Director of Football Update - Term 2 2022

A belated welcome to the 2022 winter football season to all members at East Coast Bays AFC. This year we've grown to over 1200 members and 113 teams playing football in blue and white, and despite some expected disruption as players, coaches and referees work through sickness, it's great to see everyone out and enjoying football around the grounds with the prospect of completing a full winter season ahead. 

As well as new members, we also welcome new sponsors to East Coast Bays in local café Beaufort + Co, and real estate experts Harcourts Coopers & Co. We also welcome Rodney District Sports, playing under the East Coast Bays banner further up the motorway in 2022. 

Across the club we've had a season full of positive stories so far, from some great home games in the NRFL, where young players are really making their mark alongside familiar faces, our girls Friday program growing to 80 players, to senior men's teams embarking on cup runs, the ECB Women's First Team notching up some great performances, and tremendous progress from players in our Mini Bays, Skill Hub and Talent Development Programs. 

With so many great experiences happening at East Coast Bays, we have to thank all our volunteers, convenors and parent coaches, plus an excellent staff in Operations Manager Duane Sommerville, Football Development Officers Nathan Cranney, Callum Simmonds and Milan Elie, and football coaches Olivia van Kuyk and Thomson Nkoy who coach across a number of different teams. Also, a shout out to the board members at East Coast Bays, who show absolute care for the wellbeing and future of the club, whilst being invested in volunteering around different teams and programs alongside their board duties. 

There's a lot to look forward to in the second half of the year as youth and junior seasons conclude and the tournament season gets into full swing. Work to upgrade facilities as Bay City Park will get under way ahead of the 2023 women's world cup, and for the first time, East Coast Bays AFC will be represented in both the men's and women's Futsal Super League. 

Lastly, we have the pleasure of hosting all NRFL 13s, 14s and 15s youth games at Bay City Park this Sunday, if you are around, pop by between 11am and 2pm to see what our players have been working on since term 1. A few reminders below to help everyone work together smoothly during the next few months 

• Please make sure pitches are vacated at allocated times so that the next group can set up and train.
• If you are at Bay City Park, please make sure all gear is put away securely before leaving for the night.
• Please submit your scores after games (even if you lose!)
• If you are training at the same time as a similar group and numbers are low (we have high, but expected, absence due to sickness), please take the opportunity to combine training groups and share the load between coaches. We have tried to allocate similar groups to train at the same time for this reason, gone are the days of training being cancelled due to numbers or having three people at training.
• If your junior game is one-sided, use the NRF Game Day Challenge Point guide (at the bottom of this page) to try and rebalance the game so that everyone has a good experience. Too much challenge is demotivating, having things too easy is demotivating too. Either extreme isn't great for learning either.

 Below are some useful links to resources that will help enhance your football experience as a parent, coach or player at East Coast Bays AFC. 

• NRF Junior Coaching Workshop
• NRF Junior refereeing workshop
• NRF Game Day Challenge Point guide  NRF Game Day Challenge Point 2022 (002).pdf
• Performance Act (our Talent Development Program mental skills provider) parent workshop https://www.performanceact.com/parentinginsport

 We hope you all have an enjoyable time from now and until the end of the season. 

Joe Hall

Director of Football

East Coast Bays AFC