Seacliff Soccer – 2020
Soccer remains one of the most popular school sports at Seacliff and in 2020 we had six teams, including two in under 8. Our teams competed on Saturday mornings and also at an evening lightning carnival during the season. To ensure the success of the soccer program we had many parent volunteers. We thank them for their outstanding contributions to school sport at Seacliff. The following are their season reviews:
Under 8 Blue
I’m not quite sure how I ended up being the team manager/coach on Saturday’s but I’m thankful that I did. At first the responsibility of trying to coordinate these young players was a bit daunting but thankfully the kids were all well behaved and the assistance of several other parents certainly helped with the duties of having to manage substitutions, refereeing and line judge duties.
Our team started off the season with a massive 14-0 win! I immediately thought:
“wow this is going to be a breeze”. But with a subsequent draw, things looked a little less easy. The next two weekends delivered another two wins for our boys in blue but that would prove to be the end of our winning run.
Losing all of the five remaining games made it more challenging to keep the moral up but strangely, I found that the boys got better and better as each match went on. I doubt that they realised it, but in defeat they certainly learnt how to more effectively work as a team. Many of them, especially the more competitive kids, learnt some invaluable resilience skills and lessons in being good sportsman.
I am very proud to have had the opportunity to manage/coach the team on Saturday’s and I was genuinely sad at the end of the last game. It felt like I’d really started to build a connection.
David Botha
Under 8 Orange
This mighty little bunch ventured out for what was for most, their first involvement in playing soccer and being in a soccer team. They were up against older, bigger and more experienced teams from the get-go and never took a backward step.
It was a challenge for them conceding so many goals each week, though as the season progressed you could really see each player start to find their feet, be braver in the tackle and push forward with more attacking intent. By season end we were almost wishing for more. Our final game was such a stark difference from the first, it was evident they had learnt so much and had a new hunger for the ball.
These resilient kids made every parent proud with the effort put in and they know that next year they will be better prepared to take on a new challenge!
Adam Trzesinski & Daniel Kelly
Under 9
Our Under-9 soccer team has finished another memorable season, showing remarkable skill and teamwork to win all of their games. They gained many compliments from opposing coaches and parents, not just for how well they’ve played as a team, but for how respectfully they’ve conducted themselves too. The season wasn’t always easy and resilience was often needed to get past many tough opponents, including a previously unbeaten Eden Hills 2-1, with Georgia Parkin getting the winner. Kai O’Shaughnessy and Kye Higbee both came into the side this year and contributed brilliantly, Mitchell Talbot and Kingston Cole made numerous vital tackles in defence, Thomas Welsh was “King of the Headers” and Leon Wylie wouldn’t ever stop running. Our top scorer was Logan Murray, who has developed a fantastic confidence in front of goal, supported by the trickery of Jesse Strachan, who is always looking to create chances for his team mates. Speaking of which, there was some admirable teamwork on show in our final game to ensure Senna Hughes got a very well deserved first goal. This not only meant that every player scored this year, but all of the after school training on passing to each other paid off! Next year the team will look to build on this with more work on improving positioning, set plays, using our voices and supporting each other. Thank you to all the players, parents and coaches for helping to make this season such a success!
Andy Welsh
Under 10
Another great season for this age group. Quite a few new players joined our more ‘seasoned professionals’ and it was fantastic to see them develop through the season. Everyone contributed to a great team spirit and really took on the skills and tactics that they practiced during our weekly training. High points were Mitchell, Parker and Azaro all managing to score their first ever goal and seeing the rest of the team, the parents and coach all go nuts on the sidelines! It was a real pleasure to be their coach…
Simon Norris
