By RACHAEL MCNAMARA
WYNDHAMVALE Falcons Football Club appointed 18-year-old, Domenic Fontana, to step up as coach of their Under-13 football team, which is a first for the club in many years.
Domenic started playing football at the age of nine and by 12 he knew he wanted to coach, with the career goal of eventually coaching AFL set in his mind.
His career choice was rare for his age.
“Most of my friends around me still want to play the sport, not coach it,” Domenic said.
He didn’t expect to be given a coaching opportunity this early as most coaches are generally in their 30’s to 40’s and are fathers of team members.
“I thought the club would possibly give me the opportunity,” Domenic said.
“At about 22 I thought would be the right time, four years of assistant coaching first, but I didn’t think I was going to get it at the ripe age of 18.”
Labelling himself as a “new-wave of nerd”, Domenic spends his Friday nights researching coaching, rather than going clubbing as perceived of kids his age.
Domenic has been accepted by the club with open arms and all have noted his hard work and eagerness to get actively involved with the kids.
Wyndhamvale vice president and reserves coach, Craig Prior, approached Domenic for the position.
“I don’t think age defines a coach. I think experience, knowledge is what defines a coach,” Prior said.
The factor of age and generalisations of his age group were not a deterrent of the decision, but advantages were there.
“You’ve got a guy that’s actually still playing football coaching… they know that what he’s saying he does so it actually benefits the side greatly,” Prior said.
Domenic is very much a traditional coach, inspired by his own coaches, but he does hope to experiment with different methods and remove his one issue with coaches, negativity.
“A lot of coaches are negative… that’s something I’ve always hated… they always pick the negatives first and struggle with the positives,” Domenic said.
“If we have a barbeque (after training) he’s out there on the grounds spending time with them which is really good,” Liz, team manager of and mother of one of the Under-13’s said.
“He’s great with the boys.
“They love him.”
Last Modified on 05/05/2016 10:36