Three years ago our college ventured into the competitive world of State League Futsal. With so many players at our college who show a passion for football, there is just as much interest in the indoor version of our beautiful game.
In our first two years of competition Andre Gumprecht coached all of our boys’ teams and also played for the Open Men’s team. Joey Peters led the girls program in the first year, coaching all the girls’ teams and playing in the Open Women’s. Our first year as a new club in what was a very strong competition taught our kids a lot about travelling to distant venues and being prepared for a fast and furious game.
In our second year of competition, Andrew Peachey started his management of the futsal club which helped the organisation become more focused on the task of seeking promotion. By the end of the second year our club grew stronger, with five teams making it into the finals series. Our 17s girls won the competition and took the grand final medal.
The momentum has been steadily building and each age group has been showing their improvement in the game week by week. This year, we finished with three premiership winners in the girls competition, 13s, 15s and 17s. The Open Women’s just missed 1st place when they lost their last round match. We saw two boys’ teams in the finals and four girls’ teams have now made it through to the grand final on Saturday 18th February.
I had the pleasure of coaching the 15s girls who finished the season winning every game with only the grand final to go for a perfect record. I was also given the opportunity to coach the Youth Men and Open Men’s teams. The Youth Men was made up of some of our best senior IFS students, some of whom have been playing futsal for the college since the first year of the college’s existence. Our Open Men’s team was a combination of IFS Youth players alongside Andrew Peachey, Tim Witchard, Joey Arena, Jarrod Penfold and a mix of external senior players who joined our ranks. We had a steady learning curve this season with both teams but the strengths we encountered in the opposition clubs kept us at bay too often for us to be a force in the competition.
During the short three year history of the IFS State League Futsal Club our junior teams have improved out of sight to push the club close to promotion. With the efforts of Paul Chapman who captured almost all games on video for the team coaches to utilise on training day as a coaching tool, our club is working at new levels of dedication that will one day see the club reach the lofty heights of the F-League.
Well done to all the coaches and players for an excellent season. It has been a very enjoyable journey during the last three years and I have no doubt we will continue to raise the bar higher next season.
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