April 2024 Newsletter
Hello Barkers
The season for our women and juniors is nearly here. The Senior Men have round 3 this Saturday and Social teams started last week.
So there is a lot going on down at the Kennel here are some of the main items the Barker faithful need to be aware of!
Thursday night dinners are in full swing and this Thursday we also have the Senior Women playing Endeavour as a last practice match before their season kicks off. Dinners start at 7:30 pm match kicks off at 8:30 pm
Shirt presentation is this Saturday starting on the grass from 9am, the canteen will be pumping out egg and bacons and fresh hot coffee. The kids will get their kit bags, strips and merch team by team, then they will get a photo with Barkley in their teams. Come down and support the kids.
12:00 Under 16s and Under 18s
Hang around until the Senior game at 3pm and kids will get a free hot dog and drink as the Senior men take on Peninsular Strikers.
All of our teams are now formed we still need some more of our Barkers to step up to help run these teams.
Roles the Club needs you for!
Coaches - We have an under 14 Boys team, under 9s girls team and our new State 5 women's team that are looking for coaches. Mooroolbark Soccer Club prides itself on our coaching development. Coaches get free access to all the Football Australia coaching programs and courses, training by our Technical Director and Football Coordinators.
Assistant coaches - we ask all of our coaches to appoint an assistant. This is a great place to start your coaching journey. Assistants support the head coach by helping set up and pack up, running drills or warm ups whilst the head coach can focus on smaller player groups.
The Club is hosting the next course Foundation of Football for Football Australia on the 20th April
Aimed at volunteer parents and coaches working with beginner players to competent level players of varying age groups.
This course is a prerequisite for the C Diploma.
You will participate in practical sessions covering the basics of techniques as well as learning about basic playing principles of the game. The course is mostly practical and not graded, allowing the student to participate in the training sessions if they so choose. The course also promotes participating in group discussions with the goal of exchanging experiences.
Register here:
Team Managers - every team must have a team manager before they can play a game. Our team managers are the glue of the Club. They organise the rosters for setting up and packing up pitches, cutting up the oranges for half time, marshals and game leaders etc. Our team managers are trained to use Gameday for recording results and producing teams sheets (juniors and seniors), trained on Sports Plus our membership management system.
Social Committee - It's time to start planning the social functions for the year, like a party, like a trivia night, kids disco presentation night, Christmas party. We need a small team of people to organise and run our social calendar.
Club Secretary - The Club is seeking a new club secretary, Peter Stephenson stepped into the void as a temporary role but now we need to fill that role permanently. If you love admin, love football like working with some very passionate people well this is the role for you!
For any of these roles please reach out to any of our committee or contact president@thebarkers.com.au
We urge all members over the age of 18 to get their working with children check. It is free for volunteers and allows you to be involved in this great club.
https://service.vic.gov.au/services/working-with-children
Fixtures
Football Victoria have taken a bit longer than expected to finalise fixtures. It is expected that the FV will release the fixtures this coming Friday. They will be then loaded in SportsPlus.
In 2024 the Club is ramping up our use of the SportsPlus platform. The Club has taken the decision to ban the use of Heja, WhatsApp or any other communications platform for team communications. SportsPlus will be the only method that is used team communications, this is in line with the child safe policies and the club's code of conduct.
Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns on how team communications can be undertaken in 2024.
Child Safety
Now summer is but a distant memory...nights are getting darker.
As part of the Mooroolbark Soccer Club Child Safety Policy, Coaches wont let your child leave the playing surface until your child can point you out to the coach for pickup.
Even better stay during training, watch your child develop.
Training might be a bit dull to watch but a supportive clap or encouraging word from you as a parent, uncle, aunty, grandparent, bother or sister, has a much larger effect on our young Barkers than most parents realise.
The Barkers are opening up the Little Kennel Canteen for most training nights over winter to warm you up!
Bogan Bingo
Book your table now for Bogan Bingo - get together with your team, the parents of your team of maybe family and friends outside of the Club. It is going to be a huge night.
