January 2022: Coaching News
WELCOME TO SEASON 2022
By Paul Grundy, Coaching Director
Welcome to the first edition of the LFC Coaching News!
2022 has arrived and we are very excited for another season of football - hopefully with no Covid interruptions!!!
We aim to make this a monthly update of all activities happening across the LFC coaching team. There should be something of interest for everybody within our Junior ranks, as last year, we provided LFC coaching to 90% of all our Junior teams - from U6 Super Skills to our Boys and Girls18s
We have been busy in the offseason with new plans to expand our Welcome to Football mornings - look out for more information on the “Back to Football” sessions as well as a revamped Super Skills program.
Welcome to Marcus Swift - our new Head of Diamond League
After a number of years overseeing our Diamond League program, Graham Nes has decided to take a step back this year. Graham will still be around, coaching our G16As and WAA PLA team but these commitments along with a wedding to organise, Graham has decided that this was enough on his plate to he is handing over the leadership of the DL program to Marcus Swift. Graham leaves the program in excellent shape with both the number of girls participating and the results on the field improving every year.
Thanks once again Graham, and welcome to Marcus. We can't wait to see how you the take program forward...
Welcome to Craig Pearce - our new Head of Super League
To enable us to continue building on our work in developing excellent coaches at Lindfield in the longer term, Tom Greeley is making coach development in the Super League and Dev team space his main focus this year. This is a continuation of the significant contribution to coaching, the club and our culture that Tom has made over many years – since he was four, in fact!
As a result of this, Craig Pearce is moving into the Head of Super League role. He is the go-to person for any SL-related queries, and will support Tom in coach development. Craig is a football tragic (he supports Arsenal, which he admits is tragic in itself) who obsesses over tactics and is dedicated to continually improving team and club culture. He has been coaching with Lindfield since 2015. We welcome Craig into his new role and look forward to seeing what his inspiration and dedication bring.
Craig Pearce SL Head Coach Marcus Swift DL Head Coach
SL and DL Training Allocation for the first week of training
Due to the Bathurst and Proctor Cups being held earlier this year, we need to start training earlier that usual for participating teams. This, combined with the need to accommodate Australia Day and the fact that we do not have access to Charles Bean until Monday 7th Feb, the training allocation for SL and DL teams will change from week to week for the first 2/3 weeks of training for most teams.
To help, I have outlined the allocations and start dates for the first week and some additional comments
For subsequent weeks training details, please check the schedule for your team in Team Grader.
How To Check your schedule in TG
Managers & Players
1) Select the following Link - List Teams
2) Click on the button “View Teams” for your age group
3) Click on the button “View Preseason and Training Schedule”
This link lists all training allocations (for the whole season) and any schedule preseason friendlies.
Age Coordinators:
As per managers or within Team Grader as follows:
1) Login to Team Grader
2) Select Age groups and go to the list of teams
3) On the Web version - select the team and select the “Schedule" tab
4) On the IOS version, select the “View Ground Allocation” link
Coaches:
As per Managers and AC’s or within Team Grader as follows
1) Login to Team Grader
2) On the web version - scroll down and select the "My Shifts” tab
3) On IOS, select the “My Details” icon at the Botton go the screen and then select the “My Shifts” link
Development Squad Trials & Back to Football Days
We have been advised by NSFA that we can go ahead and hold our February ”Back to Football” sessions and Trials for each age group. These fun sessions bring the players back together for some skills and game play to assist us in forming teams and grading them into a suitable division within the NSFA competition. It is also a chance to welcome new players, meet some coaches and Age Coordinators and get your questions answered. Confirmed Dates are available on Team Grader.
G10 - G18 and U12 - U18
We ran a very successful series of trials in November for our SAP, DL and SL squads, G10-13 Development Squads and our U13-U18 Development squads. From these trials, we were able to select our teams for the 2022 season.
There are a number of spots available in some of these teams. We encourage players who wish to be considered for these remaining spots to please check Team Grader for planned Trial dates and our “Back to Football” mornings. More information will follow once we have some certainty around the current Covid situation.
Following these sessions, players may be offered a spot in a team or be invited to train with the team so that the coaches can make a final decision.
U6-U12 and G8/G9 Development Trials
Covid permitting, we plan to run trials for our U6-U12 and G8/G9 development squads during February.
For players wishing to try out for these squads, we encourage them to attend both the “Back to Football” session as well as the development squad trial. More information will follow once we have some certainty around the current Covid situation.
Bathurst and Covid Update
At this point, we have received no notification from FNSW regarding any changes to the
Bathurst Cup Mixed Comp on Feb5/6 or
Proctor Park Challenge Girls comp on Feb 12//23.
During January we will monitor the situation and pass on any messages regarding the competitions to the team managers.
The teams have all been entered and registration fees paid.
As a club, we are obviously keen for the teams to participate if it’s sensible to do so. If you have any questions or concerns, please raise these with you team manager in the first instance so we can gauge the feeling amongst the parent group. We will also be reviewing what, if any, Sat night club events are organised.
Currently early training for teams participating at Bathurst will be going ahead as planned. We will send a reminder regarding COVID safe training protocols in the coming weeks.
