2014 EFL Pre-Season Wiki | Tomorrow: Kilsyth
COLDSTREAM Junior Football Club president Shannan Hawkins speaks to Maddi Vantarakis as his club prepares for the 2014 season.
Maddi Vantarakis: Overall, were you satisfied with what the club achieved, both on and off the field, in 2013?
Shanna Hawkins: On-field yes, I think they did very well. Especially in the Under 13 age group. They came from the year before only winning one game to playing in the semi-finals. That’s a pretty good effort for that group of kids!
Off the field, yes, we did fairly well too. We have a very strong committee, so I suppose last year was pretty successful.
Approximately how many teams do you think you will field in 2014?
This year we’ll be fielding 4 teams. Two Under 9 teams, an Under 11’s and an Under 13’s.
What has the feeling been like around the club over the pre-season?
It’s very positive, we’re a very family-orientated club and pretty close-knit community. We’re sort of lucky in that sense. A lot of people know each other and we’ll band together and try and make it as strong as we can. We’ve just got the demographic against us with population and that’s why we struggle to get so many teams.
The committee’s working very hard – and they have done over the last couple of years – to promote our club and increase the growth. We just want to get a lot more kids to Coldstream.
We offer the world. We offer cheap membership – we’re probably cheaper than any club in the EFL. It’s only $120 for competitive age groups and $110 for non-competitive. Every new kid that registers at our club gets a club bag and a club jacket to go with that as well! We look after any kids that want to join our club.
If you had to pick one, which team do you think is the club’s best chance of winning a premiership this season?
I think the Under 13’s have got a fairly good chance. I would think they’d be around about what they did last year. They’d be hoping to go a little better than they did last year.
The Under 11’s are a very young group of kids. The majority of them are actually Under 10’s in age, and there’d be about seven or eight Under 11 in age. So they’ve got their work cut out for them, but were hoping for big things for those kids.
Is there a particular age group of players that you need as soon as possible to fill a team ahead of Round 1?
Probably Under 15’s and 17’s – we don’t have those two teams. But we’d take any new kids to the club to be honest! Under 9’s could do with a few more I suppose, and Under 11’s and 13’s. All age groups could do with a top up.
If any players are interested in playing for Coldstream Junior Football Club this season, what do they have to do?
Probably contact myself on 0418 540 965. Also if you type in www.coldstreamjfc.org.au, we’re actually in the process of setting that one up. It is up and running now and we’ll have a lot more information on it very shortly. This new one is just a bit more user-friendly and better presented.