Hello all Samford Rangers Football Club members and a special welcome to all of our new members!

The club would like to welcome Ms Renia Cuddy to the club as our new coach dedicated to the development of Women’s ⁄ Girls Football. Renia has a number of qualifications in Coaching and Sports Science and has been tasked with improving the standards of our female footballers over the next couple of years. Welcome Renia.

One of the key changes to our club this year is the formation of a Junior Coaching Panel to replace the previous Director of Coaching roles within the club. This panel is made up of 8 of our most senior coaches, including Gary Bromfield, Arno Tretter, Mark Loveridge, Murray McCrae, Bryson Stansfield, Keith Dougall, Renia Cuddy and Cameron Pearse.

The Panel will ensure the club provides quality coaching & training sessions to its players and coaches alike and will focus on providing junior development of the highest quality including:

• Ensuring that Extension and Development Squads are created and maintained within the club to enable players within lower division teams who are interested in developing their football skills and knowledge to participate in higher level specialist coaching;
• Assisting team coaches to develop and implement appropriate training and coaching programs; appropriate skill development programs for players; and appropriate tactical game plans and strategies.
• Assessing playing abilities of competitive players during pre-season grading sessions and grade competition games

Unfortunately Rob Ferguson has had to step down from his position as Vice-President, Juniors effective immediately. THIS LEAVES THE CLUB IN A VERY VULNERABLE POSITION if we cannot replace him quickly. The committee is urgently calling on any member who would like to take on the role of VP, Juniors to make contact ASAP. The current committee members cannot carry the workload of this role and as such, should no one come forward the administrative support of the U11 to U16 teams will not be as we are used to and expect.

Time commitments for the position from now to March are approximately 10-12 hours per week (1-2 hours per day), reducing to 4-5 hours per week for the rest of the year. A majority of communication with members for this position is via email and phone rather than physical attendance at the clubhouse.

Specifically the role coordinates the efficient administration (financially and socially) of the junior club, supporting their teams’ on-field efforts, including:

• Late Player Registrations;
• Team Announcement Day;
• Coaches & Managers Night (at beginning and end of the season);
• Trophy Day ⁄ Presentation Night; and
• Encouraging members, parents, and leaders to express ⁄ share ideas and feel an important part of the Club.

So if you have a passion to grow the club, to make a difference, to give something back to the community and a willingness to have fun please contact Graham Lee (contact details below). The committee would like to thank Rob for his work with the club over the past couple of years and wish him all the best for the future.

On a lighter note, thank-you to everyone who attended Sign-On Day last Sunday and a very special thank-you to the many volunteers who were involved in the Sign-On Day operation.

We have again attracted great numbers to the club, in particular the new Squirts program proving very popular. We would however like to increase our numbers in the following age groups - U10, U13, U14, U15, U16 and U18.

For those of you who have yet to settle your fees in full, or for those new members who have yet to provide a proof of age, please be aware that your registration forms will not be forwarded to Football Brisbane until your registration is complete which means the player(s) concerned cannot legally participate in any fixtures.

Cheque payments and⁄or copies of birth certificates⁄passports can either be posted to us (see below for address) or left in the letterbox slot located in the front wall of the clubhouse. Alternatively you can make an electronic deposit directly into our bank account (our bank account details available upon request).

For those who couldn’t make it to Sign-On Day, we urge you to attend February Sign-On on Tuesdays, 5:30pm - 6:30pm to avoid missing-out as team quotas fill quickly and we must nominate teams very shortly.

Gradings for all junior players (boys and girls) from under 11 through to under 16 commence next week. Click here to find out when your grading is on (please note the recent change to the under 12⁄14⁄15⁄16 gradings due to the Roar’s Semi-Final match at Suncorp Stadium next Friday night).

Team Announcement Day will be held on Saturday the 21st of February and is when players will find-out which team they have been allocated to.

It is essential that a parent⁄guardian attends Team Announcement Day so that they can meet the other parents⁄guardians from the team; select the team’s Coach, Manager and Match Reporter

There are two team announcements: Squirts - under 10 at 4pm and under 11-16 at 5:30pm. These will be held in conjunction with a Fun Day including food, drinks, a giant inflatable football field (see picture) and a couple of senior men’s pre-season fixtures.

For most junior teams, coaches will be determined by the parents on Team Announcement Day. However, we are aware that there are instances, especially in the older junior teams, where there may be more than one coach wanting to coach a specific team. In this situation, to ensure a fair process of selection, we ask that all potential coaches register their interest before this Friday, the 13th of February 2009.

An announcement will be made the following week regarding the successful applicants. Until then, no coaching appointments will be made. Applicants will be selected upon a proven track record, appropriate coaching qualifications and, if necessary, an interview with our Junior Coaching Panel.

For more information about our coaching philosophy, and to whom applications are to be submitted, please click here.

There are still jerseys and equipment (balls, bibs, cones, bags, etc.) that have not been returned from last season. We will be placing an order in the next couple of days and urge anyone with any of the club’s property to please contact our Equipment Manager, Dominick Rafter.

We remain short of people to work in the canteen and are quickly running out of time to recruit this year’s staff. We are offering $20 per hour (paid monthly to the right applicants) for those wanting to take up some or all of the following shifts from (14 March to 5 September):

• Saturdays 8am to 3pm (all weeks)
• Saturdays 2pm to 10pm (approx every 2nd week)
• Sundays 8:30am to 1:30pm (all weeks)
• Sundays 12:30pm to 5pm (all weeks)

Without these positions being filled we cannot open the canteen on these days. Customer Service experience and awareness of procedures for handling cash and other financial transactions is an advantage. Please contact Graham Lee (contact details below).

Not playing this season?
Please let us know if no one from your family intends playing this season by clicking here.