Auskick Super 8’s – Page 3 – Barry Stuart Cable

Tuesday, 1 July – training

Last training session before school holidays and a couple of weeks off. We had 10 players at training including Dylan’s brother Keiran (who is an honourary member of the team) which is about what I expected.

I thought I’d try something different today and incorporate bump bags into our training drills. I had a feeling that the kids would like crashing into the bags and have some fun with it but I was also aware that if not properly supervised someone could potentially get hurt. The training with the bump bags, although not perfect was pretty good and I think I’ll definitely use them again.

We also practised bouncing the ball and kicking for goal on the run. Jeremy is getting very proficient at running and bouncing the ball and Dylan and Kobe consistently kicked some nice goals. It was good to see that the boys were concentrating and trying to kick a goal instead of just kicking the ball and not caring where it went.

We finished with a game of 5 on 5 where to score a goal (6 points) a player had to kick the football into a bump bag being held by a team mate, you could also score 1 point if you handballed the football into the bump bag. Steve did well to think up this game in about 30 seconds. The kids had a great time playing this, Alex was crashing into everyone and played really well, Jeremy and Jensen also had a lot of the football. I thought Luke and Caleb combined well, they always seemed to be kicking or handballing to each other. Ethan wasn’t scared to dive into the bottom of the packs and Nathan won a few contested possessions which will be great for his confidence. Kobe went for a couple of runs and no one could keep up with him. Keiran and Dylan aren’t big kids but they don’t stand back from the action, they love getting involved and getting a kick.

The players were rewarded with a Freddo Frog for completing a hard training session.

All of the players have trained hard and played well so far this season, it’s been a massive improvement from last season. I hope everyone enjoys the school holidays and I’ll see everyone in a couple of weeks time.

Round 5 v Booragoon – Sunday, 29 June

Weather wise, it wasn’t too bad today. No rain and not as cold as it has been. The grass was nice and dry with no dew. We had a bit of drama before the game when a dog ran off with one of our football’s. Luckily the football was ok (I thought it may have got punctured because the dog was aggressively chewing it) although Jeremy didn’t want to touch it because it was covered in dog saliva.

We were very low on numbers with only 10 players available. Kevin had a broken toe, Jayden was overseas, haven’t seen Nick for a couple of weeks, not sure what happened to Amelie, Nathan didn’t feel up to playing, plus I don’t think Matthew, Damien and Truan will be back (now that they have shifted house).

I would like to note that it was excellent to see Kevin come to the game and support his team mates even though he was unable to play – great stuff Kevin.

Continue reading “Round 5 v Booragoon – Sunday, 29 June”

Tuesday, 24 June – training

Nice conditions for training today. Unfortunately I got to training about 10 minutes late but it’s always a stretch to get there by 4:30pm. The kids were all having shots on goal when I got there so I don’t even think they realised I was late.

Only had 11 players at training which was surprising because the weather was pretty good. I suspect it’s that time of the year when everyone gets sick.

Parent support was excellent (as usual) – Simon, Jamie, Scott and Marty made my job pretty easy. Tim helped a little bit. The kids all trained pretty hard, we just moved from one drill to the next and I didn’t give them any breaks. Best to keep the kids occupied because it doesn’t take much for a couple of them to get distracted.

I’d just finished telling everyone there was training on Sunday when one of the parents reminded me that we had a game on. It’s not the best when as the Coach you don’t know when the team is playing a match. Anyway, an email went out early the next morning letting everyone know we have a game on Sunday.

Riverton Football Club Family Day – Sunday, 22 June

The Riverton Football Club was celebrating it’s 50th year this weekend and one of the events was a family day at Riverton Reserve. Jeremy was really excited because there was a parents and kids Auskick match.

There were lots of Auskickers from the Joey’s, Kanga’s and Boomers teams. The Super 8s had Ethan, Kevin, Jeremy, Jayden, Jayden’s little brother, Kobe, Matthew, Damien and Truan. For the parents we had myself, Scott, Marty, Adrian and Darren.

All of the boys had a few possessions each which was great and they all seemed to really enjoy themselves. I recall Ethan kicking a good goal on the run and Jeremy snapped an excellent goal from a long way out. Marty was easily the best of the Dad’s, he was leading for the ball and quickly playing on and bringing the kids into the play by handballing and kicking to them.

Truan told me that Matthew, Damien and himself had shifted house and were now living in Kenwick. He said that they still wanted to play for Riverton but the travelling from Kenwick to Riverton may be too far. It’ll be sad if Truan, Matthew and Damien can’t be a part of the team anymore.

Life Member of the Riverton Football Club

I received a surprise at the Riverton Football Club’s 50th Year Anniversary celebration (Saturday 21 June) – I was presented with life membership.

My family knew what was happening and they did a good job keeping it a secret from me.

I can’t remember exactly when I first got involved with the club. It would have been roughly 2002, I think that’s when Josh and Tim started playing Auskick.

Round 4 v Melville – Sunday, 22 June

The weather had been cold, wet and windy all week and today was no exception. The game started at 8:30am and it was pretty cold and dark when people were turning up for the game. The following players were absent – Nick, Jordan, Nathan, Dylan, Matthew, Truan and Damien were all missing which meant we were one player short.

Unfortunately Matthew, Truan and Damien had shifted house so when I went to pick them up I didn’t know where they were. Apparently they are now living in Kenwick, but are still going to play in our team. It would be a shame if they couldn’t play with us anymore.

Because we were one player short the opposition team loaned us a different player each quarter which was good sportsmanship. The Melville players that played for us played well so it was all good.

We only had one heavy downpour during the game but I was well prepared with my weather proof jacket and pants.

Cambell was outstanding and just dominated for the whole game – he just kept getting the ball and never stopped competing. Ethan played his best game of the season, he was involved in the play a lot and got some good possessions. Jayden continues to improve and looked good either playing in defence or in attack, although he missed a good opportunity to kick a goal. Amelie did some good things which was pleasing to see because she was looking pretty cold and not very keen on getting out onto the ground but once she started to run around and get involved she did well. Jensen also did well chasing hard, tackling and making it hard for the opposition. Caleb had a few good kicks but for some reason kept wanting to play on when he received a free kick which resulted in him having to kick under unnecessary pressure .

As usual the kids did their best and although a few were complaining about the cold I’m pretty sure they had some fun.

Tuesday, 17 June – training

Today was wet, windy and cold and there wasn’t too many players at training. Only four boys and their parents braved the weather.

Caleb, Kevin, Kobe and Ethan you are legends. The boys trained non stop for an hour with no breaks and never once complained about the rain or the wind. It was actually a pleasure to train these guys.

Training consisted of a handball drill, kicking in pairs, goal kicking, working together in a group of four to run the ball, a few running races and some two on two competitive work. The effort and skill level in the conditions was excellent.

We just finished training as the rain began to bucket down. Thanks to Marty and Kobe for giving me a lift home.

Looking forward to our fourth game of the season v Melville and the Riverton Football Club celebrating its 50th year anniversary this weekend.

Tuesday, 10 June – training

A pretty chilly training session this was. The wind was like ice. I was glad to be kicking and running around with the kids.

Good numbers at training again (16), I’m going to assume everyone is enjoying training and that’s why they keep coming back.

The parent support was again excellent, with Steve, Adam (Steve’s son), Marty, Dave, Tim (my son), Adrian and Cole who was tying bootlaces. I also noticed Christine and Thalia keeping some of the kids focused. It’s great to see so many parents willing to get invloved, it makes the Coaches job so much easier.

The drills for today involved handballing, kicking, marking (overhead), bouncing the football and kicking for goal on the run.

We completed training with our now traditional match practice. The quality of these practice games is getting better and better. Cambell and Alex were the stand outs for me, they really want to be involved in the action all of the time. Kobe is just getting better and better. Everytime Nick got the ball he used it very well. Amelie did a couple of nice kicks. Despite Kevin’s size he is fearless and he won a few contested possessions against much bigger kids. The Pescud brothers, Dylan and Keiran are really hard at the football and played very well. Jensen had an injured leg which was causing him to limp a bit but he didn’t complain and was involved in some really good plays.

Thanks very much to Jo for bringing down a bag of Freddo Frogs. I’m not sure it’s ideal timing to give these to the players after training just before they have their dinner but I haven’t had any complaints yet.

Round 3 v Applecross – Sunday, 8 June

Our first away game of the season and an early 8am start. The game was at Gairloch Reserve in Applecross.

Truan, Damian and Matthew needed a lift to the game so I picked them up on the way. We only had three players missing, Nick, Amelie and Alex. It was a great effort by the parents to get all of the kids to the game on time this morning.

I thought the conditions were pretty good. It was overcast but not cold and the surface of the oval was nice and dry (i.e. no dew).

Once again the players did a good job and the improvement is noticeable. Kobe was dishing off some great handballs to bring players into the game. Matt had a bundle of kicks and was kicking goals. Truan took an excellent mark running with the flight of the ball. Kevin was getting into the packs and getting the ball out to other players. Cambell as usual was in the thick of the play grabbing contested marks, tackling and getting plenty of kicks. Really impressed by Jayden, he gets better every week and looks like he really enjoys his football. Jensen put in an excellent effort and setup some really good plays from defence.

Dylan’s little brother Keiran had a run on the ground and got the ball (although he’s not part of this team he just couldn’t watch any longer without getting onto the ground).

We got a couple of injuries, an opposition player landed on Dylan’s leg which caused him a bit of pain and Nathan copped a hit in the face. Both boys are OK.

We had the rotations on and off the ground going today because we could only play 12 on the ground. We didn’t get it exactly right, I think someone was on for the entire game while everyone else had to spend some time on the sidelines.

An enjoyable morning and very encouraging to see the players improving.

Tuesday, 03 June – training

Decided to do one on one coaching with some of the players. We just practised some quick handball, overhead marking and kicking. I think it worked well because I wanted to give some of the players a little bit of extra training and you can’t really do that with everyone training in a big group.

Steve had the players practising running and bouncing the ball. Some of them were pretty good at it especially because we hadn’t practised it before. They also had a bit of competitive fun playing leader ball with a football. Steve had a good goal kicking exercise which all the players enjoyed – they all love kicking a goal. Great work with the drills Steve and thanks to all of the helpers, Marty, Neil, Adrian, Tim (I know I’ve forgotten someone).

We finished training with about 20 minutes of match practise. Everyone played pretty well, I think the players are getting better at reading the play and putting themselves into the action. We’ve certainly toughened up because a couple of players got knocked during the match practise and in the past they would have stopped playing but tonight they just shrugged it off and kept going.

Amelie is really training well and for someone who hasn’t played before she is improving very quickly. Caleb did some pretty smart things during the practise match. Truan, Jordan and Luke did some excellent defensive plays i.e. chasing, smothering and tackling. Matt had the ball on a string. Nick’s a quiet kid but he’s good some great skills and he never misses a target. Kobe was just starting to show his speed, he’s going to be awesome once he gets his confidence up.

Looking forward to this week’s game v Applecross. 8am start time!!