Having a ball in Eurobodalla
The Football NSW Southern Regional Roadshow continued its magic run on Wednesday when the coaching trio of Oscar Gonzalez, Renee Rollason and Servet Uzunlar arrived in Moruya, home of the Eurobodalla Football Association after travelling several hours from Nowra.
Gundary Oval was the scene where a special AIA Vitality MiniRoos session was hosted.
What happened after was something that all three coaches would never forget.
“Once word got around the place that two ex-Matildas were in town, almost 100 players turned up to be part of something special, namely the football festivities – this certainly caught us all off guard but we were all extremely overwhelmed.
“Each player worked on individual ball skills and combination play and I could safely say that they thoroughly enjoyed this, many smiles were definitely evident,” Gonzalez stated to Football NSW.
Eurobodalla Football Association Secretary Sue Kinsley was appreciative of the hard work and efforts all three coaches put together in making these seminars such a success.
“This was a fantastic opportunity for our kids to experience coaching at its very best and of course the highest level.
“I wasn’t quite sure if we were going to get 3 or 300 kids but to have seen almost 100 attend was amazing.
“We were all over the moon with the unbelievable turn-out and we all knew that each player took with them skill sets and memories that will last them for a while.”
Rollason, who worked with the local female footballers, believed coaching visits and seminars such as these would certainly benefit the area’s push for finding future Matildas stars.
“It was great to have had such a good mix of players from the Southern Branch and former NSW Country players aged 11 to 17.
“This really gave all girls an opportunity to strive for their personal best – I saw a number of talented players on display so I am confident this won’t be the last we hear or see of some of these girls.”
Rollason took the opportunity to chat to all the girls about her story.
Born and bred in Bega, the former Australian international and Westfield W-League star discussed what it was like to train hard, travel and play in boys teams before her success came into fruition.
Coinciding with the event, Gonzalez staged sessions for coaches on how better to engage players by utilising various teaching principles such as key learnings using the CHANGE IT philosophy.
As many as 16 players provided great contributions to the sessions under the watchful eye of the many student coaches on site.
Local coach Phil Lush was impressed with what the seminar provided to all budding coaches.
“I used the coaching session sent to me this week by Football NSW last night and my players really rated it.
“The session plan really makes my life easier each week and gives me a great basis from where to start from and saves me a lot of time.”
Following on with the session, Gonzalez worked on a session for 15 local coaches who coached girls, women and mixed teams pushing the theme that football really is an inclusive sport for all to enjoy.
In what was a magnificent day spent, the Football NSW team jumped back on the road and drove to Merimbula to prepare for Thursday’s session with 300 students scheduled from the Merimbula Public School followed by a AIA Vitality MiniRoos session and a Grassroots Coaching Certificate Expo
