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Back (L to R): Tom Trewartha, Nick Glover, Patrick Cook, Madeleine Beaumont, Alex Rose.
Front (L to R): Caelum Wood, Haydn Blazely, Ben Steel, Simon Lee, Jack Nossiter
Season's report
The first thing that should be noted of the team is that we were actually
meant to be the "Gold" team. Unfortunately we managed to do so well in the
ubiquitous "grading games" that SoccerTas put us into Div. 3 and the real
Golds in Div. 4! A quick name change and away we went.
As was the case last year I had no intention of coaching a team this year
but, due to the lack of volunteers and not wishing to see a team with no
coach at all, did it all over again, again. As last season I found it
personally rewarding, enjoyable and amusing (at times).
The core of the team were those (six) who had played with Woodbridge
School last year and had continued on into the Youth divisions. After a
shaky first game we began to steadily improve, so much so that mid-way
through the season we found ourselves, most surprisingly, on top of the
ladder! Our position on the ladder was never a consideration; the
improvement in play, whilst still enjoying the game, was. And then came
the immense disruption of training due to the weather and the postponement
or cancellation of matches, which seemed to halt our momentum. The end of
our challenge for the league title was to be the two games played on
succesive days at Sherburd when we somehow managed to lose both -
deservedly so given our terrible performances, the worst of the season by
far. It should be noted that we did train before that weekend and often
played better if we didn't train! All the games that we lost were by a
solitary goal.
The season's highlight was, without doubt, the first half of our third
game against Hutchins Black, the team that had dashed our championship
hopes only a couple of weeks before. That performance for those 25 minutes
would have seen us challenge any team in division 1 of the Under 13's.
Their coach commented to me after the game that it appeared they'd been
railroaded and the team should be tested for anything that could explain
such a turn-around in a couple of weeks!
I won't detail the players one by one but must state that they were a
delightful bunch of young people who, on the whole, trained well, listened
to and attempted to practice what was preached, behaved impeccably on the
park and, by the end of the season, even managed to be at games before the
coach (unlike some supposedly more "talented" players in higher
divisions!).
Thanks to all of the players from other Under 13 (and some Under 14) teams
who helped us throughout the season. If nothing else our ten "real" Whites
made a lot of new friends!
Congratulations to Jack on receiving the award decided upon by his peers
and Caelum for my award as the most consistent player throughout the year.
I nearly didn't present a second award as I could have found one reason or
another for every single player in the team to be recognised.
Well done guys (sorry yet again Madge!) - I hope you enjoyed it as much as
I did and that I'll see you all back again next year.
Steve Kerr
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Final match statistics - league position : 3rd.
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
For |
Ag. |
Pts. |
|
14 |
8 |
2 |
4 |
29 |
16 |
26 |
Goal scorers
|
5 |
Jack Philp
|
|
3 |
Jack Nossiter
Ben Steel
|
|
2 |
Tom Bevan
Chris Sanita
Shamir Sirois
Caelum Wood
|
|
1 |
Mark Iseli
Alex Rose
Geoffrey Shumack
Tim Tymbas
Michael Palmer
William Powell
Chas Hughes
Tom Trewartha
Nick Glover
|
|
