The 2012 football season presented many challenges for the families, players, coaches and committee of the Lancefield Junior Football Club, however with the support of the entire club, the season has flown by with minimal issues and maxi-mum enjoyment and fun for the players.
With the high number of under 10 players moving to under 12s, the Under 10 numbers after registration were very low this year, the decision to keep the Un-der 9 program in place and forgo an Under 10 side presented many challenges that impacted the club and families alike. The committee believes this decision
will benefit the player’s development and the club in future years by providing the Under 9 kids a year to develop their football skills before stepping up to under 10’s. We would like to thank the parents of the players that we were unable to offer a place to in under 10s. All were understanding and supportive of the club’s position and continued to support the club throughout the season.
With the introduction of two under 12 teams for the first time in our clubs history and the decision to request the under 14s be moved to a lower division to pro-gress their development and enjoyment, the club ran teams across 2 different divisions. Although this presented challenges to families and the administration of the club
– especially on game day, it was great to see the decision gave the C division teams opportunities to develop. Under the guidance of Shane Trewarne, the under 14 boys were a far more competitive outfit than in previous years and managed to chalk up a couple of wins, while the younger age under 12 team grew in confidence and set themselves up for further development in the higher division next year. None of this would have been possible without the understand-ing and efforts of all families that were impacted by these challenges we faced. For that, the committee would like to thank you all.
On field, all teams were competitive in their divisions throughout the year, which
is the club’s main focus when it comes to nominating divisions prior to the sea-son’s commencement. Most children in the Under 12B side managed to get their first taste of finals action in their short careers. Congratulations to the boys who were selected for RDFL interleague training squads and also made their nomi-nated team. A big congratulations to Stephen Cusack who came runner up in the RDFL Under 12 Best & Fairest for the second year running. Congratulations to those who played their milestone games throughout the year, it was great to see teammates experiencing their milestones together further forging the bonds within the team.
To the under 16s players who are leaving the club hopefully to continue their foot-ball careers at the senior club, good luck and thank you for your contribution to the Lancefield Junior Football Club over the years. You are always welcome at the club and at training to help with the younger kids!
Thanks to all of our sponsors for the 2012 season. Your continued support of the largest community group in the Lancefield township, goes a long way to ensuring that the club continues to provide avenues for kids to develop physi-cally, socially and mentally through sport. Through sponsorships and grants the club is able to improve the facilities and equipment such as the defibilators gained through a Macedon Ranges grant (fortunately they were not needed!) or the footballs all the children received as part of the sponsorship with Lancefield and Romsey Community Bank. There are many organisations that contribute to the club and we appreciate the support from them all. This year we have also sourced a shipping container that we have been allowed to house at the park in order to consolidate all our assets and keep them secure, thank you to Brett Schinck for his efforts in securing this.
Thank you to the tireless committee members for all of their hard work over the past year/s. Tammie Dalgleish, Sue Ladzik, Connie Pullella, David Farrar, Mi-chelle Sinclair,Jo Parus, Dean Faria, Mark Morgan and Kylie Sankey. Your dedication and work behind the scenes to ensure our club runs out every week is nothing short of sensational. Several of these committee members did not have children playing at the club this year and some will be stepping down from the committee.
To all the team managers and volunteers who give up their time each Sunday to help out at the games, a big thank you. Your efforts not only allow the coach to concentrate on his role as the coach, but they also ensure your child can participate each week. A huge thanks to our match day manager Sue Ladzik. Sue is a tireless worker at the club. She is usually one of the first to the games and one of the last to leave.
To Michelle Sinclair, your efforts in running the canteen over the past two sea-sons has been fantastic The fixturing this year provided Michelle with lots of headaches. Fortunately she was greatly assisted by our treasurer Connie Pullella, who took the reins when Michelle could not be there. It is a thankless job that Michelle does, but the club would not exist or have a family atmosphere on game day without a canteen.
Looking ahead, the forecast at this stage indicates going off this year’s playing
numbers that we will be able to field competitive teams in every age group. The club is planning some initiatives for next year that will include both coach and player development which looks very promising. However, none of this will be possible without a committee or parent involvement. The club AGM will be held on October the 16th at 7.30pm in the Laurie Green Pavilion. There are quite a few vacancies on the committee that need to be filled. Many hands make light work. So even if you only have a couple of hours to give each week, come along to the AGM and see how you can help out our great club.
To stay up to date with all things happening at the club, go to www.lancefieldtigers.org.au. Before we know it, the New Year will have come around and it will be registration time again. From all the committee, we thank you for your support of the club and look forward to continued success for you and your family.
Craig Bennetts Luke Dowling
President Vice President
Last Modified on 05/09/2012 18:07