Season Review 2010

Saturday, 22 January 2011 19:29

Well it's been a long but fantastic season for BMAFC so I thought I would wrap up the year for all to read as there have been some great achievements.

For a lot of us the season doesn't really end, as there is plenty of planning in the off season to be done as well, so to my committee, Susan Dower, Justin Irvine, Ian Wilson, Henri Habraken, Maylene Featherstone, Mark Bignell, Tim Alderdice & Murray Dalton, thank you all very much for you hard work and valuable input into this club.

To Nikki Ferigo and the staff at Te Puru, thanks very much for your efforts over the season, Te Puru's Grounds this season have been fantastic and will be one of the best grounds in Auckland.

Registrations and grading were held at the end of February to help give coaches parents and kids an idea of what level they would be playing at, this process is to insure the child enjoys their football and participates and is not just a bystander watching other players run around them, to have a feeling of belonging to something which is not only beneficial to their health and well being but learning about participating in a team sport.

Some teams enjoyed more success than others this season for what ever reason, as parents and coaches we mustn't let the kids get to down on it, last season we had a couple of junior teams that really struggled and were losing by 5 or more goals every week, but this season one of them especially had excellent results finishing (Stormers).

Mini League which is an in-house competition had its biggest membership with 8 teams with an average of 8 players per team; this is fantastic for the future of our club! We would be expecting similar numbers next season even though close to 20 of these kids will be venturing into big wide world of 7th grade.

The Mini League had a new trophy to play for this year, Mark & Maylene Featherstone kindly donated a trophy so each year the new champions will forever be etched in the clubs history, and the inaugural winner was The Warriors coached by Gus Brown.

From the Mini League Gus's wife Karen Brown entered an all girls team, called the Dolphins, into a 7th Grade Tournament held at Three Kings. Much to there surprise they ended up winning it! This was fantastic as this was the first time the girls had played together as a team, infact the team was only put together a few weeks prior from the older girls in the Mini League, hopefully this is start for the them, and hopefully the can follow in the footsteps of Janine Ross's Orcas, another all girls team battling it out with the boys, and with some success I might add.

We have also had quite a few members participating in the WYNRS programme, which is a soccer academy / school set up by Wynton Rufer, New Zealand's own "Oceania Player of the Century". We have been lucky enough to secure a programme which has been held at Te Puru for the 4th Term, we are running this for 9th -12th grade this term, and are finalising details to open this up to a bigger age group for Term 1 2011.

I am very confident this will be a huge hit not only because it is available to more children, but for parents, the ease of not having to spend up to 2 hours travelling into the city for this kind of quality coaching. We are looking at expanding this so other kids from clubs in the surrounding area can come to our club to avoid the travel as well, this will also put BMAFC on the map in football terms, as for some time now our best young players have had to move to bigger clubs too further their potential, some are travelling to Onehunga and Papakura, the time has come for BMAFC to stop being a feeder club! Its time we started to develop our potential locally, keep you eye on the website for further details.

The Varying Degrees of Success

Every team no doubt had its own success's this season. While some achieved better results than others, please remember that success isn't just about winning the division, success can also be measured on bettering previous years positions or just playing beyond their potential.

The 9th Grade Wildcats won the Counties Manukau Division 1 unbeaten, the team coached by Mark Stockton for the last 3 years has now won there Division twice - a team with great potential. Taylor Stockton and Sean Kiteley played in the same WYNRS team, reaching the final for their age group at a national tournament.

The 10th Grade Dragons were put in the Premier Division for grading and some how managed to stay there for the championship round, and although they finished down the table they never gave up, and even pulled of some fantastic results.

The 10th Grade Stormers last season struggled at the bottom of the table, this season they finished 5th. A marvellous result and just shows the perseverance does pay off. Well done to Dennis Fillet and Paul Saggers for keeping the kids heads up.

Dean Cruise's 11th Grade Sharks also had a great season finishing 2nd. Well done to Dean and his troops as this was Deans first year in coaching.

The 12th Grade Warriors coached by Pete Jones did extremely well. Instead of opting to stay in Division 1 they played in the higher Premier Division and battled it out with the so called big clubs. They finished mid-table and upset a few big clubs along the way. The Warriors had 2 players playing up an age group as well as 2 girls playing in the side - this is not meant to be derogatory to the girls, it is that BMAFC was the only Premier team in the 12th grade to have girls in their side. Also from this side Billy Jones and Amber Sherwood made the U12's AFF development team.

Our 14th Grade Team coached by Callum Wilson and Tim Bateman won Division 2 with a game to spare. This again was a fantastic result as it was a new team made up of the two 13th Grade teams from the 2009 season. It is never easy trying to gel a new squad together and to win the division at the first attempt is a credit to them all.

Senior Football

Our Ladies Team this year won the House of Travel Division 3 - this was a good season for the ladies as they came up from Division 4 as runners up. The title went down to the last game of the season, a thrilling end to a great season!

This year also saw a first for the club as its first ever "1st Team" was created. This was a combination of senior club stalwarts plus Henri and Murray's young-guns that they had taken through the junior age groups. All of these boys played in AFF Div 5 in 2009, so to jump up to AFF Div 1 was a big step! One which was taken in its stride as the boys took to the task with vigour, determination and skill; they finished runners up, not a bad effort for a new team.

The 1st Team also progressed one further stage in the Counties Manukau Cup this season by making to the final which we had the pleasure of hosting and showcasing our great facilities. Unfortunately they lost a thrilling match 3-2, it was a great game for the neutrals with plenty of scoring opportunities. It also saw a record crowd of local support on a cold and windy day.

Team Awards

Awards this season went to the following:
POY = Player of the Year, MI = Most Improved, SY = Sportsperson of the year, GB = Golden Boot / Top Goal Scorer.

Mini League – Warriors POY Aston Bailey MI Jessica Brown, Little Chiefs POY Aiden Purkiss MI Cory Bradshaw, Little Whites POY Leeland Perfect MI Mathew O'Neill, Tiger Sharks POY Conner Dower MI Conner Hatch, Rock Monsters POY Mason Chadfield MI Aaron Jackson, Eagles POY Sofie Keane MI Katie Swineheart, Allmites POY Nathan Marshall MI Briana Corkill, Giants POY Harvey Wilcock MI Lachlan Castles;

Junior & Youth Grades - 7th Grade Junior Phoenix POY Riley Hamilton MI Logan Campbell;

7th Grade Hurricanes POY Dylan Roxburgh MI Hannah Clark, 8th Grade Coasters POY Samuel Williams, Hamish Robinson, 8th Grade Pirates POY Alexander Chadfield MI Amber Tuck, 9th Grade Phoenix POY Taylor Stockton MI Alex Sharman, 9th Grade Phoenix POY Taylan Boyle MI Jared Bawden, 9th Grade Panthers POY Kingsley Wills MI Sonali Keshuara, 10th Grade Dragons POY Brook Robinson MI Jarred Hamilton, 10th Grade Orcas POY Danielle Grimmer MI Laura Mattson, 10th Grade Stormers POY Finn Sainty MI Jakob Hura, 11th Grade Allwhites POY Lucy Barrett MI Alec Horay, 11th Grade Sharks POY Elijah Tarling MI Jack Cupples, 12th Grade Warriors POY Billy Jones MI Callum Jones SY George Cartledge, 12th Grade Blue Thunder POY Ben Tarling MI Jasmine Lancaster-Tasell SY Samantha Turner, 14th Grade POY Aaron Parry MI Levi Habraken SY Caid Szopa,

Seniors – Womens POY Janine Ross MI Ruth Nixon SY Jenny De Jong, Over 35's POY Martin Brock MI Boyd Curruthers SY Ian Wilson, Reserves POY Shane Gardner MI Leon Clamp SY Kevin Walker GB Shane Gardner, 1st Team POY Bryce Henney Players Player of the year Anthony Schomaker SY Shane Dalton GB Anthony Schomaker

Club Awards

Life Member – Mark Bignell
5 Year pins – Kevin Walker, Ian McKenzie, Pete Jones, Billy Jones, Sam Jones
10 Year Pins –
15 Year Medals – Justin Irvine and James Gibbs
Pete Wilson Trophy – for the supporter who works beyond the call of duty went to Murray Dalton
Coach of the Year - Pete Jones, 12th Grade Warriors
The Mark Bignell Trophy For passion commitment and perseverance - Ian (Pom) Wilson
Senior Sportsperson of the year - Shane Gardner
Senior Team of the Year – Women's Team

Battle of the Bridge

Last season we held the inaugural "Battle of the Bridge", mirroring a format which has been and integral part of Beachlands Rugby's history for many years. It is a "State of Origin" style match between Beachlands and Maraetai. And this year's event was just as successful as the last! Beachlands Primary took the honours this year, 3 games to 2 . Beachlands will hold the Shield until bragging rights are fought for again at the end of next season.

The senior battle was a closer fought game this year, even with some dubious referring decisions; the shield went to Beachlands for the 2nd year running as they closed the game out 3-1.

Thank you's

As President I would like to say a big thank you to all sponsors who supported the teams this season, in difficult financial times your support is greatly appreciated – Lighthouse Real Estate, The Jolly Roger Pub, Beachlands Hammer Hardware, Meet to Please, Beachlands Liquor Centre, Barefoot & Thompson, Deck Creation, Juno Exports and Bodyzone Physiotherapy.

I would also like to thank the committee for their efforts in putting together a fantastic Prize giving night, and to all the members and local business's that supplied items for the Auction, a special thanks to Ryan (DJ Ryeski) Williams for offering his DJ services as the main auction item. The last item people were bidding for was an empty beer bottle - Ryan's fee for an all night event is $800 so this kind of gesture is greatly appreciated!

I hope you all enjoy your summer I look forward to seeing you back here for the 2011 season.

Brian Preston
Club President