State League Fixtures Released

Our 2021 State League fixtures are now online.

We will start our campaign with 2 games at home starting with Barnestoneworth, who were promoted from SL5 in 2019, followed by Melbourne Uni a week later.

Our return fixture against Melbourne Uni will be played on a Friday night, it is the only fixture not being played at the 1:00pm & 3:00pm Saturday kick off times.

We have two away games in a row in Geelong, however a catch-up round is scheduled in between these fixtures.

The final fixture for the season is scheduled to be away at Truganina.

You can view the full season fixtures here. Sunday league fixtures are still to be announced.

Resignation of Director

I'm sorry to announce that Olga Bartasek has had to resign from Gisborne Soccer Club as a Director and our registrar due to the volume of her other personal commitments. However I am also pleased to let you know she has committed to continuing as a general committee member and is already providing input on how we can tailor our constitution so as to more clearly apply to situations the club might encounter.

Olga has been involved with the club for many years with kids playing here in a number of age groups and has even dazzled with her skills herself in the Soccer Sevens tournaments. Her willingness to step up recently, at a time of relative crisis was vital to the continuation of the club over the past year or two and her experience in the way community clubs operate effectively has guided us through with minimal damage. Additionally her contributions to boosting the status of women and girls at the club has been much valued and she has even found ways to get some of the kids contributing to the workload with her son Liam producing a promotional video for us! Just because we can't send them down the mines nowadays doesn't mean they can't make themselves useful! ;o)

Thank you Olga for your efforts and pleased to know you will still be around to help out.

President, Richard Smart

MiniRoos Return

MiniRoos are back again for Season 2021, once more offering Saturday Mornings for beginners and Sundays for small sided matches.

Find out more.

WOMENS TRY OUT DAYS

Register your interest here for our Womens team in 2021

Youth Development Continues

With the final training session of 2020 for our Senior Men’s squad drawing to a close, it would be easy to think of what might have been after a seemingly wasted year. However, casting an eye over the group, you are reminded of the effort they’ve put in, the resolve they’ve shown and better times ahead with the beginnings of what looks to be a bright future.

Four players from our current U15s squad accepted an invitation to train with the Seniors for the first time and they joined two other youth players who had begun training with the Senior squad at the start of 2020 but, due to the null and void season, have not featured in any fixtures to date.

Young players Henry Taylor (L) and Darby Hester (R) train alongside the experienced Matt Hume (C).

These six players can be added to the seven youth players who had made their debut as part of the Reserves team in season 2019, with one of them also earning a spot as a substitute for a Senior matchday squad.

Youth development, particularly integrating our younger players with the Senior squad, has been a focus at the club for a number of years and this approach continues to build momentum.

“As a club, it’s important for us to open up that player pathway and present opportunities to play, enjoy and learn about football from juniors right through to seniors,” said Senior Men’s Head Coach Danny Moore.

Youth player Alex Spasojevic joins his first senior training session.

“Ideally, our aim is to nurture and develop young, homegrown talent and to give them a Senior platform to build towards – and one way of doing that is by giving them exposure to that environment so they can get a sense and an appreciation of what it’s like, and hopefully hold aspirations to reach those levels.”

Recent integration has been met with extremely positive feedback from the players themselves, but also clear signs of development and ‘football maturity’.

“Often we see a player’s age is not a boundary, as if they demonstrate the right attitude and behaviours, are willing to learn and show that they are capable of maximising their talent and potential, a younger player already as some of the key attributes to fit in with a Senior set-up,” said Danny.

“For the youth players who have trained with us more regularly, we’ve seen a huge improvement. Not just in a football sense, but also learning more about themselves and what they are capable of. A lot of this comes from being around older, more experienced players where growth is maybe more organic than taught – training and playing at a higher tempo with greater stimulus for decision-making naturally lifts their game.”

By bringing in younger players to train alongside the Senior Men, where both groups are concerned the benefits are two-fold.

A first run with the senior group for youth player Liam Bartasek.

“We want our Senior players to role-model the right behaviours and develop a better understanding of how they can positively influence others. So when a youth players comes in, there’s a sense of responsibility attached to the older guys – they have a really important part to play as mentors and leaders. So in terms of what’s expected, they are really all learning from each other,” said Danny.

While it was a case of a season that never was in 2020, the club have continued to lay the groundwork to foster and promote youth development within their ranks with the aim of establishing a pipeline of young footballers who are ‘evolving through experience’ and can bring success and fulfilment for themselves and the club for many years to come.     

A HISTORY OF YOUTH

Whilst the current crop of youth players provides excitement for the future, Seniors Team Manager Jarrod Greer is quick to remind us that youth has played a key role since day one of the Senior Men’s squad. “We won the thing in 2011 with 5 players under 18 in our squad, they were too old for the oldest junior team we had at the time. This was in addition to 10 former junior players who had returned to the club, they only left as there was no senior football for them here, they came back as soon as this became an option.”

Our first Men’s squad in 2011 featured 5 players under 18, and 10 others who had previously played junior football at Gisborne including inaugural captain Adam Nadin.

“We then had an influx of exceptionally good club people coming through from juniors into seniors over the next two seasons as well. We had guys like Nath (Moore) who is still round the place, (Andrew) Smale who was captain and well as a committee member, and Roni (Lachlan Turner) leading the ressies until he kept getting called up to seniors. There were many more as well.”

With a quick look through the history books it is clear to see that youth has been a massive narrative of the club. There have been six captains of the Men’s squad with five of those having been youth players at the club. Andrew Smale is the only one of those captains to have gone direct from a youth team to the senior squad without playing senior football elsewhere first. He was also part of a committee that oversaw the transition from Sunday to Saturday football in a bid to keep youth at the club.

MAKING THE TRANSITION

“The move from Sunday to Saturday was all about providing the best opportunities for our players to be involved at a decent level” said former Vice-President & Treasurer Steve Gembarovski. “The committee had a direction of a ‘Big Picture Club’, where we looked at things that would be of benefit for members now and into the future. Ideally, we want players to be rising through the ranks and experience all their football with us, progressing from MiniRoos, through the juniors and into the seniors.”

“We had really low participation numbers in 2013 & 2014. When we dived further into those numbers, we noticed a trend of the older aged junior boys (U15’s – U18’s) dropping off so we set about seeing why this was the case. The feedback showed three main reasons for leaving – poor facilities, poor competition & loss of interest in the sport.”

“We knew we were in a position to address two of those issues, that being the competition and the facilities, so we decided early in 2015 that from season 2016 onwards we would have the Senior Men compete in the State League competition.”

Funding for a new pavilion to be built at Dixon Field had already been secured by this point, construction was due to start late 2015 with the opening due not long after the start of the first season in the State League competition.

New box net goals were installed as part of a major infrastructure and equipment upgrade.

That committee also oversaw the installation of new goals, benches for the main pitch, and multiple lighting upgrades to help improve the training areas. All in all, the committee at the time raised over $1.2M for infrastructure around the club.

“It was like starting everything new again” said Gembarovski, “Even the training balls and kits were replaced. Some kids were still using kits that were 10-12 years old. Our theory was to provide all the best equipment to use, next stop was to find the right coaches then it was up to the players from there”.

NURTURING THE TALENT

Season 2018 saw several senior players return to the club. They had been juniors at Gisborne but sought senior football opportunities elsewhere for those three reasons identified by the committee at the time. This homecoming felt like hard decisions and hard work paying off. Promotion to State League 4 was won as we secured second place on the table.

Social media image from 2018 celebrating U16s Boys winning the league.

At the same time the U16’s boys also experienced on-field success becoming the North-West division Champions before narrowly being defeated in the final two weeks later. They had been coached that season by Tyson Lopez who himself had come through the junior ranks to become a senior player & two-time player of the year.

“Tys did a fantastic job that year with those boys” reflects Jarrod Greer. “For a young bloke himself to be able to help in such a huge way whilst himself paying was incredible. It really helped with our vision of developing players an integrating them into the senior system. The next step was to get them playing reserves football in 2019.”

2019 did not start in an ideal way, by mid-season both Senior and Reserves coaches had departed the club. “There was a feeling at committee level that we would be losing some quality people, quality both on & off field, if we didn’t address the coaching situation.” said Greer. “The next coach had to be someone who could not only oversee success of a Senior squad but embrace and develop on our youth culture, integrate up and coming players into the squad.”

Danny Moore coaching. He took over mid 2019 and thanks to Covid-19 has seemingly coached more pre-seasons than actual matches.

Three candidates were interviewed with Danny Moore being successful. “I think we knew within five minutes of meeting him he was the one” Greer quipped “I think I had pencilled him in even before the football talk began, his character is second to none and it really shone through, I was convinced very quickly he’s the right fit for the culture at the club.”

With the appointment of Moore complete discussions turned back to obtaining a reserves coach. “Thankfully Kev (McIntyre) was available and now I think the whole squad is in really good hands”.

We now hope, like everyone else in Victoria, that we can look forward to an enjoyable 2021 season where everyone and the club thrives and continues to develop their game.

with Chris Yeend

Senior Men’s training returns Tuesday January 12. New players are most welcome to join, please contact Danny via email for further details.

Pre-Season Training

We are please to welcome back our Senior Men as they begin their preparations for Season 2021.

Pre-Season will commence on Tuesday December 1 and will run for 3 weeks prior to the Christmas/ New Year break. We will then resume on Tuesday January 12.

Anyone wishing to join the squad please contact our coach via email daniel.moore@gisbornesc.com

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2019/2020

The Annual General Meeting was held last night, we wish to advise and congratulate the following people who were elected unopposed as club Directors for the next two seasons:

President: Richard Smart
Vice President: Michael Spasojevic
Treasurer: Kathy Van Emmerik
Registrar: Olga Bartasek
Secretary: Mikki Maheras
Sponsorship Director: John Turner

We wish to extend our thanks and well wishes to the former club Directors who have vacated their roles in 2020.

We’re always looking for more hands on deck so if you would like to get involved and help in some way please email volunteering@gisbornesc.com

Update from the Vice President

Hi Gisborne SC Members,

No competitive football for GSC the foreseeable future

Late yesterday I had verbal confirmation from a North West region representative that the Junior and MiniRoos leagues our teams were due to compete in starting this weekend have been postponed for the 6 week lock down period imposed by the State Government. Our Senior teams, who were not due to start until July 25, are also in postponed status. 

Alternative options:

On the back of this, the observation that the region in which our club operates has not been locked down and requests from members, the Committee has resolved to investigate alternative footballing plans for the rest of this season that we can offer to our membership instead. They include:  

• approaching FV to discuss the possibility of entering teams into the Bendigo league (which will commit to only after consulting each team individually to confirm their interest in an opportunities FV can arrange). The Bendigo league began last weekend and have not been postponed due to state government restrictions 

• running intra-club tournaments on weekends (and ceasing midweek training to save on lighting costs - which average about $70 per night) 

• continuing to train as normal and possibly augment with coaching clinics and specialist external coaches for Junior and MiniRoos sides where we have access to funds for explicitly these reasons (I believe generally conditional sponsorship agreements) 

Once these offerings have been fleshed out a bit more and approximately costed we can offer them on a team by team basis, via managers and coaches, for their consideration. In parallel we'll prepare an approximate cost incurred per member to date (lights, kit/uniform, registration, professional training, ground rent, etc) to establish what the club can afford to refund if parents or players prefer that option. Please note: we have no control or say in whether the FFA/FV portion of your fees will be refunded, this is determined by FFA/FV.

There are a few teams with a small number of players (and coaches) from lock down areas who are unable to take any options anyway and for those people we understand that cancelling their involvement with club activities this season is the only realistic option for them.

We understand this season has been an almighty drag and in some cases people just want to cut and run and we sympathise with that. However because the club is a not-for-profit organisation, and our budget set late in 2019 reflects this, it would go broke if everyone did that. Therefore we want to devise an offer that still enables everyone to participate in football activities, providing our members with value for money and prevents putting the club into administration. Administration costs will need to be paid out first (majority of this has been already been paid in preparation for the season) and conditional funds where not yet touched get returned to donors, sponsors etc. 

Refunds:

In relation to refunds, as per above the club simply cannot afford to refund all members in full. The club would collapse. It was not in a good financial position at the end of last year* and the directors are working hard to correct that but it's really not a quick job. The COVID pandemic has only made that even more difficult. 

As Directors of the club, all of whom are unpaid by it, we are obliged to do what they can to avert insolvency and administration. I remind you of who the Directors of the club are below, noting that the majority are extremely new, still getting to grips with how the club is run and financed, what it's assets and liabilities are and are trying our level best to get it through this very tricky time solvent.

If anyone wants to look in depth at the financial records of the club, Treasurer  Mikki Maheras is happy to accommodate at some point**. I know it's cliched to say this but cooperation, tolerance and a bit of space to do this is really appreciated. As a community club we promise we'll do all we can to ensure that longer term, nobody misses out.

Thanks,
Richard Smart
Vice-President

Directors:

Mel Paradiso - President (1st year), Director 2nd year, 4 years member of the club
Richard Smart  - Vice President (1st year), Director 1st year, 5 years member of the club
Kathy Van Emerick - Secretary (3 days), Director 1st year, >5 years member of the club
Mikki Maheras - Treasurer (1st Year), Director 1st year, 2 years member of the club
Paul Gibson - Assistant Secretary (1st Year), Director 1st year, >5 years member of the club
Olga Bartasek - Registrar (1st Year), Director 1st year, >5 years member of the club

* Financial situation at the end of last year refers to the shed project that ran over budget. Under normal, non-pandemic, circumstances this would have corrected itself.
** Please note: this information is only available for current Gisborne SC Members and must be kept confidential.

Sponsor Visit

Our Senior Mens captains popped in to see our shirt sponsors, thanking them with a framed shirt signed by members of our squad.

*Image digitally altered, social distancing was adhered to at the time of the shoot

Above Senior Co-Captains Matt Hume (L), wearing our training shirt, and Jake McIntyre (R), wearing our clash shirt, present Shaz & Shannon of The Telegraph Hotel a framed home shirt, which hangs proudly in their must see new sports bar.

Below Reserves Co-Captains Joe Cavoli (L), holding our training shirt, and Sam Allen (R), holding our clash shirt, present Leo of Carscape Australia a framed home shirt. With some amazing memorabilia and some awesome cars already on show, we’re glad this won’t look out of place.

We once again thank The Telegraph Hotel & Carscape Australia, along with all our club sponsors, for their ongoing support. Please, as always, support our sponsors and pop in to see these wonderful frames.

Thanks to What Knots Picture Framing for their fantastic work in making this happen.

And why number 98 on the back? It’s a nod to the year we were established of course!

Annual General Meeting 2018/2019

Notice is given that the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Gisborne Soccer Club for the 2018/2019 Year will be held as follows:

Date: Monday 6th July 2020
Time: 7:00pm online using the Google Meet application at this time.
Location: Online (To join the meeting – click or type the following link https://meet.google.com/oez-xoob-vqx )

The committee will endeavour to hold the meeting in person at the club rooms if possible and will make a determination of and update members by 5:00pm on Friday 3rd July 2020.

This meeting is required since the AGM held on Tuesday 12th November was adjourned as it did not comply with the requirements for an AGM in accordance with Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012 (Vic).

We would like to bring to the attention of all Gisborne SC members that following the adjourned AGM the following Committee Members have stood down/resigned from their roles:

• Rodney Smith - President

• Julian Bakhurst - Secretary

• Jarrod Greer - Assistant Secretary

• Steve Gembarovski - Treasurer

These roles have been filled by:

• Mel Paradiso - President

• Tim Callinan - Secretary 

• Paul Gibson - Assistant Secrtary

• Mikki Maheras - Treasurer

The following positions were also added and/or filled:

• Kathy Van Emmerik - Assistant Treasurer

• Olga Bartasek - Registrar

• Susanne Tzamouranis - Junior Coordinator

The following continue in their positions:

• Richard Smart - Vice President and Miniroos Coordinator

• Jarrod Greer - Head of Senior Men’s Football and Media Coordinator

• Glenn Matthews - Grants Coordinator

The following Members are part of the General Committee:

• Julian Bakhurst

• Justin Knott

• Silvana Piccolo

• Michael Spasojevic 

We are proud to have a great team of volunteers to lead Gisborne SC into the future. We want to extend our thanks and appreciation to the previous Committee members for all their hard work.

The committee would appreciate as many members as possible involved with the meeting but we need to know how many will attend so we can manage under the COVID restrictions on gatherings. Therefore please advise the secretary by 5:00pm on Friday 03/07/2020 if you will be attending to guarantee admission.

Tim Callinan
Secretary
Gisborne Soccer Club

Training Resumes

All of us at Gisborne SC are excited, relieved and grateful that training, albeit in a restricted form, is able to return this week amid the COVID-19 Pandemic.

We all know it has been a long and frustrating wait through this uncertain time. We acknowledge and fully support the protocols that have been set by Football Victoria for this return, which are available here. We recommend you read through them to familiarize yourself with what you need to do to stay safe.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

• Training is for players & volunteers who are confirmed REGISTERED MEMBERS of Gisborne SC. If your membership has not yet been accepted, please email membershipsgsc@gmail.com for further assistance.

• Strict times are in place as per the protocols, your coach or team manager will advise you of what times you need to arrive & leave - THIS MUST BE ADHERED TO.

• Dixon Field’s pavilions will remain CLOSED, parents/guardians dropping their kids off are advised to either stay in their cars (in the car park) or go home during training. You CANNOT be standing around spectating.

We thank everyone in advance for their help and understanding as we work through this together.

May Newsletter

Gisborne Soccer Club Committee hope that you are all staying well and safe in these isolating times.

Following on from recent communication from Football Victoria, the committee is actively preparing for a start to the season and we appreciate your responses to the survey about the restart of the season, in particular the desire to only play on the weekend and not mid-week.

To date the only information that we have on the likely restart is contained in this media report from The Age. We are expecting an announcement very soon and if what is reported is accurate then there is not much time to prepare, so we'd appreciate any help members can offer and ask for understanding at this time as we work hard to get things organised.

There have been some exciting developments at the club since we have gone into lock down but there will be some challenges that we will need to overcome this season as a result:

1. Extension of Season beyond the original planned finish in September and into October/November or even December

2. Macedon Ranges Shire Council (MRSC) will be renovating the old pavilion which means that we will not have access to the old pavilion or the new Shed so all operations will be based around the New Pavilion.

3. MRSC have completed repairing the damaged areas of the main pitch (see images below) and we need to keep off it for as long as possible to give it the best opportunity to flourish.

4. MRSC have also removed the large gum tree that was situated to the northern end of the training & MiniRoos pitches. This tree sadly suffered extensive damage earlier in the year when it was struck by lightning leaving the remaining section unsafe. Whilst we enjoyed the shaded area the tree provided we are excited that the area has now been turfed which allow the opportunity to extend our playing & training areas.

Gisborne Soccer Club Directors would also like to advise members of some changes to the Executive as follows:

• Steve Gembarovski has resigned from the position of Treasurer with Gisborne Soccer Club, effective Monday 13th April 2020. The club thanks Steve for his contribution over the past 6 years. If any member would like more details including a copy of the resignation letter please contact the Secretary, Tim Callinan.

• In accordance with Clause 9.5 of our Club Constitution, the majority of Directors have elected to fill this vacancy immediately and appoint Mikki Maheras who is a committee member and has extensive financial management experience and meets the requirements detailed in the Position description of Treasurer and as such will deliver the required outcomes for Gisborne Soccer Club Incorporated.    

• Justin Knott has resigned from the position of Assistant Secretary and will continue to contribute as a general committee member.  The Directors have elected to fill the position of Assistant Secretary and welcome Paul Gibson to the position.

If you have any questions regarding these changes or anything else related to this season then please do not hesitate to contact Mel to discuss on 0491 737 954.

Boys 16 Pre-Season

PART 3 STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING

As part of our ongoing commitment to delivering an elite sporting experience Gisborne SC has partnered with Elite Wellbeing to develop and deliver a Strength and Conditioning program for our U16A Boys team.

Our first session was conducted on Tuesday 12th February led by Craig Mottram.

Craig’s expertise in this area is unparalleled having competed on the world stage at the most elite level for over 16 years, and now having translated those experiences into training programs for elite sporting clubs and athletes.

Our first session was telling and we could see the boys improve over the course of our first 2 hours together, we look forward to working with Craig for the rest of this season, and beyond.

Boys 16 Pre-Season

Part 2 Leadership and Values

At Gisborne SC we have actively pursued a program for the past season to provide as much support to our young athletes and their mental wellbeing and preparedness as possible.

On 6th February this continued this objective with a presentation from SALT – Sport and Life Training for our U16A boys team with a focus on Leadership and Team Values.

Under the expert guidance of presenter Dave Burt we explored leadership as a responsibility for everyone, and discussed what some of the key values of this team would be.

The boys were extremely engaged in the discussion and come up with their own set of team values, headlined by RESPECT.

The team will continue to work to ensure that both individually and as a collective they accept the responsibility and leadership required to demonstrate these values throughout the season.

Boys 16 Pre-Season

Part 1 Injury prevention

Gisborne SC Boys 16A kicked off their pre-season under the guidance of Internationally Certified Chiropractic Sports Practitioner Dr. Brayden Allen with a key focus on Injury Prevention.

As a club one of our highest priorities is to promote the well-being of all of our members, one of the key areas we can support our players is to ensure they take every step possible to avoid injuries.

Dr Brayden Allen

The program which is being implemented has been proven on a worldwide scale to reduce injury rates by 45% and decrease lost time to injury by 30%. The boys have totally embraced the program and we look forward to enjoying the results as the season progresses.

Based on the FIFA 11 Injury Prevention Program, our pre-season preparation falls into line with our Mens program as we look to ready these boys as our next generation Senior players.

New President

After a thorough process of interviewing a number of high quality applicants, the Directors of Gisborne Soccer Club are please to announce that Mel Paradiso has been chosen to be our new President.

Mel has been a huge contributor on the committee since 2016, most notably in her recent role as Registrar and for organising the Go Sevens program.

In selecting Mel as President the Directors saw the this as an opportunity to shuffle a number of roles around, as we welcome new people to both the board of Directors & to the extended general Committee. This move will help ensure the smooth running of the club beyond the current Directors tenure.

We are also looking forward to working with the unsuccessful candidates as we seek to create roles that play to their strengths and benefit Gisborne Soccer Club as a whole.

Please congratulate Mel on her appointment, further announcements in relation to other roles will be made shortly.

#BornToBeBlue #GSC2020 #MelPresidente

Committee & Directors Changes

We wish to advise of the following changes to the Directors of Gisborne Soccer Club:

On Monday 11 November 2019, the Gisborne SC Directors accepted the resignation of Glenn Matthews from his position as Vice President. Glenn has held this role twice, the latest stint being for the past 12 months. Glenn has stood down from this role due to time constraints. We thank Glenn for his contribution as Vice President and are pleased that he will remain on the extended committee continuing in his highly successful role as Grants Coordinator.

As per the club Constitution Richard Smart was voted in as Vice President by the remaining Directors, he will fill the role as a casual vacancy. Richard has most recently been the MiniRoos Coordinator, seeing our Saturday morning program go from strength to strength. At the other end of the spectrum he has recently set the wheels in motion for an over 35’s competition that we are looking to implement in the near future.

On Friday 15 November 2019. the Gisborne SC Directors accepted the resignation of Rodney Smith from his position as President. Rodney has held this role for 5 & a half years, during this time we have seen the construction of a new pavilion, the male senior & reserves teams switch from Sunday to Saturday competitions, all of our goals & equipment replaced, new benches installed, and most important of all our participation numbers increase nearly double (based on 2013 figures).

Behind the scenes Rodney oversaw the implementation of new bookkeeping software along with new policies and procedures to ensure the financial issues experienced by the previous Directors could not be repeated. An independent analysis, from Club Builder, recently awarded us a 4-star rating for governance along with providing us guidance on how to work towards the 5-star mark.

Rodney has stepped down due to personal reasons, at this stage a replacement has not been appointed. We thank Rodney for his contribution and support to the club, we know we will see him around the club as he takes some time to enjoy games as a proud parent.

The Directors would like to invite people to nominate for the Committee, where it be a Directors role or that of an Office Bearer. The more hands on deck we have the better, small contributions make an enormous difference.