Under 10 Blue
Team Manager: Carolyn Shiels | [email protected] | 0417 580 796 Training: Wednesday 4pm-5:30pm, Saturday 8.30am, Ramsden St
Under 10 BLUE Results >>>
Under 10 Match Reports and photos 2004
IVANHOE BLACK vs FITZROY And just like that it was all over!!! No more training, no more getting lost on a Sunday morning in outer suburbs, no more standing in damp grass, no more oranges, no more questionable coffee in styrene cups, no more sausages for lunch or giant pythons. No more washing football jumpers and socks. We will all miss the footy!! Captained by Griffin and Finnian, the under-10 Blues finished their first season of football on Sunday with a loss to Ivanhoe Black who were playing for a spot in the finals. Like every week, the Fitzroy boys were valiant and everyone can see they finished the season miles ahead of where they started. To a boy, they have learnt a lot this season about the game. They tackle better, their attack on the ball is more ferocious, and their skills have improved dramatically. They take more marks and sometimes even look for a player in a better position. Gone is the “kick it to me” scream whenever one of them gets the ball and they don’t all run around in a swarm around the ball. Players have learnt to hold their positions. There were some really good passages of play today that were unlucky not to end in goals and one lovely passage that did through Ben Callahan, who must be leading the goal kicking tally for 2004! Final score: 5 – 10 (40) to 1 – 5 (11) Let’s look forward though. To the boys who are going up to the U-11 comp, good luck and keep up the hard work and keep enjoying your football. To the boys who remain, next year should see us take some leaps forward as we build on the knowledge gained this year. Please remember some important dates…Sunday, August 15, 10am to 12 Noon, at InSportz Northcote there will be a little get together for the boys. Please tell all the people you see from the team this week in case someone didn’t get the notice. Also, remember the Presentation Day on September 12, which involves a get together for the parents at the Homestead Hotel. Check website for more details. Thank you to all the parents and friends who helped this year from coaching to managing to running to umpiring to providing water and snakes. It is a team effort and everyone’s help has been appreciated and invaluable. Obviously, super special thanks go to Grant and Carolyn!!! So, I won’t say good-bye, just see you later!!! Go Roys!!!!!
Fitzroy vs SFX Whitehorse Colts
The message from Coach Grant before the game was that anything was possible. He cited examples from the AFL: Sydney beat Brisbane, Essendon beat Port, and we can beat the Colts. The opening term was fantastic. Some great marks were taken and the boys played well. The Colts leading by one goal at the break. The second term let us down. They kicked two quick goals at the start and we looked rattled. They added another two – 5 goals straight to nothing at half time. The Coach stayed positive at half time as he has all year. It’s a simple but effective recipe –a quarter of orange, a snake or two and lots of positive feedback!! The third quarter the boys looked inspired. When Patrick Watkins just missed to register a behind, the boys waited for the kick in. Young Ben Callahan marked strongly and kicked truly to put our first goal on the board!!! At three quarter time, Coach Grant was excited. More positive words of encouragement to help the boys to develop some self-belief. But as children are prone to do, one boy just cut to the chase: “Do you really think we can win?” Um……. The Roys were great in the last term too. Some great passages of play. Ben passed superbly to Andrew, who passed to Dylan, who had a shot and just missed. Michael laid a wonderful tackle on the wing to stop their charge forward and Luke who kept running to make a contest and force a ball up. Mark, rewarded with a free kick in our forward line, passed to Andrew who kicked our second goal!!!! In the end, it was really only the 2nd term that cost us. Final score: Fitzroy 2 .3 (15) to Colts 7.10 (52)
MATCH REPORT History will show that the top of the ladder side, Kew 2 easily accounted for Fitzroy in a game on Sunday at Macleay Park but it was just another wonderful day at the footy for me! Firstly, two more boys got the chance to captain the side - Stephen Frost and Fragos Omar had the privilege this week and led well. Secondly, the game could have been a thumping. We are a team with only three games left in the season, therefore, at some level mentally we are winding down. Kew 2, on the other hand, are gearing up for a finals campaign, mentally still in the middle of their season. Down 28 points at half-time, the boys could have let it be a blow out, but they didn't. As always, they stuck to their tasks all day. Those tasks are not straight forward either. This week we had five boys on the bench, including two new recruits (Casey Filips and Juan Pablo Zuleta). Each boy got at least 3 quarters of footy and a chance to play in various positions on the field. I heard the opposition officials note this. They only had one player on the bench and the rest pretty much in set positions. They saw humour in our situation and they were right to laugh and smile, after all our boys were laughing and smiling too!!! Footy is fun in the under-10's!!! We had some really good contributors that deserve a mention. Dylan had the job after half-time on the only opposition player our boys know by name…Anna, the tall, athletic superstar that dominates when we play them. Dylan risked life and limb and played valiantly. Liam Oliver and Tom Kellock also played and well. Great attack on the ball and beautiful skills contributed to them both winning the Lions Packs. Tom also scoring a goal in the third term!! Evan was our first winded player of the year, copping a ball right in the stomach!! Ouch!! All the boys contributed and could hold their heads high. The boys have come a long way this season, developing their skills and learning all aspects of the game, including sportsmanship, respect for officials who are learning the game too and discipline. Sure, if they played in set positions they would be more skilled in a particular area and if we had a smaller team, they would each get more game time and perhaps we would have won more games. However, having less team mates would be a far too big a price to pay and no-one wants to pay it. So, you see, my criteria for success is a happy boy with muddy knees, who has learnt a little more about the game and is having a sausage with his mates after playing his heart out and watching his mates do the same and lamenting that this is going to be over in just two more weeks!!!! We are absolute champions at Fitzroy under-10 Blues!
RICHMOND vs FITZROY There is nothing like a ‘come from behind’ win!!! That is what happened today at K Bartlett Complex as the Fitzroy u-10 Blues took on Richmond. In drizzly and freezing conditions, the boys took the field after 3 weeks of not playing a game – too long not doing what you love! Richmond looked good, a much improved side from the first time we met. Quarter time saw us scoreless, down by 7 points. Richmond kicked on in the 2nd term booting 2.3 but Andrew Indian-Manning kept the Roys in touch with a beautiful goal. Inspirational!! At half-time, we were 15 points down. Coach Grant pointed out some flaws and set about making changes. Professional tagger, Sean O’Neill was given the task of playing on Number 30, who had been devastating in the first half. Positions verified, everyone clear on their job and Coach Grant asked some important questions: “Who’s going to be first to the ball? Who’s going to kick the first goal?” “FITZROY!!” they screamed back. A quick cuddle and out they went. The 3rd term saw both teams add 1 goal 2 points to their respective totals. Fitzroy’s goal coming via Mark Singleton (today’s co-captain with Sam Boyce). Still 15 points down. In the final term, Fitzroy found form. They started getting the ball out of the middle. One forward thrust after another all for minor scores. Then Ben Callahan split the middle with a game turning goal and it was GAME ON. I’ve been hearing the Coaches talk for weeks about ‘building a wall’. It seemed very important that the boys learnt to do this. Well, in the final quarter today, I understood what they meant because I saw the wall!! It was right there across the half back line!!! Where had it come from? Or had it been there all along? Each time Richmond looked like going forward…BANG…they ran straight into the wall!! Back the ball would come, into our forward line and there was young Ben again!!! The match-winning goal!!!! This was exciting stuff!!! Final scores: Richmond 4.6 (30) defeated by Fitzroy 4.9 (33). The Club Song was sung with gusto (twice) and they earned the right!! A brave effort by all the boys from one end of the ground to the other!! Congrats also to the coaching staff and all the parent helpers. I’m off to read the Parents Code of Conduct now because I got so caught up in the thrill of it all today, I may have forgotten my manners!! SURREY PARK vs FITZROY At Surrey Park You've heard this term in sport before but it was never spoken more truly then it will be spoken here. The scoreboard didn't tell the full story. The scoreboard didn't today. Sure, the Fitzroy U-10 Blues were scoreless again but the scoreboard only registers the goals and behinds, it doesn't register the other things that happen.
The skies were blue but it was windy, chilly and muddy. Led by Liam Oliver and Roger Paul, the Fitzroy boys took the field against Surrey Park one man down. There would be no rotations today. Every boy was going to play every minute.
So here we were, playing a team at the opposite end of the ladder to us and they had an extra guy out there somewhere!!
Well, as I said, a lot went on that the scoreboard didn't tally. In particular, there's playing when you feel sick, and you should be in bed because of your cough but you don't want to let your mates down. Or when half your knee is missing after an altercation with same asphalt. No column for that stat anywhere. Out on the field too there were more examples: taking another step forward, learning when to go in after the ball and when to hold back. Learning when to ride the bump and when to show you won't be intimidated by a bigger kid. Learning how a whirling wind can do strange things to a kick. Getting back up and going for the ball again and again. Supporting your teammate and protecting him when he has the ball. Kicking to a player in the clear, to position.
At half-time, spirits were high as a couple of miracles happened. Firstly, another player arrived and secondly, the whiteboard had all this inspirational jargon on it so Coach Grant, ever resourceful, put it to good use. I know the boys heard it all and soaked it up. The boys formed a huddle and urged each other on and as they ran out I heard one boy ask, “Which way are we kicking?”
The second half was more of the first; we managed to hold them goalless in the last term, which proves these boys never lay down. Mind you, the forward line was sitting down when the ball was at the other end!!! Still, it's the end of term, the middle of winter and the u-10's!!!! As I heard one of the coaches say, “It is a privilege to be part of this”
Final score 6 – 9 (45) to 0 - (0) Thanks to all the people who make this all possible. Have a great break everyone.
Versus Hawthorn Citizens >>> Versus IVANHOE BLACK >>> Versus Whitehorse Colts >>> Versus Kew2 >>> Versus Richmond >>>
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