2020 Taupo Junior Football Season Ends
  • 21 September, 2020

Dear parents, whanau, caregivers & players.

Today’s games brings our regular season to a close.  Thank you to all of you for hanging in there through all of the uncertainty of 2020 and supporting the club to allow our season to eventually get under way.  In the end it was quite a successful season!

Coaches

First and foremost, we need to thank our coaches for the hours of hard work that they put in to allow football to flourish in this town.  We have a fantastic group of coaches, and whilst we hope they will all be back again next year, we always need more coaches.  Please give this some thought over the off-season and get on board next season.  You don’t need to have come from a football background. Coaching is really rewarding as you get to know the players better and see their skills develop.

Junior Football Committee – more people needed!

Big thanks to the committee again for facilitating the season.  We are sadly saying goodbye to Elle Read, Kylie Barbour and Sally McHardy, all after many years of loyal service and after making massive contributions to Junior Football.  Thanks to you all.  We are welcoming Rachel Lilburn to our committee for next year, but the remaining committee of myself, Steve, Danielle and Cherie would love to have some extra help!  I’m also planning to step down from the Junior Coordinator role, but to still remain active on the committee.  Ideally we would like to bring people in who have children in the younger grades to ensure succession planning.  If you’re interested in joining the committee as a member or to apply for the Junior Coordinator role, please drop me a line or give me a call to discuss what is involved.

We also can’t go past giving a virtual standing ovation to John McCartney for his years of service to the club as Chairman… which is likely to continue again next year!  Without the McCartney tournament fundraiser (typically the biggest football tournament in Australasia) and all of the hard work John does to keep the club running, we would be but a shadow of our current selves.  So next time you see John put the nets out on a Saturday morning or collect them again afterwards, please give him a big thumbs up and a word of thanks.

Sponsors

As always, our club sponsors are massively appreciated.  Please make an effort to support the following businesses:

  • ninetyblack
  • Westerman Property Solutions
  • McDonalds Taupo
  • BFA Business Advisors & Accountants
  • Lotto
  • Nottage Builders & Decorators
  • The Lock and Alarm Centre
  • Hawkes Crane Hire
  • Quality Signs
  • Jasco Distributing
  • MORE FM
  • Wade Construction
  • Harveys Real Estate
  • Empower Fitness

Also a big thanks to Ben & Mel from Quality Signs for their sponsorship of both terms of Summer Football last summer.   And finally:

The Awards!

Obviously all teams are champions, but we also recognise the Winners and Runners-up in each grade, AND THEY ARE:

Grade 8:         Winner – Eagles

Runner Up – Ospreys

Grade 9:        Winner – Hammers

Runner Up – Spurs

Grade 10:       Winner – Cardiff City

Runner Up – Nottingham Forest

Grade 11+:     Winner – Mariners

Runner Up – Phoenix

Open Grade : Winner – Paris St Germain

Runner Up – Borussia Dortmund

Junior Coach of the Year – Duncan Milne.  Duncan has been a star coach this year as he has not only taken the lead coach role for our First Kicks grade, but he doubled up and coached our Grade 9 Saints team as well.  Our First Kicks players have gotten their football off to a flying start with Duncan leading them this season, and the Saints team have also been lucky to have Duncan as their coach. Duncan is better known as a champion Ironman, but he is also an avid footballer and his efforts and positivity has been hugely appreciated – thanks Duncan!

Senior Coach of the Year – Adam Dyet.  Adam has put another massive effort into the season.  He rebounded from the disappointment of not being able to take a team in the G12 Federation league, and coached his Grade 11+ team to victory in their grade, and also has trained our Grade 12 development / reps squad this season to some great success.  More importantly, Adam has significantly improved the skills of the players in his team throughout the season and we have received some great feedback on his coaching style.  As well as all this, Adam is also setting up the Junior Sport Initiative to raise funds for families that may otherwise find sport unaffordable.  A great initiative Adam, thanks for your massive contribution to local football.

Reps Coach of the Year – Steve Giles.  As well as coaching a Saturday team, organising the first week tournament and being a very active committee member, Steve has led a girls development squad for Grade 9 and older for the past 2 years.  This squad has grown stronger and stronger, and along with fellow regular coaches John Ridd, John McIntyre and Ryan Yardley, Steve has led weekly training sessions.  With some 32 girls a part of this squad currently, we are noticing a big surge of very talented female players come through the club.  A big part of the reason for this is the supportive and fun environment that Steve has created with his girls development squad.  The girls teams are also turning heads at tournaments with their strong results against much bigger clubs.  So well done Steve, you’ve created something really special.

Sporting Team of the Year – Real Madrid.  Real Madrid was an Open Grade team of girl players (and a couple of very brave boys!) who competed hard and with great attitudes.  The team was well coached by Player/ Coach Carrie Read, and they gave the other teams a run for their money and showed massive improvement through the season.  Also a special mention to the other Open Grade Teams who showed really awesome sportsmanship throughout the season, even at the expense of losing or drawing games in order to make games fairer.  We had 4 fantastic teams and coaches in Open Grade this year, including young Marty O’Brien who is a future star.

Volunteer of the Year – Hamish Crawford.  I tried to get out of this, but the rest of the committee insisted… thanks team!

Gear return

Hopefully we have collected close to all of the tops and equipment.  If you find any club equipment or tops from this season or previous seasons, we would love to get it back!  Please drop it into the WSP reception during office hours Monday to Friday, 26 Heuheu Street (entrance off Marama Arcade).

We will get details out in due course over what will be on offer over summer, and we will hope to announce details of the 2021 season early in the new year.  In the meantime, please support and enjoy the summer sports on offer and we look forward to seeing you back next season.

Thanks for your support, enjoy the break from football!

Regards

Hamish Crawford, on behalf of the Taupo Junior Football Team.

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