Season to forget

[Sean's]

Recipe for a tough season:

- Lose 15 players from previous years squad (other clubs, moved away, retirements)
- B grade team made up of 14 - 15 years old who are playing due to their being no U-16 team at club
- Four season ending knee injuries to experienced A grade players
- Many minor injuries to other players
- A grade goalkeeper unable to keep for remainder of season due to shoulder injury sustained from having to keep in B and A grade matches.

Bring on 2014!

Positives:
- Much rather have young guys play and learn. Can't sat enough about how committed they are. Get thumped by 10 goals most games but all come out to training and keep trying!
- Club spirit is still high and positive
- We will not forfeit any matches out of principle! Had it done to us over the years but we will always field 2 teams.

[Azzurri80]

Not sure what club you're with mate, but would seem there's a few clubs in a similar position this season. Fulham, Pontians, Adel Villa, are a few I know of. Always hard when a usually competitive and successful club hit that transition stage but hopefully effected clubs have enough brains in their committee and coaching staff to try to recruit or bring up new talent.

Good to hear you're all still plugging away, and that's all you can really do.

My club have also been effected this season with 2 of our main strikers going down to long term injuries, as well as many of our experienced players still just returning from injury or playing through injuries. On the flip side, we have been lucky to recruit some new talent this season so have remained competitive, and we also have a new coach who I think has been great this year for team spirit, as well as being a strong advocate of bringing up some 15-16 year old juniors who have shone since getting their chance. These kids are also very down to earth and willing to listen and learn so will only get better, which is good for them and better for the club.

My personal opinion regarding your team would be to put a strong focus on your young reserves side while your struggling in the A grade and going through that transition stage. With the right coaching and guidance, you could have a strong A grade side in a couple years once those 14-15 year olds mature a little, but the key is to keep them together and have the right people around them to further their development.

Kids with no egos are like sponges, the more encouragement you give them the more they listen and execute. I had a young kid play with me in the reserves Sat and I told him before the game that playing on the wing his defensive duties have been outstanding, but he tended to sit back a little too much defensively. I told him that he is a gun and should back himself against his direct opponent and get forward at every opportunity, and as a more defensive center mid myself, I would tuck in behind him and cover him should he lose possession. With those words, he killed it! Got forward at every opportunity and scored what I'm pretty sure was his first goal in the league, so was stoked for him. My point is you could have a future gold mine in your reserves so nurture it well.

Just my 2 cents, and I wish you luck for the future.

[George Gotzías]

Not sure what club you're with mate

Just between you and me I think the username gives it away.

[Sean's]

I agree totally and glad to hear those ideas. Makes us feel we are on the right track blooding the young guys! Much appreciated.

[swannsong]

Not sure what club you're with mate

Just between you and me I think the username gives it away.

What team is called Sean :?

[Chico]

http://www.hattrick.org/Club/Matches/Ma ... Id=1743596

[Cruie]

My (former) club play Shaun United most pre-seasons ... So hey Shaun, hope you're well?

There seems to be a couple of Hills clubs struggling for numbers, this season; something in the air/water up here, maybe? That said, I'm fairly sure that for another couple based up here, things have gone the opposite way ...


I can say from experience that bringing through kiddies is a great way to build/strengthen a club. All it takes is time/patience while they mature and coaches willing to watch them lose - sometimes heavily - while they do the learning/growing.

(Bless our kiddies; just in case any of them have learned to read ... ;) )

[Sean's]

Yeah there is definitely others struggling as well as us. Hahndorf also have had a hard time and lost a lot of players. Mt Barker (who play collegiate league) played us in a friendly. Their coach told me they had 85 registered players and were filling 5 teams.
Thing is the young guys are actually still keen as mustard. Some of them have got to play A grade already and not done too badly.

[Caretaker Coach]

Yeah there is definitely others struggling as well as us. Hahndorf also have had a hard time and lost a lot of players. Mt Barker (who play collegiate league) played us in a friendly. Their coach told me they had 85 registered players and were filling 5 teams.
Thing is the young guys are actually still keen as mustard. Some of them have got to play A grade already and not done too badly.

Do the best you can to keep them keen and interested and encourage them that if you stick together, there will be good times ahead. Sometimes a bit of luck plays a part in regards to a former top level player/s who happen to move down there and join the club.
You guys do a great job considering you dont have the luxury of 100's uni students to pick from, and geographic location makes it hard to attract players ( eg northern suburbs have about dozen good clubs within 15 km ) maybe you need a super hwy to be built down there, and attract some internationals like some local clubs here have benefited from

[DOC]

still doing better than para hills lions

[Rodent]

still doing better than para hills lions

And vista

[Clever Trevor]

Recipe for a tough season:

- Lose 15 players from previous years squad (other clubs, moved away, retirements)
- B grade team made up of 14 - 15 years old who are playing due to their being no U-16 team at club
- Four season ending knee injuries to experienced A grade players
- Many minor injuries to other players
- A grade goalkeeper unable to keep for remainder of season due to shoulder injury sustained from having to keep in B and A grade matches.

Can't help but think these injuries have something to do with the pitch. Is it still like concrete cos the council refuses to water it? Maybe the school is a safer option, but things might be ok now cos of the rain??

[Rookie]

Not sure what club you're with mate

Just between you and me I think the username gives it away.

[Sean's]

Yeah our pitch is a problem every year with the lack of rain. Still no agreement from council to let us have mains water over summer. Right now its ok but we had to play our first 2 home games away. It does have an impact on injuries and also players choosing to leave and play at clubs with better facilities. I would like our club to concentrate on making the pitch better and smaller (anyone who has played at Strath will know what I mean).

[Clever Trevor]

If you're paying council to lease sub standard grounds, I'd be taking your business elsewhere.

[Steve#4]

If you're paying council to lease sub standard grounds, I'd be taking your business elsewhere.

Not always an option...Sometimes the councils have you by the nads....

[Sean's]

To be honest its also to do with our committee. when we do play at the local school the quality of the game is higher because the pitch is better. Unfortunately the committee made the decision to move to our current ground 10 years ago and they have already spent a lot of money putting up change rooms and more recently lights (still to be erected). They are not going to change now despite the lack of water the pitch gets over summer.

[Cruie]

Yeah there is definitely others struggling as well as us. Hahndorf also have had a hard time and lost a lot of players. Mt Barker (who play collegiate league) played us in a friendly. Their coach told me they had 85 registered players and were filling 5 teams.
Thing is the young guys are actually still keen as mustard. Some of them have got to play A grade already and not done too badly.

Mt Barker is my former club (I coached there until the start of this season).

And yes, 85+ players this season.

5/6 years ago, when (most of) the current management setup moved in, Mt Barker had one senior team. Last season (2012) there was just short of 70 players. The average age - which won't have changed much this season, going by the couple of games I have attended - was just over 22 years old.

Almost all of the original kiddies that the club first recruited - then playing in the SAASL - are still with the club five or six years on. In large part, the decision to go CSL was made to give those kiddies a more ... gentle ... environment in which to develop.

To be fair, all worked a treat. So it's doable ... Just requires patience and loyalty (for want of a better word) on both sides of the fence.




And the Polo Grounds. I'm glad to read those lights are (almost!) installed. Despite the concrete playing surface (during the warmer periods) many clubs would be envious of your facilties. They worked hard down at your place to get the club house and things in place. No doubt, if you stick at it, watering the pitch will happen eventually. Some councils are great about that sort of thing ... others not so brilliant. I guess Mt Barker is fortunate with the additional amount of rain compared to Strath, which is comparitively close by (it's a desert down there, matey!) ;)

[Sean's]

Yeah it was a desert early in the year no doubt. At the moment its ok though as we have had a heap of rain. Geography is one of the bigger issues for us as well. As soon as our younger players leave school and go to uni they end up moving to town. A few stay and play for us for a few years but very few long term.

[Cruie]

Yeah it was a desert early in the year no doubt. At the moment its ok though as we have had a heap of rain. Geography is one of the bigger issues for us as well. As soon as our younger players leave school and go to uni they end up moving to town. A few stay and play for us for a few years but very few long term.

Getting players to "come up from town" - or, more accurately, the fact that it is very difficult to get players to do that - was one of the main reasons to recruit locally-based kids. Mt Barker hasn't suffered too badly, from the university drain; there's only a handful left for work or study, over the years.

And Mt Barker is (no, honestly!) quite easy to get to from town. The ground is 1 minute off the freeway. Not so much Strath, I think; so you probably will suffer more.

To an extent - and to our surprise - Mt Barker has been lucky in this. With (almost all of) the initial core-group intact, it's really been a case of mates bringing mates (and/or family). They don't stay/come for the old blokes running the BBQ. They come - and just as importantly, stay - for and with their peers.

[Sean's]

Yeah Mt Barker has done very well in recent years. Must be nice to play on a pitch like the one at Cornerstone each week. New change rooms have helped as well I would think!