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The World According to Belly

Wed 01 April 2015


WELCOME, AND A FEW IMPORTANT POINTS

Ladies, gentlemen, children, welcome to the new season….


My name is Bob Bell and I am the club President, for better or worse and all in between. My fellow committee members and I are (relatively) normal human beings with our own lives, jobs, families and interests. Contrary to popular opinion we do not live at Kelso Park nor get paid to run the club, we are volunteers who have offer time we don’t really have to enable our 850 odd players & officials to enjoy

their soccer.


Apart from the committee there are over 100 coaches and managers who give their time to ensure their teams get on the park each weekend and, without the work these people do, no one would get a game.


They are not employed as child minders, nor even adult minders, they are there to organise and assist.


I make these points firstly to thank those who have volunteered to help our club this year. I make them secondly to ensure all players, parents and friends of the club are aware that it is EVERYONE’s responsibility to make the club function on a daily basis.


Fairies don’t come to Kelso in the middle of the night and put up nets and ropes; put out the benches; put out the rubbish bins; cook the barbeque; stock the canteen; serve in the canteen; pack up and put away; report scores to BDAFA (our local association); and deal with the myriad other issues that arise in the course of the season.


To do these things we have a duty roster that spreads the workload around all teams in the club. We keep a record of who is on duty each week to ensure we make this spread as even as possible throughout the season, subject to the vagaries of the draw, weather and so on. If teams don’t have

sufficient people for duty, aren’t on time, or don’t stay for their full period of duty, it simply puts unnecessary pressure on other individuals. In the end, the same old people just do more and more to cover for the majority who do less and less.


As President of the club I like to know as many of the members as possible so please don’t hesitate to say g’day and introduce yourself. As volunteers your committee members have limited time to devote to the club and we can’t do everything, but we will do all we can within these limitations to address concerns and make changes where necessary for the betterment of the club and all those in it.

And yes, the above is an annual rehash so apologies for any déjà vu!



THE GOOD


We’re now “Panania Diggers”!

The first good news is that, while we remain proudly Panania RSL Youth Soccer Club, for playing purposes we will now be known as Panania Diggers. This decision has been made after a long period of consultation between ourselves, the Panania Diggers club and most importantly the Panania RSL Sub Branch. It enables us to support the brand of one of our major sponsors and to give us a relevant nickname, while preserving our close ties to the history of both the RSL and the soccer club. You will

note our new jerseys include both our traditional emblem and the Panania Diggers logo.


New Playing Strip

Speaking of our jerseys and new strip overall, that’s the second good news! What a fantastic sight to see it on display all over Kelso yesterday, we are really pleased with how it has come together. It is great to have Alliance Real Estate, Apex Transport and Panania Diggers as major sponsors whose contributions have allowed us to provide the new strip for “almost” the whole club.


We’re Growing

I say almost because the next good news is that we have had an influx of new players of all ages to the club, such that we have a record 66 teams and more than 850 players this year. That’s a wonderful vote of confidence in the club, but has left us short of stocks in some areas and we are working to fill these gaps.


Sponsorship

Our new sponsorship program this year will see marquees, teardrop banners and other paraphernalia adorning Kelso, we will provide more details of our sponsors shortly. There are still packages available, if you are interested in sponsoring a team please contact Geoff Amy (Kegs) on

0408 445 845.


Club Membership

After a successful first year we are again running our membership program. It costs $50 for adults, $35 for kids and you get:

Kegs will be at the clubhouse Tuesday and Thursday this week and next from 5.30pm to sign up members, you can also sign up at Panania Diggers from 5.30pm on Saturday April 11 which will enable you to participate in the first Badge Draw.



Badge Draw

This happens every Saturday during the season in the Trackside area of Panania Diggers at 6.00pm. All paid up 2015 badge holders go into the draw for the weekly prize which starts at $300 and jackpots weekly by $100 if not won. You must be present at the draw to claim the prize. On the last draw of each month, we keep drawing until the prize goes off then it reverts to $100 to start the next month. This is a great opportunity to support both the soccer club and Panania Diggers while catching up on the day’s results and having the chance to win a few bucks – why wouldn’t you be a Member?!


Anzac Day March

Sunday 19th April is the annual Anzac Day March from Panania Diggers. The history of ANZAC is embedded in our club’s philosophy and this is a great opportunity to show our support. The march commences at 2pm from the Diggers’ car park, if your manager hasn’t organised your team to attend get them on to it asap! There’ll be food & drink for the kids afterwards, and the big kids can avail themselves of the club’s facilities.


Kids’ Disco

Our Kids' Disco is on Saturday 2nd May at the Kelso Clubhouse starting at 6pm, this is always a popular event for kids of all ages and a great way to get your team together for some early season bonding. More details soon!



THE BAD

We’re Growing

Growth is not always good. While increased demand to play at our club is encouraging, it causes logistical issues with training space, playing strips, equipment and the like, as well as stretching the already limited resources of your committee’s sanity!


Commonsense and patience are the main ingredients in dealing with these issues. Find another team to train with rather than using 2 separate areas, more players gives you greater opportunity to run drills, small games and so on. Don’t take up more space than you need, there simply isn’t enough room at most times to take over half a field. If you want more space there’s plenty on Friday afternoons!

We are ordering more socks & shorts, we’ll get them here as quick as we can.


Coordination & Grading

If there is one aspect of running a sports club that will never satisfy everyone it’s allocating players to teams. Our policy is to keep teams together from year to year where we can, it’s always great to see kids come through the years together and still be playing together as adults.


However, this is rarely possible. Players change clubs, go to new sports, move away, go to reps, have injuries and so on. New players come to the club, old players return. When it’s clear teams need to change, we grade. We try to get an independent panel to watch the players and do the grading,

unfortunately the time constraints of getting through the process and getting busy people together makes this difficult. The worst part is not being able to find a spot for everyone. We try to combine age groups and do what we can to make a team but sometimes there just aren’t enough players.

So to those who have been aggrieved by the coordination and grading process this year we apologise.


As a committee, we are reviewing not so much our Grading Policy but the way it is implemented and communicated in an effort to improve the process for the future.



THE UGLY

Club Property

It costs a pretty penny to provide everything necessary for the successful operation of a club of our size and funds are limited. It is very frustrating when we see equipment mistreated, left out on the park, even stolen.


It should be a simple rule that if you use something, put it back where you got it from when you’re finished. If it’s clothing, have it washed and then return it. The vast majority do the right thing, but the amount of gear that gets damaged or goes missing due to a minority is substantial. We have lost a set of portable goal posts already this year, apart from the cost it causes field set up issues.


In a volunteer organisation, nothing is “someone else’s job”. If we all do our bit, we’ll all get on just fine…..


Enjoy your soccer!


BOB BELL

President




Created by Jim Carroll