Issue 3 December 2007 Central EastEast————OakleighOakleigh Region AFCA Coach of the Year 2007 All the info and stars of the evening can be seen on pages 3-7 Oakleigh AFCA welcomes Airfour Air Condition- ing and Mechanical Services. as a new major spon- sor. See pg 14 for more details "Cities, Altius, Fortius" (Faster, Higher, Stronger) PAGE 2 Oakleigh AFCA Committee President: Geoff Sutherland Committee: Peter Barnes Brian Sampson Peter Gilson Jeff Patterson In This Issue • AFCA Committee • Working with Children Check • Oakleigh Physical testing services are being offered by Functional Region & State COTY AFCA Sports Conditioning to your club Awards Our company has portable electronic testing equipment that • Speed Technique 2 will accurately test speed and agility. We have also just pur- • AFCA chased equipment that will enable us to test vertical jump. membership and renewal Testing of this type allows your club to record and track the • Drills progress of each player as they develop through the years. It • Sponsor also allows the player to focus and improve in this area if it is • How to Play Australian seen to be a weakness. Football I am offering clubs in the Oakleigh region an opportunity to use • Train Smart DVD our testing services for a special price of $200. This will see us • Oakleigh test 5, 10 and 20m speed and vertical jump. Region Development This offer is available until April 2008. Managers Report 2007 We also offer consultancy services in the strength and conditioning area including pre and in • 2008 Coaching season programs. Courses If you don't test then you cant measure! Phone Brendan Henderson: 0409 030 281 Email: [email protected] Web: www.functionalsports.com.au PAGE 3 See page 15 for more details The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well. Pierre de Coubertin PAGE 4 PAGE 4 Central EastEast————OakleighOakleigh Region AFCA & State Coach of the Year Awards Over 230 people enjoyed a terrific evening at the combined Oakleigh & Northern AFCA (Australian Foot- ball Coaches Association) Coach of the Year awards at the Manningham Club Bulleen. Winners in the following categories for the Oakleigh Region were: YOUTH – Tim Smith Blackburn F.C JUNIOR – John Gilbert East Malvern JFC AUSKICK – Bernard Cunningham Templestowe Park Primary School. FEMALE – Tricia Godfree Mt Waverley Auskick To present awards were: Keith Burns Auskick category, Anton Grbac Junior category, Rohan Welsh Youth category, Rick Irwin Fe- male category and John McLoughlin recognition of contribution to football in the Oakleigh region. RECOGNITION OF CONTRIBUTION TO FOOTBALL IN THE OAKLEIGH REGION: - Mr Bruce Fox WJFA Congratulations to the winners who qualified to be considered to be short listed for the State Coach of the Year awards in their respective categories. All present were entertained by the guest speaker Mr Peter Schwab (CEO AFL Victoria) who enlightened the audience with his light-hearted address to the function, reminiscing about his own playing days at Hawthorn, the coaching styles of the distinguished coaches he played under. Some funny football tales, his true love of the game, and his love of kids enjoying the sport. Peter also spoke about his own coaching career and subsequent experiences, finishing with some reflec- tions on the joy he feels in taking the field with his son at the local Auskick. Playing 171 games for Hawthorn from 1980 to 1991, including three Premierships, Peter moved straight from playing into coaching. Assistant Coach at Richmond from 1992-94 then Hawthorn 1995-97, he changed direction to become AFL Director of Umpiring from1998 – 2000. The opportunity to coach Hawthorn was too great to resist. Peter held that position from 2000 – 2004, experiencing the highs and lows that coaching at that level brings. Peter Schwab was appointed Chairman of the AFL Match Review Panel in 2006. He is currently CEO of AFL Victoria. “I miss coaching”, Peter said. “When my playing career was over, coaching was as close as I could get to playing”. He said he was speaking from the heart tonight about coaching, quoting John Wootten - a famous US Coach of the UCLA Basketball team, who took his players on to win ten National College Basketball Championships. “Coaching is a privilege, obligation, responsibility - not to be taken lightly”. Having said that, Peter said that coaching at the highest level did not confer any experience coaching young kids. What it did do was provide him with an opportunity to impart his love of the game and knowledge to the players he has coached. PAGE 5 PAGE 5 Female category nominees: Lucy Butler and Tricia Godfree (winner) with Re- gional Development Manager Rick Irwin Recognition of Contribution to football in the Northern Region: David Boyd and Cen- tral East Oakleigh Region: Bruce Fox with past WJFA President John McLoughlin Auskick category nominees Kieren Dunleavy, Andrew Oxley, Winner Bernard Cun- ningham (centre), Lucy Butler and Tricia Godfree PAGE 6 Peter referred to his recent involvement in the selection process for the new coach of AFL club Melbourne. He said he was doing this, not to provide inside information but rather to explain how the selection process caused him to identify what was the core values required of a Head Coach. “These core values were Empa- thy with his players, Integrity - respect for others, being consistent in your behaviour to others and Resil- ience”. Harking back to his own playing career, Peter spoke of the coaches he had played under at Hawthorn. “Alan Jeans had a marvellous ability to motivate you”, he said. In 1983 Peter was running down the race about to play in a Final against North Melbourne, with Andrew Demetriou as his direct opponent. Jeans said to him “Son, get it into your head you are not a good player”. Naturally Peter entered the playing field with one thought on his mind “I’ll show you”! Peter then spoke directly to the assembled coaches about their role. “Kids love their footy. They love to know where they are playing. Make sure each kid knows the position he is playing”. He said, “Don’t get frustrated at what spectators yell out at your kids”. At half-time at his son’s match, Pe- ter went up to a parent who was yelling out at the players and asked him why he was mouthing off. “They’re not having a go. "Not going in for the ball", the man said. Peter asked him what he should say to teach them. “What do you mean?” the man said. “Well you might say to stay on the line of the ball. Put your head down and pick the ball up”, said Peter. Well the man still kept yelling out rubbish all through the second half. “Some people are idiots”, Peter said. Having retired as a player at 31 and loved imparting knowledge to his players through coaching in a high- pressure job as an AFL Coach, Peter acknowledged that at 46 years of age he still hadn’t got the urge to coach out of his system. “I may still get on the bike – I’ve got a couple of young boys. So you never know”, he said. Thankyou to all Leagues, Clubs, Auskick centres, coaches and partners who supported this successful event. State Coach of the Year Awards The "invisible force" behind football teams - the coaches -were recognised at a special Australian Football Coaches Association Victoria function at the MCG recently. In their 20th year, 270 guests attended the November 9 awards, which honoured coaches from the grass roots through to the elite level. The night's award winners were: Auskick: Greg Robinson (Sale City Auskick) Junior: Peter Linton (Yinnar Junior Football Club) Youth: Steven Ball (Moonee Valley Football Club) Senior: Mark Hustwaite (Rosebud Football Club) Female: Carol Jeans (Cheltenham Panthers) TAC Cup: Chris Maple (North Ballarat Rebels) The inaugural Lifetime Achievement in Community Coaching Award was also presented to Victorian football coaching legend Ray CarrollCarroll. Carroll, in his 50th year at Assumption College, coached a staggering 32 teams to flags in football and cricket. Under his tutelage, AFL footballers such as Neale Daniher, Billy Brownless and Shane Crawford emerged. PAGE 7 “This is a complete surprise and a tremendous honour,” Carroll said. The award sits along side Carroll's Australian Sports Medal in 2000 and his Order of Australia in 1993. “The wins are claimed by 100s and 1,000s but a loss is blamed on the coach," he said. “The highs far outweigh the lows." An emotional Peter Linton stirred the hearts of the audience when he accepted his Junior Coach of the Year Award. “I promised my wife I would not cry,” Linton said. "I am a bit of a softie". “You have got no idea how happy I am." Linton said he enjoyed coaching juniors. “I would always coach little kids because they are the only ones who listen to me!” he said. “Footy is only 20 per cent of why I do it”. "I can teach young kids all the really important things in life". “I like to see boys become men." Greg Robinson said he got more of a buzz than the children during Auskick grid games at half-time of AFL matches. “I would like to thank the kids…if it wasn’t for the kids I don’t think any of us (coaches) would be here tonight,” Robinson said. “I am sure we will see a lot of kids pass through Auskick who then go on to play AFL.” North Ballarat coach Chris Maple humbly focused on the "coaching team" and his players rather than his own individual performance.