Hello,

Let me introduce myself – My name is <name> and I am the Program Manager for the boys & girls at <club> this year which is one of many volunteer roles at the club. Some of you may know me, as I’ve been a regular volunteer at the club for the last <n> years , and a <coach / parent > of a <son / daughter> who play at the club. Last year I was the <role at club>. If you don’t know me please say hello as I’m usually floating around <days location> for preseason training.

For those new to the <club> – welcome. For those returning, welcome back. I’ve had a few questions about preseason already, so thought I’d quickly try and clarify a few things.

Preseason is always a testing time, as we cope with limited time and space to host preseason sessions and try to get a grading and coaching team together (who again are largely volunteers). If you feel you help us with either the grading process, become part of the coaching team or help in any other way (team manager/committee member) then please get back as we would love to get you on board. Once the council gives us the grounds in full in late March (or sooner we hope!) and the grading and coaching team has been done and dusted, things will start to run smoothly.

In terms of the logistics of setting up the season, each year we don’t know how many kids we will have until they register (so please register asap) – Not knowing how many kids we will have means we don’t know how many teams we will have. We obviously need coaches for the teams but don’t know how many of them we need until we know how many kids we have and so we end up with a huge logistical headache. The later it gets with kids registering the fewer teams we can register and it becomes harder to accommodate late registrations. At some point we close registrations for each team. After this, but players wanting to join and have to go on waiting list. Register early to avoid this happening to your child.

To help deal with this logistical problem, we make a numbers guesstimate based on last year and then see how close our guess is when registrations start. We lose a few kids to NPL clubs each year but this is at an all-time low this year, and actually have a record number of NPL kids coming to us this year for a variety of reasons.

With this guesstimate we also set up our preseason by getting a coaches group in place. At this early stage some of this group will be coaches, some will be thinking about it, and other are just happy to help out.

The grading process will take place very early in preseason and will run as follows <Briefly explain the Grading process and direct parents to club policy document >

As soon as we have finalised the grading we will announce teams, grades and coaches and will very quickly need to submit the number of teams (and grade) we are intending to field to Football Federation Victoria (FFV). We then wait and see what the FFV offers us. Usually the grade is based on the previous season results. As a club we do try to be very realistic with what grade / division we feel a team should play in – some clubs don’t follow this philosophy and often play down a level to win most games. If you finish top of your ladder the FFV will usually promote you the next year and similarly if you end up at the wrong end of the table, although officially there is no promotion / relegation. When the season starts we have the opportunity to regrade after Round 3, if we find a team is too good or struggling with the grade there are playing in.

As a final note, some A grade teams this year may have a coaching levy of <$> if there are additional coaching costs (an external paid coach or an extra session). Whther this will apply to you will be communicated to you when the teams are announced to the relevant people.

All the clubs Policies can found at this <Link> and these dont naswer all your questions then please get back to.

Regards

 

<Program Manager>