Blackburn Junior Football Club president Peter Parker spoke to EFL.org.au ahead of the 2018 season, all thanks to Yarra Valley Water & Choose Tap.
Overall, were you satisfied with what the club achieved, both on and off the field, in 2017?
Peter Parker: In 2017 on the field Blackburn Juniors had another solid year. The entry of our girls teams into the Eastern Region competition yielded two premierships and three grand finals. Our boys teams were all competitive with our highest quality crop of juniors ever at Blackburn coming through our top age under-17s.
Off the field Blackburn Juniors are a community focussed club and we run with over 20 volunteers on our junior committee all pitching in and doing an enormous job to field our 23 teams.
In addition, we contribute greatly to Relay For Life, fighting cancer and Pink Day, fighting breast cancer. Relay for Life involves our people walking for this charity around an oval in Hawthorn on a weekend in March and Pink Day involved all our teams wearing Pink socks and/or arm bands. The generosity and spirit of our community is there for everyone to see with these fundraisers.
Our relationship with the senior club is second to none in the EFL with a jumper presentation day that involves the whole club in March and regular meetings and catch-ups regarding every area of the operations during the year. These meetings take time and effort with the major issues surrounding each area of the club totally different but through much collaboration, give and take we make it work smoothly.
Approximately how many teams do you think you will field in 2018?
PP: 23.
What has the feeling been like around the club over the pre-season?
PP: Excellent. Our executive and general committee are diligently bringing all the pieces of the jigsaw together to get our teams ready for Round 1. With a junior football club the size of Blackburn enormous preparation goes into the season ahead.
This momentum now builds into excitement as our young men and women begin in earnest their pre-season training. Our intent is always to create the one club player who will have fun first and develop their skills to the highest ability. Priority is given to creating a fantastic team environment where the self-esteem of the child is built and the success of the team is nurtured on the fundamentals of a very positive environment.
On the boys side we are actively retaining and recruiting new talent as families hear of the culture of BJFC. The senior club plays a critical part in inspiring and working with our Juniors with all Senior players having an understanding that they will align with a junior’s side and work intermittently with them.
Girls football continues to excite with the girls programmes excelling with their development fast tracked to further grand final success on the back of under-16 and 18 premierships in 2017. Most exciting development is the formation of our senior women’s side coached by the wonderful Leeann Gill which is being managed by the junior football club in its first year.
The junior club has been incredibly active appointing 23 excellent coaches and putting together professional development for them over the season. The Junior High Performance Academy is coming to fruition with Luc Matthews, Dylan Vezzari and Max Otten running elite programmes for those children that are keen to pursue. The Blackburn model of getting the very best performance out of our athletes sees many go onto TAC competition with potential for further success at AFL level. It also runs the greatest chance of success on the track generating finals and grand final success which naturally is our ultimate aim.
Culture is king for us. The welfare of our children is our priority, football providing the template on producing a better person who can develop as far as they desire in a positive enriching environment where all the family is encouraged to participate.
If you had to pick one, which team do you think is the club’s best chance of winning a premiership this season?
PP: Our newly formed under-13 blacks are working into premiership form after just missing out on premiership glory after bowing out in last year’s under-12 preliminary. With a second year under coach David Gluyas and strong numbers we feel they can go all the way
Is there a particular age group of players that you need as soon as possible to fill a team ahead of Round 1?
PP: Under-12 and under-15 boys to create squads for two sides at each level.
If any players are interested in playing for your club this season, what do they have to do?
PP: They can have a good look at our fantastic website www.blackburnfc.com.au and email us.
Here they also register online and as new players they will need to scan in their birth certificate
More than anything we would love a chance to chat to our new recruits and their parents so they feel comfortable and confident to invest in what this club will give their family.
Please contact Peter Parker BJFC President 0402112069 who can direct them the right way.
