Macquarie Dragons Football Club

Season 2015

Important

Registration & Pre-Season Information

“Sportsmanship

Fairness & Respect”

Contents

Page

Welcome to Season 20153

“Respect”3

GHFA/NWSWF Code of Conduct3

Important Dates5

Key Contacts5

GHFA Season 5

Training6

Grading – U9& Above6

Pre Season Trials7

Registration Process 7

Mini’s Pre-Season& Small Side Games7

Development Program8

Player Insurance8

Team Uniform 8

Coaching & Referee Courses9

Wet Weather9

Coaches & Managers Requirements9

Fundraising/Canteen11

All Age Players12

Dressing Waterloo12

Players Code of Conduct12

2015 Dragons Committee14

Welcome to Season 2015

Online Registrations will be available from 1st Jan 2015 via the club website . ALL players new & old will be required to register viaFFA. A link will be placed on the Club website to do this. To register you must follow the online instructions & processes to complete your 2015 registration correctly.

A gentle reminder that the Clubcommittee are all volunteers, who like you have work and family commitments in addition to their role in the running of Macquarie Dragons. The start of the season is a particularly frantic time for them as they try to fulfill all obligations. They are also handicapped by external factors beyond their control, such as ground availability, weather and late registrations by players. Many phone calls are made in order to put things into place, and all this requires time and patience whilst waiting for replies.

As a community Club driven by volunteersour expectation is that all member families will participate in canteen& fundraising activities during the season. If you have any concerns, please feel free to contact any of the committee. If you see an area that needs to be addressed, you might like to offer your services along with suggestions…and anyall help is gratefully accepted!

“Respect”

This word you will see and hear a lot around the traps,as unsportingbehaviour across all age gradeswill not be tolerated. Racial slurs, sledging, swearing, fighting, verbal abuse of players, supporters &match officials etc will ceaseand the Macquarie Dragons FootballClub that has for many years prided itself on the motto of “The Family Friendly Club” will strictly enforce this code of RESPECT.

Please be aware that as a player, parent or supporter if you act in any way that brings your team or the Club into disrepute then your membership/association with the Club will be terminated immediately.

GLADESVILLEHORNSBY FOOTBALL ASSOC.- NORTH WEST SYDNEY WOMENS FOOTBALL - CODE OF CONDUCT

Winning at any sport is a part of sporting tradition but this is not as important as the “spirit of the game”.

Referees, Assistant Referees and Other Match Officials

Abuse of referees and assistant referees will not be tolerated in any form.

Abuse includes derogatory comments about the match official’s performance or ability, repeated or vocal criticism or challenging of the

match official or their decisions, and any form of insulting, offensive, aggressive or intimidating behaviour or language directed at a match official. Abuse of referees, assistant referees, players, coaches, managers, parents or spectators etc may result in penalties against the individual, team or Club concerned. Those penalties include fines, loss of competition points and suspension.

Coaches and Managers Code of Behaviour

  • Be reasonable in your demands on young players
  • Players play for fun and enjoyment. Don’t ridicule mistakes
  • Teach players that the rules of sport should be followed, not broken
  • Develop team respect for opponents and officials from both

teams

Parents and Spectators Code of Behaviour

  • Encourage players and accept results without disappointment
  • Never ridicule or yell at a player for making mistakes or losing the game
  • Players are involved for their enjoyment, not for their parents or spectators
  • Volunteers deserve your respect and consideration
  • Eliminate verbal and physical abuse from all sporting activities

Players Code of Behaviour

  • Respect officials
  • Abuse of opponents or officials is not allowed in any sport
  • Treat all players the way you would like to be treated yourself
  • Play for the “fun of it” and not just to please parents, spectators and coaches
  • Respect the rights, dignity and worth of all players, coaches and

officials

  • Accept defeat with dignity and don’t seek excuses for defeat or blame the referee or anyone else

Please note that in signing the player registration form you agree to abide by the above code of conduct.

Important Dates

Registration DaysOnline from 1stJanuary 2015.

In person at St Anthony’s & Eastwood Heights,

After school on Friday 30th Jan & 6th Feb3-5pm,

St Anthony’s Sunday 1stFeb 10-3pm

Grading Days16th22ndFebruary

Mini’s pre-season 8th, 15th(22ndGala Day) March at Fontenoy

Junior/Senior Trials22nd, 28th & 29thMarch

Season Starts 11th April for u11+ & 18th April for u6-u10

Presentation DaysClub 13th September All Age 6th September

Key Contacts

Pre-season queries can be directed to the following Club committee or the Club website if this booklet does not answer your questions:-

Frank MarchiPresident0449 777987

Kathy MilevskiVice Pesident0415 736 506

SherifYazbeckRegistrar0413 049 492

Matt Della VedovaTreasurer0407 913 207

Mitch TraceyAll Age Convenor0411 285 485

Lars HerngrenMini Convenor0448 469 382

GHFA Season

The GHFA season will commence on Saturday 11th April and end approximately mid/end August. Generally there are 14 matches in the season and for the U10’s and above this will be followed by up to 3 finals or Pennant play off matches, and a Grand Final for those successful teams. All games are played within the Gladesville Hornsby Association district - you can expect that approx half your games will be at your home ground:

Fontenoy Park, Fontenoy Rd, North RydeUnder 6, 7 & 8 & 9’s

Tuckwell Park, Fontenoy Rd. North RydeUnder 10 & 11

Waterloo Park, Waterloo Rd, MarsfieldUnder 12 to All Age

NWSWF Season

The North West Sydney Womens Football competition will commence on 12th April. The matches will be played predominately at Morrison Park & Meadowbank Parks. On the 26th April as a one off all of the women’s matches will be played at Waterloo Park as part of the Dragons promotion & success of womens football.

All players will be provided with the draw when available and all the ground details.

Training

We are pleased to announce the completion of our home ground Waterloo Park. Thelights are now complete so we can use the ground for night training. Our other training grounds (subject to council availability) areMarsfield ParkMeadowbank Park either Wednesday & or Thursday evenings.

Co-Op training for all U6,7,8,910 is at Waterloo Park on Tuesday evenings.This should commence mid-end March. An experienced Co-Op head coach will be taking the players through the training stations with all parent coaches attending.

Please note: Grounds for training may vary with GHFA/Council availability.

*Fees for all U6-U10 players include weekly co-operative training with High Level Coaches.

Under 6’s & 7’s will train from 4-5pm and Under 8’s,U9’sU10’sfrom 5-6pm at Waterloo Park on Tuesdayevenings. For all other Age Grades/Teams you will be notified by your Team Manager or Coach when and where your training session will be.

Football boots are not permitted in March for training as per the Association & Councils regulations. All players MUST train in joggers or turf shoes.

Specialised Goalkeeper training

We are very fortunate to have one of our own long time Dragons whom now plays in the All Age Div1 comp, JoshuaMilevski, available to coach the u8-u16 players goalkeeper training. For all those players who are keen to learn basic skills & techniques to becoming a goalkeeper these weekly sessions are run from 4-4:45pm for the u8-u11 & 4:45-5:30pm for the u12-u16 at Waterloo Park on Tuesday’s. If you are interested please let your manager know so we can slot you in.

Grading - Junior Teams U9Above

Grading will only take place if there are a sufficient number of registered players in an age grade to form 2 or more teams. Players will be graded on skill level by the experienced grading committee within the Club so that the team/division nominations forwarded to the GHFA will have players of a similar skill band.

Once again we are looking for junior players who want to compete in the higher divisions of each age grade i.e. Division 1 and 2. These teams will be focused primarily on ability and performance and if you or your friends are looking to play at this level, please let us know.

Grading for these teams will be competitive.Grading days will be held at Waterloo Park on Monday evening 16thSunday 22ndFebruary (time TBA). Please refer to the Club’s grading policy available on the website for further information on the process. Football boots are permitted for all gradings.

For the girls/womens teams who play under NWSWF, the club will nominate for the appropriate age/division in consultation with the coach & manager.

Pre-Season Trials

Pre-season trial games are yet to be finalised but it is expected that they will be held on 22nd, 28th & 29th March at both FontenoyTuckwellParks. You will be advised by your Team Manager or Coach if your team is scheduled for a trial game closer to these dates. Football boots are permitted for all trials.

Registration Process - Photo’s, IDetc

All Clubs in the GHFA & NWSWF competition areusing the new computerised FFA registration system. All new & existing Dragons players MUST follow the links from our website to complete the registration process via the FFA link. As part of this process you must upload a current photo to complete the registration correctly. If you do not upload an appropriate passport style photo your registration will not be complete & no player ID card will be issued.

Please note Student rates now apply online.

If you have no access to theinternet you must present yourself at one of the registration days so that a Dragons representative can register you online. Remember to bring some form of ID, license, passport or birth certificate.

Our club has a strict “NO REFUND POLICY” after registering & payment has been received. If a refund is necessary due to pre-season injury it must be put in writing with relevant documentation to the Club Secretary & your request will be discussed & determined by the committee. Each request will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

Mini’s Pre-Season &Small Sided Games

For all players U6-U9 you will need to attend the pre-season days on Sunday’s 8th, 15th & 22ndMarch to meet your team, participate in a fun Football round robin and grab a bite to eat from the Sausage Sizzle stand on the 22ndat the Gala Day. The success of the SSG format in 2014 for U6-U10 will see this continue to also include U10 in 2015.

Development Program

After a very successful 2014 Co-operative Program this will continue in its current form with two timeslots catering to U6-U10 players.

We will also introducing an academy style coaching plan for all our junior teams, U11 and above.

JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (JDP)

This weekly one hour program is aimed at the beginner to intermediate player from U9-U16. The program is geared towards providing players with a second training session each week. A professional coach will ensure the fundamentals of the players techniques are developed throughout the season. This program is also catered to the Junior Coaches who want to develop their coaching ability.

HIGH LEVEL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (HLDP)

Similar to the JDP, this weekly one hour session has benefits for both players and coaches. Aimed at the Division 1 & 2 teams at the club, a high level football coach takes these players to the next level. The HLDP is not aimed to replace the team training session but more to compliment their normal training with more of an individual-focused session to refine each players technique and tactical awareness.

Cost, Venue & Days TBA on both JDP & HLDP

Player Insurance

All paid player membership includes accident insurance cover from Football NSW Limited for all injuries caused by active participation in officially organised games, training sessions, training camps, clinics etc.

GHFA & NWSWF have re-classified insurance for all players as:

Junior – up to Under 18’s

Senior – U19 and above

Registration fees for 2015at allGHFA & NWSWF Clubs will reflect this change in player classification.

Team Uniform/Attire

Each season the club provides a jersey to each player which is on loan for the season and must be returned at presentation day by your manager in the team kit bag provided. Our club strip consists of club jersey, black club shorts or plain black shorts & matching Dragons socks. Black shorts are readily available from Rebel if you don’t have the Dragons logo shorts. Every player can purchase club socks at registration day or from the canteen on any Sunday during March & Saturday during the season. For every players safety, shin pads and approved Football boots must be worn at all games and training sessions.

A box of second hand boots are always available at both canteens.

Club drink bottle, & new club cap are provided for free to ALL U6 new Dragons registrations at the first minis day on 8th March.

CoachingReferee Courses

FFA recommends that All Junior coaches from Grassroots through to U18 attend a Football coaching course to learn and understand the new coaching curriculum and how to implement it to players of all levels. AFootball refereeing course is available to all players from U14 and above, the Club will pay for your attendance costs, please let us know ASAP.

Course dates are listed on the referee website

Courses commence on 14th February. Please check this website for more information.

Wet Weather

Never assume that any game or training has been called off due to wet weather. The game or training is ALWAYS on unless called off by:

  • The manager or coach (they will be notified by a club official)
  • A Clubwet weather message will be posted on the website every afternoon after 3pm.
  • A Ryde Council recorded message phone 9952-8244 after 4 pm Friday or on the Training night N.B where ground is outside of Ryde Council area, use options below
  • Internet: on the Saturday am. This site can also be used to track the progress of your team and other Club teams in the GHFA competition
  • For NWSWF Sunday matches, it can & has occurred where the GHFA rounds are cancelled but the NWSWF rounds are played. Please check the to track your teams grounds & progress during the season.

Coaches & Managers

Team Coaches and Managers are not supplied by the Club - you will need to provide from the parent number within your childs/children’s team/s a Manager and a Coach.

A number of Coaches and Managers from last season have expressed an interest in returning to these roles for the 2015 season, but if you find yourself in a team where this is not the case then please consider nominating for one of these roles - it can be an incredibly rewarding experience and you will be well supported with training kits and guidance in these positions from the Club Committee & the Co-Op head coaching staff.

Along with the committee members, coaches and managers are also volunteers. They willingly give up their time each week so that your children can enjoy Football. The coaches are there each week for training, and often have to leave work early in order to get there. The managers do a lot of “behind the scenes” work toensurethe team is organised for the whole season. You can help these people greatly by giving them your full support and by helping out when the need arises. As mentioned, coaches have work commitments, and do their best to get to training on time. However, there are times when they will be late due to these work commitments. Not all coaches work locally, so they often have distance and traffic issues to contend with too.

Our compulsory coaches & managers meeting will be on Thursday 26th March at The Ranch Cnr Herring & Epping Rd North Ryde. All coaches & managers will receive a club polo in appreciation for volunteering your valuable time to help & support the club.

This year there will be only 2 seasonal meetings for coaches & managers to attend. 26th March for the distribution of all kits& team updates coaches & managers meeting on 13th July.

The Dragons will also be holding a coaching InService for all Coaches on Monday 30th March at Waterloo Park time TBA. This InService will be conducted by Frank our Director of Coaching & Alfredo the Mens All Age1 coach. This event will provide coaches with more of an in depth understanding of their role for the season.

You can support your coach and manager by:

  • Being patient!
  • Waiting with your child until the coach or manager arrives
  • Offering to stay and assist with training if the coach is on his/her own
  • Beginning the warm-ups if the coach is running late (or at least help to supervise the players if you don’t feel confident)
  • Ensuring that your child is picked up from training at the agreed finishing time
  • Ensuring your child has transport to and from training and games…this is not the coach’s or manager’s responsibility
  • Being alert in changeable weather so that you are there to pick up your child in case of rain or an electric storm. The coach won’t want to be waiting an hour in the rain for your child to be picked up!
  • Ensuring that your child attends training when possible
  • Making a courtesy call to the coach or manager if your child can’t make training or the game
  • Attending your child’s game when possible
  • Assisting in the canteen when it is your team’s turn…it is not the manager’s or coach’s job to man the canteen as they are already doing their share
  • Returning photo money on time
  • Supporting your Club’s fund-raising

For those of you interested in becoming a team manager, please refer to the Manager’s Guide on the website ( - select About The Club from the top menu and it will be listed under Documents Of Interest).