We started off 2015 with a fantastic camp attended by George Perpina, Aldrin De Zilva, and some good folks - such as Milos Nastic, Dan and Gabi Hermannson and others.
The camp is designed to strengthen the bonds between players in a team. Unfortunately the U14s only had 8 attend but the U18s had much better numbers with 14. It really is important to learn to work together and make sacrifices for each other and recognise the 'Jersey' that you will be playing for as the reason that you are together!
Here are the reports from Camp 2015, held at the wonderful Phillip Island Discovery Camp -
Hi Everyone. January 7.
Well have found 20 minutes to email you all so I thought I would bring you up to speed. The camp has been excellent so far and the players are simply wonderful. You have raised some excellent children to be fine young men.
Everyone is impressed with the maturity shown, the work ethic displayed and the desire to improve.
It has been difficult as its almost a shock to the body - doing nothing for so long and then 'BOOM!" full of activity and challenges. Milosh the coach has challenged our players - he has them doing things that they probably never imagined they could do. He is a hard taskmaster but the players have all learned many things that will improve their playing ability and knowledge of the game. Milosh is one of the best coaches that I know and your boys are lucky.
We never took the phones off the players as we expected them to be responsible so you are free to contact them.
We have had visits from parents and we encourage all of you to come down Sunday for BBQ - please let me know if you are coming - it is important. We need to know numbers ASAP. It will start around 1PM and be done by 4PM as I need to take boys back home. BYO EVERYTHING!
SO far we have had outstanding Futsal, brilliant training sessions, fun in the water which all have enjoyed immensely,a fabulous soccer/volley game, seen echidnas, wallabies, blue tongue lizards and some even saw a snake. We are well fed and the only complaint is TIREDNESS! The place is amazing - a great location and simply cant get better. The grass at the school is a bit long but has not stopped the players.
I will try to email more tonight - but we are watching "for the good of the game" movie. As I write this a lovely rain is soaking the earth here and really cooled off temperatures which was needed.
January 9
Well the weather is certainly crazy but today was a very good day in terms of the soccer program.
The players are truly psyched!
Last night we watched a movie about the De La Salle Spartans and their coach. They stuck together a 151 game winning streak - the longest in football. The reason was simple - commitment, courage and building relationships.
Everyone watched it and then went to bed a little late shortly before 11PM.
So we decided to allow them the chance to sleep in, have breakfast and do our soccer class with Milos.
We got up at about 8.30AM, had toast, fruit, cereals for breakfast and met Milos at the fields at 9.30AM.
We worked solidly until 11.10AM and then played a full pitch game for 40 Minutes. The game was well played and ended in a 1-1 draw with two excellent goals.
We returned back to camp for lunch and then went swimming - the water was amazing! Big clean waves, crystal clear water, cold and refreshing in what was a muggy day! We then set the boys the Spartan challenge.
They were fantastic. They worked their socks off and put the team first in every situation. First of all we split them into three teams of 7. We then assigned each team a series of very tough challenges. We did this because we believe that at no time in the year will they have to work so hard. We want them to remember camp when times are tough and reflect on what they achieved here. Hopefully that will give them insight into how much they can truly produce
The challenges were diverse in nature and required planning and forethought.
The teams were as follows -
Argos (Blue)
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Thebians (Orange)
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Athenians(Yellow)
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Gabbi Hermannson
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Aldrin De Zilva
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George Perpina
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Elia P
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Andre G
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Tom Fl
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Michael T
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Connor L
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Anthony Sa
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Josh Mulla
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Dhruv
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Nate Gi
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Shannon D
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Oden
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Luke De
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Tom R
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Tommy S
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Tyson
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Nanton M
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James P
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Jordy H
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Luis P
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Alex Kr
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Wahed
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The challenges were as follows –
1. The Three Centuries of Sparta Challenge – As team - a series of challenges must be completed and a total time will be taken for the completion. There must be 200 pushups, 200 fence unders and overs, 200 shuttle runs over 10 metres,
2. No Soldier left behind Challenge – the team must save 30 Soldiers who are injured by carrying them – 30 ‘people’ must be transported between two sets of gates
3. The Spartan Circle of strength – the team must form a tight circle locked together with their arms – one team member must crawl on top of the other team members and they must carry the team member without breaking the circle for a distance of 30 Metres – his must be done 8 times with only 2 members going twice.
4. Raise the Alarm – The Spartans raised the alarms of invading armies by a series of network running (5 Points of the star) – each team must elect two runners to sprint the course with a 30 kilo weight being dragged behind them.
I know as you read this you can never understand what the players went through in their spartan challenge. They worked ever so hard, never quit, helped each other and throughout all of it were able to "Count on each Other." Unless you were here and witnessed what we witnessed it can never make the impression that it made of us.
Feel free to talk to your sons about their day.
After the challenges we went straight to dinner and then directly to futsal. They played well, and then we went shopping and home. They were rewarded for their day generously by Gabrielle and Aldrin who are helping us look after all the players.
Tomorrow is a rest day - but they have decided to do "THE DUNE CHALLENGE" before lunch. They will sleep until 9AM and then swim, do he Dunes, Have BBQ, swim, do a 2 hour trip to town, come back for dinner, go to Laser Tag and then back into town to the carnival before returning home around 10PM.
Kind Regards
Robert
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