Chairmans Report 2011

Submitted by david on Fri, 2011-11-25 07:42.

 

The 2011 football season was another successful year for the Walkerville Junior Football Club.
We fielded a record 14 sides in the NEMJFA leagues starting with the under 6's and going through every age group up to under 15. We had over 350 players registered with NEMJFA.
I believe we achieved our core goals and values of delivering to the registered players and their families a safe and fun environment in which to develop their skills in and play Australian Rules Football.

On the football field WJFC competed against other clubs on over 200 occasions and in the premiership grades of U 11 to 15 WJFC featured in three finals series with the U 11's coming from second to last place on the ladder to play off in the grand final.  Their coach Pete Corrie has after 5 years straight of coaching this group of boys stepped aside to give someone else a go, a fantastic effort. The U 12 Reds and the U15 played off in their grand finals with the U12’s bringing home the flag.  I would also like to make special mention to Stephen Schwerdt who has coached these boys for the last 3 years and the U15 coach David Serotski. While we would love to field an U16 side next year it’s unlikely so I would like to formally thank David now in anticipation. 
 
Individually our players were recognised as some of the best with Callum Wilkie, Oscar Chapman and Mackenzie Slee all representing the state in their respective age groups, Jackson Hately finishing second in the U 11 Red association medal and Vinnie Rocca winning the U 14 Red association medal. We also had many boys selected in the NEMJFA association sides. Congratulations to all these boys on fantastic seasons.

Of course none of this can be achieved without an amazing effort from all corners of the WJFC community. From the 50 odd people who week in week out give enormous amounts of time to coaching at both training and at Sunday games, to the huge workload we expect from our team managers, to the cast of thousands who man boundaries, goal umpire, ground marshall and we can’t forget those who cook "the barbie" every Sunday morning.  I thank you all. Special mention must be made of the Hendersons, Sue and Bob who continues to make a huge contribution in so many ways, their years of experience and knowhow is invaluable.

This brings me to our 2010/11 committee. Everyone on the committee played a role in achieving what was another successful year but special mention must be made of Mal Duxbury our Secretary whose amazing contribution was cut short because of family commitments, Heather Allison who unselfishly stepped into the breach of Secretary when required, to Anna Colley as treasurer, Meegan Osti as registrar, Richard Wilkie as Association delegate, Melissa Emmett with team jumpers and merchandise, Michelle Dottore who looked after so much at all our social functions and of course David Chapman and Pete Corrie who looked after all things football including our very successful Auskick program. Both these men have a great passion for the club and do so much more than just all things Football. Their contributions are so many and varied that there are too many to list here. Finally thanks to Andrew Seaten who attended most meetings this year and has agreed to step forward as treasurer from the season after next.

I note that Meegan, Richard, Ros Schwerdt, and Peter Pritchard have given notice that they are not seeking re-election. I thank them all for their fantastic contribution, particularly Meegan and Richard whose service spans many years.

I would also like to take the opportunity to acknowledge firstly NEMJFA whose organisation and philosophy of "were not playing for sheep stations" is a great check and balance. Thank- you Rick and Annette.  Thank you to the Walkerville Sports Club for facilitating the use of this great facility, by this I mean the clubrooms and the oval. As well as supporting the bar week in week out we, the junior football club held many successful functions here this year, that brought to the club many of the Walkerville community who in turn spent well. Thanks to Brian Lindegreen and Dave Mason on a job well done.  As an affiliated club of the WSC I commit us to continue to support the club facilities with functions.  It is also important to acknowledge the work done by WSC particularly Chris Harcourt and his Chairman Mal Ayliffe in getting the oval floodlight upgrade completed for the start of the 2011 season. They are amongst the best lighting for sport around. I acknowledge The Harley family and the Geelong Football Club particularly Rick and Tom for assisting with fundraising for this important facility. This is of great benefit to us as well as everyone in the Walkerville community. For our footy club it has allowed us to further expand our participation numbers and for that we are grateful but request that the WSC give due consideration to our needs going forward with access to the oval on Mondays to Fridays for training. This will help us accommodate all these additional kids wanting to play footy for WJFC.
 
Finally on behalf of the football club I again pass on our condolences to the Tizard family. James gave unselfishly to this club and this community over the past 8 years, many of these serving as club treasurer and unofficial web guru. As our notice on our website says “He was a generous and gentle soul.”
 
The football club continues to be in a sound financial position allowing us to provide appropriate equipment etc for the development and enjoyment of playing footy. I will leave the “nuts and bolts” reporting of this to our treasurer Anna Colley.  
 
Onward and upward to next year. I believe we can look forward to another great year with strong participation. Our main goals will be to provide for as many kids as we can a conduit to playing footy in a fun and safe environment.
 
Going forward our challenges as a junior footy club and as a committee will continue to be how we accommodate all the kids who want to participate, while maintaining the balance between participation and football development through competition, secondly that we will continue to be given the opportunity to have appropriate access to the Walkerville oval to accommodate these numbers and finally that our volunteers can manage the workloads that being a volunteer for a community football club brings and the ever increasing demands for compliance etc, (which I acknowledge on the whole are necessary). All of these things place great pressures on all those giving their time.
 
Having said all this it is pleasing to report that this club continues to have a small band of people willing to give so much time to their community and a large band of people to do what they can.

Martin Palmer