Football (Soccer) Preseason and Registration Information

Welcome to the 2021 Football Season!

My name is Mel and I am overseeing Football at Eddies this year. If your son has selected Football (soccer) as his cocurricular this year, you would have received communication from Mr Angus Balmaks, our Sports Administrator in my absence.

I have a few important reminders and announcements below before the season commences.

Registration
Once your son has nominated to join football at St Edmund’s College, you can register with Capital Football for the season HERE.
Capital Football require all players to be registered and have their FFA number accessible. We draw our team lists for the season from this system so it is important that it is up to date. If you are having any problems accessing this, please let me know.

Training

• Training commences next week March 9^th (years 7 to 12) and week 7 , March 15^th for Junior school.
• All boys are to meet in the Quad in the first instance next week before training commences. At no point can the boys be on the ovals unsupervised.

U16 and U18 have commenced so are meeting their coach on Standen Oval.

• For the first few training sessions, coaches will collect boys from the Quad and move to training field.
• Students are encouraged to wear their sports top and shorts. Shin pads are compulsory. Your son may be asked to sit out of training if he plays without shin pads. Soccer boots should also be worn (may also be a good opportunity to break them in before season) but boys can wear joggers for training only.

Our training days are as follows:

All training commences from 3.40pm. As our bell goes at 3.25pm, this allows the boys time to get changed and be ready.

Please note that due to coach availability- we have moved U13s training to Monday and Thursday (rather than Monday, Wednesday). This means that the U13s training will commence Thursday 11^th March. This may change, but we are still working with our volunteer coaches to work in with their availability. Any changes further to this will be communicated with U13s families directly.
Training concludes between 4.45pm (U11 and U12) and 5.00pm (U13 to U18).

Training, teams and numbers
As training commences Tuesday 9^th March for our high school teams and March 15^th for Junior school, this is an important time for us to confirm team numbers. If your son selected football but no longer wants to play, please email Mr Angus Balmaks and myself.
We will be taking rolls at training sessions as there can be a discrepancy between the number of boys who nominated football and the number of boys who are actively taking part in training and participating. If your son is keen to play but is unable to attend training, can you please email me. If you could please indicate your son’s name, year level and team that would be greatly appreciated.

Coaches and Managers

• If you are keen to help out in any capacity, please let me know. I understand that coaching is a big commitment! So, if you are wanting to help out or take a couple of sessions here and there, I would love to hear from you.
• I am in the process of arranging ‘Coach the Coach’ sessions so that our coaching team can feel confident in coaching the boys.
• If you are keen, please ensure you have applied or renewed your ‘Working with Vulnerable People’ card- you can apply for this HERE.
• If you are interested in assisting in managing your son’s team, please also let me know.

Season information & Diary Dates
Before the season commences, we have four (4) pre-season grading weekends. These will be the weekends between April 24^th and May 15^th.
Pre-season week 1: April 24^th
Pre-season week 2: May 1^st
Pre-season week 2: May 8^th
Pre-season week 2: May 15^th

These are friendly matches which assist in determining division placement for the season. It assists clubs in making sure that divisions nominated are appropriate for our boys and their level of skills. This makes for a more competitive and positive season.  The times and location will be published at a later date.
The season will commence 22^nd May.
There will be no games on 10^th July.
U16 and U18 Semi-finals: 4^th September.
U16 and U18 Grand Finals: 11^th September.

A summary of the season dates for Junior League (U12-U18) and Mini-roos (U11) can be found HERE.

Game times
Our games alternate between home (at St Edmund’s) and away fixtures. All games are currently played on a Saturday.

*at half time, there is a maximum break time of 5 minutes. This will be signaled by the referee.

If you would like to read more about the competition regulations, you can access information HERE.
Please note that at all grounds during the season, we will be needing you to use the ‘Check in CBR App’ -even when playing at Home. You can access  ‘How to download’ this app on the ACT government website, located HERE.

Football uniform for game days
Jerseys are provided by the College for each team. Socks and shorts are available from the uniform shop.

Stay Connected Using TEAM APP
Information about our games will be posted in the TEAM APP- download this app and receive notifications instantly to your phone https://eddiesfootball.teamapp.com/
This app serves as a very important source of information. If and when training or games are cancelled, this is where the information is placed first. The boys can also download this app. The weekly fixtures are also accessible here. These fixtures can change during season so it’s important to have access to them immediately.
The app will be updated once Capital football approve all team nominations and a draft draw is up.

Facebook
We have a Co-curricular Facebook page. Jump onto https://www.facebook.com/St-Edmunds-College-Co-curricular for all cocurricular announcements at the College.   Also join our Eddies Football community – this is our group page run by and for the parents of the football community –  https://www.facebook.com/groups/stedmundsfootball/

Thank you for your support and for being a part of the Eddies Football Community.  If you have any questions throughout the season, please don’t hesitate in contacting me. I will be in touch with you before the season with further information, fixtures and more. The next few weeks are a great opportunity to get the boys active and ready for the season!

Mel Wilson
Football Coordinator
cwilson@stedmunds.act.edu.au
(02) 6239 0680