Dear Members,

At St Marys it is not all about on field success, we place a greater value on having fun, making life long friends, the benefits of physical activity & team sports as well as personal & team development and I hope our policies around team selection and fair game time for all reflect this.

However, for one weekend a year we are allowed to enjoy the reward for effort and strive for the ultimate goal of premiership success.

Congratulation to all of our 6 teams that are playing off in Grand Finals this weekend and commiserations to those who were knocked out in preliminary finals last week, Under 14 Black & Under 15-3. A special mention to 14 Black who lost in extra time in the first week of the finals and by only a kick last week. I am sure you will bounce back stronger for the experience next year (as a Carlton supporter I have to believe this is true !)

Also, a big thank you to our football department, Glenn, Mark & Jack who have every right to be extremely proud of their contribution to our success this year. If we remember all the way back to March, the football department were represented at nearly every pre-season training and worked very hard with the Age Group Managers and coaches regarding team selection, under both the Competitive Balance (U12 down) and Grading (U13 +) policies. Glenn, in particular, spent a lot of time with the league to try and ensure our teams were placed in the correct divisions. We are not a club that tries to pinch cheap premierships by entering a division too low, nor do we try and place too much pressure on our teams by playing in divisions of too high a standard. It is a fine balancing act, that you can’t get 100% right, however I am heartened by the fact none of our teams went winless or undefeated this year & that only 2 of our grand final teams finished the season on top of the ladder. The most important factor in selecting teams & divisions is to try and make sure all of our boys and girls are challenged as footballers, as this is the best way to help player & team development.
The work of our football department and coaches was also highlighted last week by the number of boys and girls who represented our club with distinction at the Leagues Best & Fairest. Inadvertently two players were left off the list we sent out last week. Trinity Mills form our Under 15 (2) Girls took out 6th place and Nathan Arcangel took out 5th in the U 14 Black Division, Congratulations to Trinity, Nathan and all the other players who represented St Marys.

I encourage all members whose playing commitments have finished to try and get along to at least one Grand Final this weekend. There is nothing greater for our teams to look out at the crowd and see that Teal, White & Black are the dominant colours.

This Sundays games are:

Under 12 Red: 10:15 Greythorn Park
Under 12 Gold: 10:15 Templestowe Reserve
Under 13 Brown: 12:30 Victoria Park Lower, Kew
Under 14 Gold: 12:30 Heidelberg Park
Under 12 Girls: 10:15 Stradbroke Park, Kew
Under 15BA Girls: 2:45 Stradbroke Park, Kew

This Sunday night the club will be open from 5:30 PM to hopefully celebrate premiership success or the fine achievement of just making a grand final. Pizzas will be provided for all at 2 sittings 6 PM & 7:30 PM and our resident DJ Tony will be rocking Whatmough from approx 7:30. Even if you aren’t playing this week you are more than welcome to come down & enjoy our Sunday of the year and celebrate as a club overall.

Best of luck to everyone this weekend, fingers crossed for a record breaking day,

Thanks,

Evan Butterworth
President
0413 266 484
butterworthbookkeeping@tpg.com.au