MWFA

2021 to proceed with minor COVID considerations

· · Leave a Comment

As we move towards the 2021 season it is important to note that we are still living in a “COVID-Safe environment” and need to consider our actions throughout the 2021 season.

 

Football competitions are no different to the rest of the society.

 

We have adapted to the “COVID way of life” and must be as vigilant at football games as we are when entering shops, restaurants and areas where large crowds gather.

 

While our COVID restrictions are significantly lower than in 2020 it is important to note the following considerations:

 

  1. Before participating in any football activity, all players, team officials, parents/carers and other club members must not attend training or matches, if in the past 14 days if you have:
  • been unwell or had any flu-like symptoms, or
  • been in contact with a known or suspected case of COVID-19, or
  • any sudden loss of smell or loss of taste, or
  • are at a high risk from a health perspective, including the elderly and those with pre-existing medical heath conditions.

Please check the NSW Government website for advice regarding the full list of symptoms associated with COVID https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/symptoms-and-testing

 

  1. When attending training and matches it is important to consider the social distancing protocols (off the field of play) of spreading out around the field and keeping 1.5m between groups.
  2. All players, team officials, parents/carers and other club members must restrict the sharing of items – in particular bibs and team benches. Drink bottles should not be shared.

 

  1. All players, team officials, parents/carers and other club members must take notice of the signs around grounds (in particular amenities buildings, canteens and clubhouses) with advice on general hygiene, hand washing and the use of hand sanitiser.

 

  1. The use of any indoor spaces should abide by the 2 person per square metre rule (with signs on each room indicating the number if people allowed). Appropriate cleaning processes should also be considered.

 

  1. If a field/ground has a QR code in place, please register your attendance, as is the case in all other restaurants, clubs, shops etc. There is not a mandatory need to register your attendance at every training session and match (this is covered by our registration system and Competition management system). This is only for the use in some clubrooms, canteens and indoor premises.

Clubs will be provided with detailed COVID Safety Plans to ensure we can crack on with playing football in 2021 and enjoy our football with minimum disruption.

MWFA hits new record – 19,000 players and counting

· · Leave a Comment

The Manly Warringah Football Association will go into the 2021 season with a record number of players in the local grassroots competition. The exact number is still growing but we have gone past the 19,000 registered Winter participants for the first time ever!

 

It is an amazing achievement and testimony to the great work done by our clubs – your clubs – in 2020 when we rallied in the face of the COVID-19 disruption to put on a competition when life returned to a “COVID-normal”.

 

Last year we had 18,386 players and to put the increase into perspective we have had an extra 109 teams entered into the 2021 competition across all age groups and the 17 clubs.

 

We hope you all enjoy the 2021 season!

 

The Manly Warringah Football Association would like to remind all clubs and players of the Playing Rules agreed by the Clubs to limit the movement of players in junior competitions.

 

The rules have been in place since 2015, were tightened by the Clubs in 2018, are agreed by all Clubs at the end of each season. They are debated and considered by the Clubs and designed to protect clubs from player poaching and promote fair competition within grassroots football, while allowing for some players to move clubs each season.

 

The rule allows for up to 3 players to move to a different club in one team with 4 players able to move to a different age group at a different club.

 

Every club is aware of these rules.

 

This season, there have been several instances where these rules have been broken and the MWFA, upholding the wishes of all clubs, has determined that these rules will be adhered to and is working with all clubs to ensure all kids can get onto the park.

 

The MWFA would also like to take the opportunity to remind all clubs and players that extra training opportunities and development programs, that are being offered by clubs to benefit their players, should not be used as a way to entice players away from other clubs.

Coaches reveal contrasting styles ahead of grand final replay

· · Leave a Comment

It’s a tale of contrasting coaching styles this Sunday night at Cromer Park when Adam Israel’s Pittwater RSL FC takes on Brookvale FC, with Mark Hunt at the helm, in the MWFA Men’s Premier League grand final replay.

 

Ask Brookvale FC head coach Mark Hunt to name 3-4 players he expects to perform well in the grand final replay against winners Pittwater RSL FC at Cromer Park this Sunday, and the man will politely demur. For Hunt, you see, it’s all about the team.

 

“We’ve been working hard on togetherness, on a ‘group’ mentality,” Hunt said. “They all know if they perform well, they keep the shirt. It’s about working for the group. Naming guys could undermine that.”

 

Pittwater RSL FC coach Adam Israel has no such qualms. Indeed he’ll talk up the other team, too.

“Brookvale is a top side,” Israel said. They’ve got David Cain, a midfielder, very good player, experienced. There’s another guy, Mark McManus, a big centre-back, fantastic player. They’ll miss Josh Haywood, he’s scored 15-20 goals a season for them for ten years but they’ve recruited well and have some very good young guys.”

 

As does Pittwater RSL. Israel said he was “very excited” by the return of Pittwater juniors Kye Conna from Manly United and Nelson Pyl from North Shore Mariners.

 

“Kye got a brace on the weekend [in the 3-all draw with Curl Curl FC] and I’m really excited to see Nelson go around after playing a lot of first team football for the Mariners,” Israel said.

 

“They’re great young talents and it’s a big feather in our club’s cap that they’ve returned to play their football with us.”

 

To beat Brookvale, as they did on penalties in last year’s grand final after scrapping to a 2-all draw with 10 men for 45 minutes, Israel said his team had to win across the park.

“Against Brookvale you need 7, 8, 9 players winning their individual battles,:” he said. “There isn’t a lot of difference between the top teams. It’s about who wants it more on the day.”

 

Though the Covid-affected 2020 season was another highly successful one for Brookvale FC, and in their first round match they destroyed Seaforth FC 5-0, Hunt said there’s “definitely an edge in the dressing room” at Grahams Reserve.

“A full season will be much more competitive than last year,” Hunt said. “The competitive edge has gone up a notch. The boys are right up for it.”

Brookvale FC and Pittwater RSL FC kick-off at 7pm this Sunday at Cromer Park.

– Matt Cleary

FUTURE COACH PROFILE: ALAIN REVEYRAND

· · Leave a Comment

 

Alain Reveyrand was born in the south of France near Lyon, and came to Australia in 2003, joining the Belrose-Terrey Hills Football Club. He always played football from a very young age, mainly on the street as a kid, as it was challenging for him to join a club because his family had to move town quite often due to his dad’s work.

“I am a big fan of ‘street soccer’. I believe it is the best way for a kid to improve his soccer skills and creativity, playing freely without any instruction. I wish we could see more of this in Australia.”

Alain has always been passionate about football.

“I have fond memories of spending full days in front of the TV when I was a kid watching every single game during the World Cup, and supporting my favourite team and players. I haven’t lived in France for nearly 30 years, but I will always be very patriotic and remain the biggest fan of the French national team, for soccer of course, but also for any sport.”

Alain worked in the restaurant industry for over 30 years, but he was rarely able to spend the whole weekend with his wife and kids because of work, so about 7 years ago he decided to change his career so he could free himself from work to go to more training sessions and games.

He never really thought about coaching before, but he got into it in a way to spend more time with his kids and make up for lost time. He has now been coaching his two son’s teams, Remy and Jesse, alternately for the last 7 years. At CC Strikers, he has been Jesse’s coach for the past 3 years now, keeping the same core of players together each season.

“Through these 7 years, I became very conscious of the responsibility I had as a coach. When you have a group of young kids listening and taking on board every bit of advice you can give them, giving their all on a soccer field, fighting every game to the last minute; when you experience a rollercoaster of emotions every single weekend, you quickly realise that coaching is a bit more than soccer. You are more than a coach most of the time, you turn out to be a mentor. You really feel accountable for this group of kids and you want to give the best of yourself to help them achieve their goals and avoid any disappointment, in the same way that you want them to give you the best of themselves.”

This realisation caused Alain to become more and more interested and involved in coaching. He decided to attend several courses workshops with MWFA last year, and he believes that these helped him to better understand what was expected of him, as well as expanding his coaching knowledge. Alain is now also planning to do the C-Licence course later this year.

“I recognised that I needed to keep learning as a coach. The Future Coaches Program came along at the right time for me. It has been challenging but so rewarding in every aspect. In addition, the network of coaches and mentors that I met during this program will certainly prove to be a wealth of support. Eugene is a true professional, very passionate and inspiring, who makes those courses really interesting and engaging. He deserved a lot of credit for trying so hard to improve our coaching community.”

 

MWFA is looking forward to seeing Alain continuing to give his best to mentor his players and helping them achieve their goals.

Look out for more articles on other MWFA Future Coaches over the coming months.

 

Over 200 Coaches Attend Pre-Season Courses and Workshops So Far

· · Leave a Comment

 

MWFA would like to thank and congratulate host clubs Manly Vale, Manly Allambie, Forest Killarney and BTH for playing their role in a very successful pre-season period for coaching courses and workshops over the last few weeks, with much more still to come. 

 

The year kicked off with a MiniRoos course in February where a large number of the participants were players from Manly Vale’s U15 Division 1 girls team.

Their coach is MWFA 2020 Female Scholarship winner Marilinda Winter, who thought the course was engaging, informative and fun, and that the girls walked away with great insight into how to create enjoyable, energetic and interactive sessions, starting from the warm-up.

“I am constantly looking for opportunities for my girls and started having visions of getting them involved in coaching last year. It has been exciting to work with the Manly Vale VP of Juniors Andrew Boyce to make this idea come alive. It would be fantastic to extend this opportunity to other teenagers in the club who have aspirations to be a role model and coach.”

 

Eugene Lawrenz, MWFA Community Coach Development Manager, thought the club’s initiative is something that other clubs should take note of, and follow their lead, especially as a way to recruit new coaches.

“All of the girls seemed to enjoy it and they did a great job contributing to the discussions that took place, as well as coming up with good ideas. This is a great way to engage your players, help them learn new skills, and give them an opportunity to contribute to the club.“

In March, courses and workshops at Belrose and Forest Killarney were both very successful, as well as several at Manly Allambie, where the MiniRoos course in particular had almost 50 coaches in attendance.

MWFA would also like to thank Gareth Banks, Taylor Cahill, Steve Hurd, Jane Lillycrop and Sai van Wegen for their assistance in delivering these Coach Development events, as well as everyone at each of the clubs who helped organise and promote them.

 

There are still plenty of other opportunities for coaches available in the pre-season period and beyond. See the MWFA Coach Development Calendar for more information here: https://www.mwfa.com.au/coach-development-calendar/ 

 

Should You Attend A Coaching Course?

· · Leave a Comment

 

MWFA has a number of FFA Community Coaching Courses kicking off this month, including some starting next week.

This video answers some FAQs such as:

• Should I attend a coaching course?
• Will it still be helpful for me if I am an experienced player?
• What will I get out of it?
• What is it like being on a course and what does it involve?

For more information about coaching courses, see here: https://www.mwfa.com.au/2021/01/28/new-coaching-courses-confirmed/

 

https://youtu.be/a5cm4xj4n2I

 

C-Licence Prepares Youth Coaches for Upcoming Season

· · Leave a Comment

 

MWFA would like to congratulate another 23 coaches for completing an intense 7 days of coach development on the recent FFA Youth C-Licence. It was a big challenge for everyone, but also a lot of fun with a lot of learning taking place, which they will now be able to pass on to their players and also other coaches.

The majority of participants were from within MWFA, with a good spread across several clubs, including 2020 Female Scholarship winners Marilinda Winter, Kiah Kennedy and Sai van Wegen, as well as 4 coaches from the 2020 Future Coaches Program.

 

 

“Thanks to Eugene Lawrenz and Nick Robb for a fantastic and professional course. They presented an awesome course and I got so much out of the interaction and learning to look at football and also my own coaching style in a whole new light. It’s given me a renewed confidence and enthusiasm for the season ahead.” 

– Shaun Taylor (Narrabeen U12 Boys)

 

“The course was both challenging and rewarding. As was evident from the course, [coach] education is a journey not a destination. The mix of practical and theory was well balanced and meant the sessions flew by. Eugene and Nick’s knowledge and experience certainly helped us question why and what we coach.”

– Brett Acton (St Ives U14 Boys)

 

MWFA would like to wish all of these coaches the best with their coaching moving forward, and commend them for their commitment to the never ending process of learning and personal development.

MWFA will look to host more FFA/AFC C-Licence coaching courses later this year in the post season period and into the future.

In the meantime, all interested coaches are strongly encouraged to undertake official FFA community coaching courses in the first instance. See here for more information: https://www.mwfa.com.au/2021/01/28/new-coaching-courses-confirmed/

 

MWFA Women’s Select vs NSFA

· · Leave a Comment

MWFA women fall at penalties

The MWFA Women’s Select lost to the Northern Suburbs FA (NSFA) in a penalty shoot out after a competitive and quality match finished 0-0 at Charles Bean Oval in Lindfield.

The MWFA team more than played their part in what was a very tight contest, eventually going down 5-3 in a penalty shoot out.

MWFA shaded their opponents in the first half with midfielders Steff Davis (Mosman) and Beth Sweeney (Beacon Hill) controlling the middle of the park well. Both sides created a number of chances with Mosman’s Ashleigh Hewson particularly dangerous when she ventured forward and her set pieces created panic in the NSFA defence.

At the other end, MWFA goalkeeper Jerri Gerich (Manly Vale) made a number of saves, coming off her line well to thwarty a number of promising attacking raids.

The NSFA team started to gain control in the second half but the MWFA defence held firm.

MWFA Coach, Hassan Chehab (Mosman) was proud of the girls performance and the way they defended under pressure in the second half.

“I thought we played well and played some good football, particularly in the first half,” Chehab said. “They did get on top of us through fitness in the second half but I thought we hung in well, defended well and I thought a draw was a good result. Congratulations to Northern Suburbs on the win in penalty shoot out. We’re looking forward to the game against Manly United next week.

The women’s team will now set themselves for next Thursday’s match against Manly United at Cromer Park. That match kicks off at 7pm.

Young Striker Inks Scholarship Deal

· · Leave a Comment

Sydney FC Academy product Patrick Wood has signed a scholarship contract with the A-League squad for the next two seasons.

Wood, who joined Sydney FC’s youth setup on day one, burst onto the A-League scene against Macarthur FC last month, with his quickfire brace securing the Sky Blues a 3-0 win at Campbelltown Stadium.

The 18-year old forward was a member of the Sky Blues’ 2020 Foxtel Y-League Championship winning side, and also claimed the NPL NSW Golden Boot award in a break out year for the Manly junior. Wood said he was delighted to have signed on with the first team. “It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Wood said.

“Coming through the Academy for the last five years, this is what I’ve wanted to achieve at the end of the day.

“I’ve been at the Academy since the start, playing under NPL NSW Head Coach Jimmy [van Weeren] and [Technical Director – Youth] Kelly [Cross] and a great group of boys it’s helped me step up into the first team.“Training each day and learning off the best like Kosta [Barbarouses] and Bobô and all the players up front, that’s what you want as a young kid.

“I had this dream as a young boy and for it to have paid off is great.”

Head Coach Steve Corica praised Wood for his contributions to date and said there was plenty more to come from the youngster.
“Patrick has certainly impressed me in his short time with the A-League squad,” Corica said.

“He’s applied himself very well in training and during our AFC Champions League campaign in Qatar, and he’s definitely deserving of this contract.

“His time with our Academy has prepared him for this step up to first team football, and training with quality players in the first team will only see him improve.”

Manly Warringah Football Association & Manly United Football Club Chief Executive Officer, David Mason, expressed his delight at Wood’s progression from the Northern Beaches club to the A-League, and said it was a clear indication of the success between the association and Sydney FC’s pathway.

“This is fantastic news for Patrick, who has always had the dedication and hunger to match his football ability,” Mason said.

“Pat’s elevation to the A-League squad is another illustration of the pathway for young players that we have worked on between the MWFA, Manly United and Sydney FC.

“The recent increase in numbers of local boys and girls moving into the Westfield W-League and A-League has been a long time in the making and shows the benefit of all levels of our sport working together for the benefit of the players.”

Sydney FC return to A-League action at home against the Brisbane Roar on Saturday at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium (kick off 7pm AEDT).