our teams as they played their first real game of the season. When points are up for grabs a different type of pressure is present amongst the coaches and playing groups.
A major focus of our pre-season training has been a structured approach to playing out from the back. I am sure we have all noticed that it is rare for our keepers to kick a long 50/50 bomb down the park. This has been evident throughout the Practice Matches and continued on Saturday within a different context.
Our Coaches and players need to be commended for this. It is our challenge to continue to play crisp football from the back to increase possession percentage. The real challenge is to mix the play up to counteract an intelligent press by the opposition. Our aim needs to be to find clinical ways to beat this type of pressure. Our focus will be on this in the coming weeks. It gives our juniors a focus and gets them thinking about the game of football.
Considering the conditions the teams performed quite well. Our Under 12s and 13s got on the winning list. The Under 14s and 15s were in touch with the opposition all game and the U16s and 18s scored first, however let the opposition beat them with more disciplined play.
The positives are that we scored goals, however we still conceded too many. Winning is not always the major focus but to play correct football we must entertain and protect our keepers. In reality we should win a game by scoring just one goal. Our objective should be to team build and be able to work together with our mates to protect our main assets, the goals and our keeper. This aspect of defensive play is vital and should be embraced by us all. I look forward to improvement in this area. To develop this discipline requires concentration and consistent attendance at training. You cannot build a cohesive unit without regular contact together.
Until next time
Cheers, Reno.
Warning - match times can change!
Your game time, pitch, even whether the game is going ahead is not confirmed with the FFV until the Wednesday before game day, and under exceptional circumstances further changes can occur between Wednesday and game day. This is why we encourage everyone to confirm your next game details at
www.foxsportspulse.com.
You can also subscribe to automatically receive an email each Thursday confirming your weekend match details (or details for any match).
Your 2016 Team Coaches
Hopefully by now you have met your coaches but in case you were wondering the following game wraps include the names of our coaches for the 2016 season. A few are not home grown locals so in coming newsletters we look forward to introducing them and sharing a little of their story!
Weekend Game Wraps
Under 12s
Tommy Giuliani
Fourteen players debuted for the GV Suns on Saturday with returning players Enrique Goggin and Garang Kuol providing some great leadership.
Over the past fortnight we have focused on 'first touch' core skill training and the team played some nice football and kept a good shape.
Our team is encouraged to 'build up play from the back' and to retain the ball. The team did this well during the match and were able to quickly move the ball into our attacking third, creating many opportunities for our forwards.
I was greatly impressed with the work when we didn't have the ball. Our intensity to press the opposition in high areas to win the ball back quickly was fantastic.
We have much work to do in transition moments and far sterner tests await but the tough tests create that perfection environment to continue to develop. Well done young Suns!
Under 13s
Matt Lelliot
It was a huge day on Saturday as we went on to win our first game of the 2016 season and my first as coach.
During the week we worked on trying to beat players 1v1 and it was evident that the players took their work from training into the game when we had the ball in our attacking third with players such as Billy Browne and James Giuliani dribbling past their immediate defenders effortlessly.
Before the game I set the team a task of when we had the ball, could we make the pitch as big as possible. I was very impressed with our positioning when we had possession and the boys did very well at keeping the ball for large periods of the game.
We finished with a 4-3 win thanks to goals from Teng Koul, Diesel Batey (2) and a sublime goal from Brandon Giaccherini in the last minute of the game. It was great to see the fighting spirit in our junior grades and couldn't be prouder of the young lads.
Under 14s
Nathan Saron & James Lelliot
We had eight new players for the GV Suns U14 team. Nicholas Rossignuolo captained the team for the game.
This pre season we have worked hard on playing out from the back, keeping possession and creating chances in the forward third. From a nervous start we were 1-2 down at half time,2 goals from Josh Rachele the score was 2-4, then Anthony Damchev scored to make it 3-4.
It was a good effort by the team to fight out the game as they did, almost finding a goal to draw the match.
We had some good moments in the game and with hard work and determination, maybe we can get the results in our favour.
Under 15s
Shaun Kane & Glen Wilson
It was not the ideal start everyone involved was hoping for. Despite a less than ideal preparation for the match, the boys started strong and did well to take the lead. However, the intensity and fluidity of our play that had been present against Moreland City and in training seemed to be lacking.
Despite flashes and brief moments of great interchange and link up play, we were not able to impose ourselves fully on the match and dominate the game and possession in the way we would like. We did not seem too troubled defensively, however, it was our own mistakes that seemed to be our undoing.
Despite not reaching our potential in this match and playing to our full capacity, I could not fault the boys' effort in tough conditions and a pleasing aspect was we were still able to create several chances that we should have taken that could have wrapped up the match.
Unfortunately we lost Hamish to a broken arm, we all wish him a speedy recovery!
The boys, Glen and I were bitterly disappointed however, judging by their reaction in training on Monday I was pleased to see we are very hungry and determined to get it right and kick on from here. Thanks to all the parents and volunteers who came along to support! Despite the result I am still very excited about the potential these boys have and what they can achieve this year!
Under 16s
Paul Nieuwenhuizen & Shaban Mehmet
We asked a lot from our Under 16s in their first match, with only nine Under 16 squad members, two Under 15s and no bench. On a hot day, every player knew they would be on the pitch for the entire 80 minutes.
We began brilliantly. Our preseason focus on pressing forward and being compact when the opposition had the ball saw us score the first goal and we went into the half time break 1 all.
Almost a third of the way into the second half the lack of interchange hit and we 'ran out of legs'. As physical and mental exhaustion took over we lost our shape and composure, and the opposition scored a further 4 goals in the last 25 minutes of play.
We saw some great play and endeavour early in the game and we look forward to building on this across the season. Thank you to Jordan Locate and Thomas Raditsas - their Under 15s match followed immediately after the Under 16s - so it was a fantastic effort from both of them.
Under 18s
Pat Kielty & Shaban Mehmet
On the opening game of the season the Under 18s kicked of in the afternoon in the blazing sun. The team was a mixture of 18s, 16s and one 15 year old. A big thank you especially to the several 16 year olds who played for us having just finished their own game again during the hottest part of the day. Three of our genuine under 18's were making their NPL debut and all commented after the game that it was much faster than they were used to.
The first half was an end to end affair with chances at both ends and both keepers being called upon to save the day. Ron Lawrence pulled of a few spectacular saves to keep the game scoreless and the Suns in with a shout. A short time before the half time whistle we managed to get numbers into the oppositions box and Jesse Turner put the ball in the net to give us a 1-0 lead going into the break.
When play resumed Murray United came out of the blocks with greater intensity than us and played a high pressing game which resulted in a quick equaliser. As the game progressed tired legs began to take its toll and gaps appeared in the midfield which provided Murray United with the opportunity to score, which they did twice. We plan to improve on keeping our shape in the midfield and retaining our composure which would have prevented those goal scoring opportunities for the opposition. The game eventually ended with Murray United winning 3-1
With new players making their debut and tired younger players filling in it was never going to be easy and eventually it showed.
However we saw that with hard work, improved fitness and training then the team will certainly get better and the results will come. We are all looking forward to a better display against Box Hill this Sunday
Under 20s
David Davkovski & Matt Maiorano
Great team effort from the boys. Our team was quite short due to some injuries in the seniors. Salawat Allafta and Cooper Gosstray made their senior debuts which are encouraging signs for our locals.
The boys stuck to our formation and dealt with Murray's long ball game well. We are a strong finishing team due to our fitness so patience was required and in the last 25 minutes we put the foot down and scored two goals.
Tactically we weren't compromised at all, our back 4 was strong and James Lelliott was solid in defensive midfield. Great to see Makuac from the under 18s get on the score sheet in his second game also.
Seniors
Nick Kalafatis & Serkan Aktas
Results at a glance
GV Suns v Murray United
Under 12s 7 - 2
Under 13s 4 - 3
Under 14s 3 - 4
Under 15s 2 - 3
Under 16s 1 - 5
Under 18s 1 - 3
Under 20s 2 - 1
Seniors 2 - 1
In the news
Thanks to all the young Suns who were able to make the Shep News photo op last Thursday. It was great to have so many players and parents able to help us out at short notice. Thanks also to our local media for their continuing support, both Cobram Courier and Shep News gave us a run to announce the start of the youth season.
Pictures - some of our under 12s ensuring Shepparton News photographer Ray Sizer has their names spelled correctly for the back page pic that ran on Saturday.
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If all of this sounds a bit technical you can email the contact email address to operations@gvsuns.com.au and we will add the email to our list.
Free entry to GV Suns Senior home games
It was great to see so many of our players, families and supporters at our home game this weekend. Remember your player registration fees includes a 2016 season family pass to enter all GV Suns Seniors' home matches. Come on down, meet other club families and enjoy some great soccer.
To give everyone a chance to contribute to the running of the club and to get to know each other, parents will be rostered onto activities across the season. From experience we know that getting involved is great for the club and for our parents. For home games we need to
If you are interested in marshalling or linesman/lineswoman please speak with your team manager. We will run some training sessions for anyone interested in giving it a go - and that can include parents, siblings, friends and even grandparents!
What if I can't make my rostered time slot? Some clubs have additional fees for families that do not help with rostered activities. We don't, but it may be something we will have to consider if there is not enough volunteers and we are forced to pay for linesman, marshals and other tasks such as set up that are FFV requirements.
If you can't make your time slot notify your team manager as early as possible so we can find you an alternative date and or time.
The following is a reminder of what is expected of spectators, players, parents, coaches and administrators.
Codes of conduct are available from our
website and the FFV competition rules are also worth a read
2016 NPL Rules of Competition.
1. Only the Team Manager, Coach and team members are allowed to sit in the Technical area.
Thanks to everyone for making a great effort to follow this rule last weekend. We recognise the redevelopment of the netball courts has taken away a popular access and viewing spot but hopefully this is a short term problem. In the meantime we need to ensure we meet the
2016 NPL Rules of Competition regarding who can enter the technical areas during a match.
So please remember no-one is permitted to enter the area between the pitches unless they are playing, coaching or managing
the teams that are on the pitch. If your game is finished or yet to begin you are not permitted in this area - and walking into the area with chips or soft drink is a pretty good indicator to everyone that you shouldn't be there.
2. Respect the Team Managers, Coaches, Referee, Officials and your team mates.
We saw one red card issued on the weekend to an opposition player for inappropriate language on the pitch. There is zero tolerance so its important to respect everyone associated with the game and to know and follow the rules.
Game Day Reminders... again
As mentioned last week the new youth kit should arrive late March and will be available after Easter for our third round. The training kit, bags and other items should arrive at the same time. 
Last week's newsletter had a few players worried that they are no longer allowed to listen to music in the change rooms. We just want to clarify that music is ok (although your team mates may have a different opinion about your musical tastes) but we don't want mobile phones, cameras and other recording devices in the change rooms. The change rooms are the one location where the Technical Director, your coach and team manager can speak with your playing group without interruption or distraction, so lets keep it that way. 
