WELCOME

It is with much anticipation and excitement that we launch in to the 2015 football season. The Goulburn Murray AFCA Branch continues to thrive with 806 active members including a number that recently attended the appropriate Level 1 Accreditation course conducted in Shepparton.

It was great to see 60 coaches embrace the Youth / Senior course on the 29th March and a further 56 Junior and Youth coaches in attendance at the second course on the 3rd May.

As with previous years, a number of Coaching seminars are planned or have occurred for our junior leagues across the region.

A really successful night was conducted for coaches from the Shepparton and District Junior Football League on the 30th March with around 30 coaches attending. Lee Fraser, Talent Manager from the Murray Bushrangers, ran an informative evening providing coaches with specific information of “what to look for” and, by extension, how to structure up their training and coaching with respect to identifying talent.

The very experienced Ron Rooney, provided coaches from the Seymour District Junior Football League with plenty of food for thought when he presented at Seymour on May 11th. Ron has vast experience in the areas of junior development, club culture and general skill teaching.

An exciting new umpiring academy has been established on Shepparton aimed at introducing the game of AFL to young people of indigenous and multicultural backgrounds. This initiative is being driven by the AFL, Goulburn Valley Umpire Coach –

Brett Hancock and AFL Victoria Country Umpiring development manager Rod Threlfall.

On May 13th, Matt Symons who is the Director of Coaching at the Golden Square Football Club, presented to all Goulburn Campaspe Junior Football League coaches. Matt has developed a detailed junior football curriculum that he shared with coaches highlighting the different emphasis that needs to be placed at the various development age groups.

After a couple of well supported senior seminars took place in 2014, plans are now underway to lock in other opportunities for all senior coaches across the region again this year.

The roll out of the Coaching Co-ordinator initiative hasn’t been as successful as we would like, having struggled to get any great traction across the region. There have been some examples of clubs experiencing great success through the introduction of this concept and it is hoped to be able to convince many more clubs to embrace this initiative in 2015.

AFL Victoria plan to hold a Club Coaching Co-ordinator accreditation course on Sunday 31st May at AFL Victoria offices, IKON Park (formerly VISY). Registration will be via an online link that will be circulated to Leagues and clubs as soon as it becomes available.

We have a fantastic resource available to clubs free of charge and there will be ongoing support provided to clubs that are prepared to trial this concept in 2015. Anecdotally, it would certainly appear that many of the common issues clubs face on a yearly basis can be avoided or more easily solved with a Coaching Co-ordinator in place.

Coaching at all levels is such an integral part of setting the tone and culture for our football clubs. Greg, Mark and myself, welcome any opportunities to provide you with support so please don’t hesitate to contact us throughout the year.

Trevor Mellington - AFL Goulburn Murray FDM

2015 GMCA Committee Members EXECUTIVE: President: Greg Shannon 0429 324 893

Secretary: Greg Liddell 0408 393 514 COMMITTEE:

Brendan Brooks (MFL) 5871 1154 Steve Garner (Auskick) 0419 870 207 Russell Byrnes (PDFL) 0429 693 222 Mark Metcalf (GVFL) 0419 561 198 Scott Watson (Euroa SC) 0403 589 567 John Byrnes (ASC) 5822 2569 Mario De Santa-Ana (GVFL) 0409 236 435 Gary Kitto (GVFL) 0419 895 37 Mark Lambourn (FDM) 5823 9805 Trevor Mellington (FDM) 5823 9804 Michael Power (MFL) 0407 859 077

Chris Thomas (Shepp DJFL) 0418 544 638

Murray Bendigo Youth Girls Academy Kicking goals The success of the newly formed Murray Bendigo Youth Girls Academy has been highlighted with six players earning Victoria Country selection for the recently completed National Championships. Four Goulburn Murray and two Bendigo girls were selected which is testament to the strong development that has occurred through the Academy program. With Head Coach, Sam Ahmet also taking on an Assistant Coaching role with Victoria Country, our Academy had an extremely strong presence at the National Championships. Last year’s SDJFL Best and Fairest winner, Reni Hicks from Kyabram joined Shepparton/Notre’s Jade Tancred and Benalla’s Rebecca Webster as utility players that switched between the forward and back half of the ground. Northern Angels recruit, Alyx Glanville, who has spent the last two years with the Echuca club, was named as an emergency for the team but then qualified to represent the Woomeras girl’s team that also participated at the Championships. Isabella Ayre (Huntly) and Luca Gallo Woorinen) were the two Bendigo JFL Girls that also represented the Academy. The Championships were played in Mandurah Western Australia from May 2-9. After performing brilliantly at the Championships, playing predominantly as a small defender, Kyabram’s Reni Hicks was recognised with All Australian selection which is an outstanding effort. SHADOW THE COACH – CARLTON FOOTBALL CLUB

Drawing the short straw can never be a good thing, or so I thought until mine was the first number out of the hat to shadow a coach at Carlton FC Community Camp in February.

Myself along with Tony Pellegrino Shepparton FC, Damien Cupido Rumbalara FC and Nic Brown from Benalla all Blacks FC were lucky enough to get out on the ground on Mercury Drive as the Carlton players trained. The Carlton backline coach and rookie mentor, Matthew Capuano, guided us through many of the drills explaining the reason why they were doing them.

Many of the things he said reaffirmed the points that had been made at other coaching development opportunities provided by GMCA, such as; developing game sense, getting as many touches of the ball at training as possible at training, kicking the ball in game simulated situations, coaches building relationships with players, giving opportunities for two way feedback, and players taking ownership of the training session.

I was amazed by the amount of information and data that is gathered and shared with the players. This included blood tests, urine sample analysis, game footage, training footage, weigh in and outs, diet and hydration monitoring, and GPS data to name just a few. The players use IPads to receive this information. The IPads are a great tool for communication between players and coaches and are used by the players for diary entries, rating their games, training and general wellbeing.

In my own coaching with the Tatura under 16s, I have implemented several of the training strategies observed, in particular getting feedback from the players. This has proven to be a great way to get the players engaged and motivated at training. The Shadow the Coach experience is one that I would jump at if given the opportunity again and I would recommend it to all coaches out there.

The experience of spending an hour or so with the Carlton Coaches was priceless. To witness the coaches and players professionalism first hand was outstanding. Here are a couple of ideas that I felt may be relevant to junior football.

David Buttifant is responsible for the fitness of the players he made some interesting points in relation to the fitness of junior footballers. He felt that it was far better for juniors to obtain the majority of their fitness from the ball drills conducted at training rather than sending them on a ‘boring’ run. The ball drill needs to be conducted at high intensity for a sustained period, trying to simulate what a player may do in a game. Time is precious with junior players; we may only have them for a couple of hours per week. By training like this we are improving not only their fitness but also their ball skills at the same time.

Matthew Capuano looks after the 1st to 3rd year players. Interestingly one of his major objectives is to get to know the players outside of football. Learn about their interests and hobbies, what makes them tick. He feels that this helps to form a trusting relationship with the player and ultimately results in the player having an increased level of confidence in the coach. This type of relationship often sees the player giving maximum effort, without question. Robert Wiley, assistant coach at Carlton, also holds the same belief. A few years ago he was coaching an Under 17 colts team in W.A., the first thing he did was interview each and every player in their own home.

Often as junior coaches we tend to expect training to be perfect. Robert Wiley has a different opinion. He feels that players need to be encouraged to extend themselves at training. It is inevitable that mistakes will be made but training is for learning. In his own words, “it’s okay for training to be messy”.

A common theme from all of the coaches at Carlton was to be well organised at training, be sure to plan your sessions in advance. If you happen to be disorganised players will pick up on this and it will most likely have an impact on the way they train.

I would like to thank the staff at AFL Goulburn Murray for the opportunity to take part in such a wonderful session and the Carlton coaches for taking the time to pass on some of their knowledge. As coaches we never stop learning and if you are ever presented with such an opportunity I suggest you take part, you will not be disappointed. Tony Pellegrino – Under 14 Coach - Shepparton/Notre Junior Football Club