Monthly Archives: May 2021

President’s Letter: Round 6 2021

25 May 2021    ·    Travis Rankin    ·    President's Letter

Welcome all our Sharks parents, in particular this week. The welcome comes with a huge THANK YOU. Why? Well Round 6 incorporated National Volunteers Week. To see parents every week accepting the various roles they must play in their children’s’ sport is fantastic. I know it gets a bit hard having a to stand as goal umpire in the pouring winter rain or feel as if we back up almost every second week to fulfill a role, but that’s the sacrifice we make. I must admit, on those wet days, how great it was to be the timekeeper and keep nice and dry.

Without our Team Managers coordinating each week’s roster for parents the games couldn’t go on. So, as a big thanks, our local ‘Blue Dog’ Café offered a voucher to all our TM’s this week, including the away team TM’s at Domeney and Stintons. Now that’s a great show of generosity and community spirit. A true reflection of our club’s ethos and how we integrate into our local community.

Whilst our parents quietly go about their business each week our young men and women turned it on match day this week. Our Sharks players turned up in mass to compete with gusto, full effort and heart. Many battles were played out on the day with more wins than losses. As said, there were some close results, a few big wins and some honourable losses. The beauty of football is that we quickly refocus and look to the next week.

It’s hard to believe that next week (Round 7) is effectively the halfway mark for the season. Normally around the midseason mark and approaching school holidays, we hold one of our ‘Burger Nights’. Unfortunately, due to Covid protocols and also the rooms at Domeney being refurbished, this will not happen. Hopefully later in the season we shall be able to successfully have a club get together.

Apart from the opportunity of our community coming together and being able to openly socialise, it’s a great time to acknowledge various achievements. In particular, our young players who have reached 50 or 100 games played. We also recognise our 150 game milestones; however, these are formally acknowledged at the end of season presentation.

Rhonan Appleby celebrating 150 Games

On a personal note, three of my sons have all achieved 100 games for the Sharks. Yet on Sunday, my youngest Rhonan, celebrated running through his banner for 150 GAMES! This makes him the 57^th Sharks player to notch up all his games played at our wonderful club. Well done and congratulations Rhoey.

Sponsor of the Round

Blue Dog Café located on Park Road are this week’s sponsor. If you’ve not been before or haven’t been for a while, then do yourself a favour and visit soon! The folks are friendly, the atmosphere is warm, and the food is fantastic. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, check out the ‘Specials’ as the taste sensations created are out of this world. Thank you, Blue Dog, for providing our Team Managers with vouchers for National Volunteer Week. The team at Blue Dog have my tick of approval, keep up the great efforts in producing your yummy winter warmers.

Queen’s Birthday

Please note that Sunday 13^th June there are no games scheduled on this weekend. PARENTS, please enjoy a sleep in. SHARKS PLAYERS what a great opportunity to help out around your home. Remember, Mum and/or Dad transport you to training and matches each week, remind you if you’ve got everything and have jumpers and shorts clean to wear. So, as a thank you all players could maybe just do a bit more to help out – from washing dishes, to vacuuming, to cleaning up your room – oh the list goes on!

Team Photos

Please be aware that Team Photos will be taken on Friday the 18^th and Sunday the 20^th June

Summary

Looking forward to Round 7 for our Juniors. If at any stage, you have any queries then please don’t hesitate to contact myself via text or catch up in person.

Go Sharks!!

Ritchie Appleby
President, Sharks JFC
president@sharksjfc.org.au
0408 367 444

President’s Letter: Round 5 2021

18 May 2021    ·    Travis Rankin    ·    President's Letter

Great to see the teams settling down for their first week of games since grading concluded. As mentioned last week, grading can be a difficult time as scores comprehensively vary from very high to very low. Grading does work for most teams. I was really proud and pleased to see some competitive results this week. Fantastic to see one of our teams get their first win for the year! Our club policy is to get kids onto the park and being able to enjoy playing football with their teammates, whatever their level of talent, being part of a team and contributing is really what’s most important.

Our committee meet monthly to discuss how the season is going, rules that need to be addressed and how we can assess our club in the big picture. What we have in place and how we go about it may not always ring true. Advancements in technology and processes and new opportunities must always be considered.

We are always looking at how our club is progressing and what areas need to be examined. I love this Club and the committee involved in being able to accept challenges and see the excitement of turning dreams into reality, worries into problems and then solutions. Whilst decisions are based on history, knowledge and policy, we are trying to be proactive rather than reactive going forward.

Therefore, from time to time, we will challenge various parts of policy and what we do to see if we can improve areas within our Club. At the end of the day, it is about our players enjoying the game of football, bonding with teammates and being part of a healthy environment.

Code of Conduct

On a serious note, it was disappointing that we have heard of a couple of incidents from the round. We need to reiterate that all families (and especially players) make themselves acquainted with understanding the ‘Code of Conduct’.

The YJFL has made contact with us regarding the conduct of match day officials and in particular comments that are made from the Coaches’ box. A reminder that only four people can be in the box: Coach, Assistant, Runner and Trainer.

These four people must display exemplary behaviour and never vocally criticise Umpires. I know footy is passionate, but please let’s show other clubs how we at the Sharks are a ‘Good Sports Club’. This year we have now obtained our level 3 accreditation.

Conversely, we need all parents to please understand that our Coaches are doing their absolute best for players and teams each week. If for whatever reason you have questions regarding the position of a player or their role within the team, please approach your child’s coach outside match day and ask accordingly. There is no need to create dissention or create ‘Chinese Whispers’.

We need all teams united and working hard for each other out on the field. Parents questioning their children in a negative manner is not a good look. Fortunately, the vast majority of our membership are supportive and offer encouragement, thank you.

The league this week suspended and/or put on notice a number of coaches from other clubs. These people know better, yet unfortunately some umpires were targeted with abuse and threats including in the U10/U11’s. This will not be tolerated, let alone that most of these umpires are young kids themselves.

Our Umpires Academy

Opportunity to join our Umpires Academy is now open and your expressions of interest are invited. We currently have 5 new recruits aged 13 to 17 years that train on a Tuesday night from 6-7pm at Colman Park in Warranwood. 

Did you know you could be earning from $40-$100 per game? What a fantastic opportunity to further your game, enhance personal development, learn new skills and maintain fitness levels whilst earning some pocket money too! Contact Nina or myself for more information.

Sponsor of the Round

ResiVentures is a Gold sponsor of the Sharks and a long-standing Sharks family member. Predominantly they are land sub-dividers and developers of medium density townhouses. With the lockdowns of 2020 now behind us and scarcity in the property market, now is a great time to invest. To see their various land estates, please visit resiventures.com.au 

The ResiVenture team are offering fantastic property investment opportunities at a fantastic price for Sharks families who may be interested. Give them a call via Anthony Braunthal or contact me personally if you would like to discuss further. Invest now and cash in for the future.

Summary

Looking forward to Round 6 for our Juniors. If at any stage you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact myself.

Go Sharks!!

Ritchie Appleby
President, Sharks JFC
president@sharksjfc.org.au
0408 367 444