Wantirna South Junior Football Club president Kevin Van Grondelle spoke to EFL Media ahead of the 2018 season, all thanks to Yarra Valley Water and Choose Tap.
Overall, were you satisfied with what the club achieved, both on and off the field, in 2017?
Kevin Van Grondelle: Absolutely, for a start approximately 350 children were playing and learning about football. We had four of six teams compete in finals, with three grand finallists and two premiers including our successful merged team with Waverley Blues.
Our under-8s had record numbers fielding three teams, our Auskick coordinator won the Eastern Region Coordinator of the Year award and all achieved whilst we were off our main oval and facility.
We set out a five-year strategy and vision and to achieve so much in only year two and then be awarded EFL’s Best Conducted Junior Club, sums up how good the year was.
Approximately how many teams do you think you will field in 2018?
KV: 14 teams (under-8s to under-17s) including our first all-girls team in under-12s and our hugely successful Auskick program will run again on Friday nights.
What has the feeling been like around the club over the pre-season?
KV: Busy but excited. There has been lots of preparation at Templeton, with the new electronic scoreboard facility, club-room upgrades and the completion of the oval resurfacing.
We have a number of new and returning sponsors which is provides us great support to implement the range of programs we have planned. On field we’ve had a number of new recruits join us across all age groups with the comp teams have been working on their fitness and skills and our non-comps are now ramping up for a great season in what is our 35th year.
If you had to pick one, which team do you think is the club’s best chance of winning a premiership this season?
KV: Hard to say, as teams have changed grades based on last year’s successes. Our focus is on constant improvement over a period of time not just one year, but potentially our under-11s who have a well-balanced team and coaching staff or our under-17s who are a close-knit group and play for each other could surprise but the competition will be tough.
Is there a particular age group of players that you need as soon as possible to fill a team ahead of Round 1?
KV: Our under-10s, under-12 girls and under-14s have some spots available, which would round out those teams nicely.
If any players are interested in playing for Wantirna South this season, what do they have to do?
KV: Email us at enquiries@wsjfc.org.au or registrations@wsjfc.org.au plus they can go to our website for further information www.wsjfc.org.au