Greetings one and all and welcome to our59th season.To all those who have joinedus for the first time we say, “Welcome”, andcongratulations for choosing the Tigers. Wehope that this will be a long and happyexperience for you.To the large group of Tigers who have

returned we say, thank you.Your ManagementCommittee will continue its work to make thisanother great season.Since we last met through the pages of Tiger

Talk we have witnessed many changes within theClub, some major, some not so, but all we hopewill be to the benefit of your Club.One of the most significant changes has been

the full returfing of our home ground, BoroniaPark. This now completes a project thatcommenced 4 years ago when we had newdrainage laid under the field. Now we have anew playing surface.This was a joint venture byParramatta City Council and your Club. Thework took some months to complete and wasfinished on Christmas Eve.The net result is wehave a field that is weed free with a goodcoverage of grass that has been top dressed withsand to further improve the drainage.We will still have to work with the

environment.That is, the trees that surround thefield causing lack of sun during the winter.We willsee what the season ahead brings.We welcomeTony Makerry as our new Head

Coach of our Premier League team.At the sametime he will be available to assist coaches fromour other teams.This appointment fits into ourClub objective of improving our coaching talentsand it is indeed gratifying to see many of our

current coaches taking on extra activities byattending coaching courses. This is somethingwhich we as a Club, are committed to improving,for the benefit of all our players.This issue of Tiger Talk has been produced in

hardcopy. Subsequent editions will be sent viaemail and will also be available for viewing on ourwebsite. We welcome comments, suggestionsand team reports along with photos. Please sendyour material to: eewtiger@tpg.com.auWe thankMichelle McCoy who has for many years done afantastic job of editing Tiger Talk.We welcomeour new graphic artist, Michele Chan, this beingher first issue ofTigerTalk and look forward to along and happy association.This is a busy time for all of us, getting teams

formed, nominations to GHFA etc.This season Iwould expect that we could have in excess of14 000 people playing the game within the 34clubs who make up the association.Without adoubt the man under the greatest pressure is theClub Registrar, Scott McGoogan. Any help youcan give him will be appreciated.We can all startby ensuring that our paperwork is all filled incorrectly.Those who need to renew ID photosshould ensure they have them done quickly.Training can commence on Fred Spurway

Reserve (Mobbs Lane) immediately. Boronia willremain closed for training as is Epping Oval.Wewill inform you when they become available.Credit Card payments this season will be billed

to you under our name, Epping Eastwood FC.Allcards are welcome except American Express,and will attract a small service fee.Trial games will happen during March, usually

on Sundays. I am aware we have accepted

TIGER TALKE P P I N G E A S T W O O D F O O T B A L L C L U B I N C . ISSUE 1 JAN 2011

President’s letter

CLUB OFFICIALS

PresidentIan Kendal9858 1605

TreasurerDaren Freeman0400 572 870

SecretaryIan Smith9876 5708

Boronia ParkWetWeather& Saturdays9869 0267

EPPING EASTWOODWEBSITEFor all thecompetition tablesand results of yourEEWTigers teamsseewww.eppingeastwoodtigers.com.au

Inside this issuePresident’s Letter 1

New Life Members 2Changes to AccidentInsurance 2Mini Football 3Important Dates 4

PERI AUSTRALIA P/LProudly supporting theEpping Eastwood Tigers

Successful construction with PERI116 Glendenning Road, Glendenning 2761

ph: (02) 8805 2300 Web: www.periaus.com.au

a full day for all groups U9 – A/A.Details will follow.Last season a unified Code of Conduct

was introduced throughout GHFA whichhelped to reduce the number of‘incidents’. This is reissued – make sureyou have received a copy. Ignorance is noexcuse.This document can be found onour website.Likewise, a further revised & updated

P & DC covering red cards etc will laterbe issued.The current one was a greatsuccess. Hopefully the Tigers will be

well behaved – we are all here to enjoythe game.So, we are off and running for season

2011. Let’s all enjoy the game and eachothers company and along the way makelasting friendships in the family club, yourclub, Epping Eastwood FC.Till next we meet,GoYouTiger’s Go

Regards,Ian Kendal98581605

At the last AGM of the Club, twopeople were sponsored andapproved for Life Membership ofour Club and to them we extendour congratulations.Darren Freeman (Foxy) has beenand continues to be involved in allaspects of club life as a player,coach and on the ManagementCommittee where he holds theposition of ClubTreasurer. He is oneof the principals of “the Little

Doers” and loves to talk about‘square metres’.Anthony French (Tank) the junior ofthe 3 French boys to play all of theirfootball at EEW, starting in themini’s (although in those days it wason a full sized ground with 11players). He also has experience atall levels of Club life as a player andcoach along with his involvement onthe Management Committee. Overmany years as part of the EppingEastwood Football Family he hasbecome widely known in the districtand seems to have a never endinglist of contacts that can be ofassistance to our Club.Both men will be presented withtheir award at the end of year ClubDinner in September.

CHANGES TOACCIDENT INSURANCEFootball NSW has changed theconditions regarding the costs. In thepast we had student’s rates for thoseplaying in U18 – U21’s.This will nolonger be the case. Our current feestructure reflects the changes, whichmeans those age groups now paythe same insurance premium as an AllAge player.Whilst the overall cost of insurance hasnot changed those in that age bracketwill have noticed a changeto their fees. Insurance is compulsory.The policy, a copy of which will beissued at registration, is very basic.Wecertainly encourage seniors to havesome form of private insurance.New club members should not beoverly concerned.Whilst the game is acontact sport, serious injuries are rare.If an injury occurs, claim forms areavailable from Boronia – seriousinjuries should be reported to theClub Secretary, Ian Smith on9876 5708 – treatment shouldcommence immediately.Most competition fields have a basicfirst aid kit in their canteens withbandaids, bandages and creams to treatminor scratches. In the case of Miniteams, we will issue these items to theteam managers, as many of the minifields don’t have canteens.At the competition level, U9 upwards,the team manager will carry out firstaid – it is hard for parents to stand onthe sideline – let the manager do it.If it is deemed to be a serious injury,the manager in conjunction with thereferee will stop the game. If it is aback injury or a broken bone theplayer should not be moved and anambulance called.The player shouldbe made as comfortable as possibleuntil qualified help arrives, usuallywithin 15 minutes.

MEET OUR NEW LIFE MEMBERS

Proud sponsors of the Junior Tigers

Raine & Horne Epping9868 2888

53 Beecroft Rd Epping

REALESTATE

AGENTS

Mini football continues this season inthe small-sided games format.Thishas been very successful over the pastfew seasons so we’re looking forward toanother fun-filled year.Mini football is “non competitive”,

which means we don't have acompetition ladder and the scores don'tmatter from week to week.The object isabout learning and having a good time,not about who’s “top of the table”. Ofcourse, the kids will still tell you thescore and claim every goal was theirs(and a few extra too).

Under 6For many of the Under 6s, it’s their firsttime playing football (or any teamsport).The aim is to make it a fun time,as well as learning the basics of thegame. Kicking, passing, teamwork andscoring goals!There are 4 players per team on the

field (no goalies) so everyone will beinvolved in the action.The field is 30m x20m with small portable goals, 2 metreswide and 1 metre tall.

Under 7In Under 7s, we're hoping to build onthe players' basic skills since most willhave played before (although it doesn'tmatter if they haven’t). There are 5players per team on the field (nogoalies). The field is 30m x 20m withsmall portable goals, 2 metres wide and1 metre tall.

Under 8This is the next step on the transition upto the big field. The team is bigger andso is the field. The players will startlearning new skills including throw-insand goalkeeping. There are 7 players onthe field including a goalie. The field is50m x 25m with permanent goals 5mwide and 1.5m tall.

Ranking ofTeams.No-one likes getting a 10 goal thrashing.But it can also be pretty boring if youwin 10-0 every game.To avoid lopsidedresults week after week (there'll still bethe occasional crazy score), we try torank teams into appropriate groups.Thebest games are where the teams areevenly matched and this provides a

more positive experience for ouryoungest players.We do not grade our mini teams

(grading is selecting players based ontheir ability).The mini teams are usuallyselected based on friend groups orpartly at random.What team ranking isabout is looking at the teams alreadyformed and attempting to match themup against teams from other clubs ofsimilar team ability.We will be rankingour teams following guidelines laid outby GHFA.

Coaches and ManagersMini-football depends on volunteers tohelp out with coaching and managing(organising) the teams.These volunteersare usually the parents of players. Thatmeans we need your help to make thisa successful season. It really isn’t thatdifficult and can be a very rewardingexperience.The smaller size of the mini teams

means a single person can act ascoach/manager for each team (althoughsome still like to split the roles).The jointtraining sessions and coaching classeswill mean that even if you know verylittle about coaching football, you willquickly get the hang of things. Theimportant part will be getting the kidson the field every Saturday.Our coaches this year will also have

the opportunity to gain FFAaccreditation as a “Grassroots” coach.This involves participating in a 3 hourcourse (usually one evening) coveringthe basics of coaching at the U6-U8level. Please let us know if you areinterested in attending one of thesesessions.Of course, the more help the better

and there’s plenty of room for assistants.

Having plenty of help from the parentsat training makes it lots of fun foreveryone. We all learn a lot and thekids really progress quickly.If you are interesting in being a coach

or manager, please let us know atregistration time and tick the box onyour child’s registration form. Even ifyou’re interested but unsure what’sinvolved, the committee members onthe registration desk are happy to talkto you about it.

TrainingOnce again our mini-footballcoordinator,DonWalker, will be runningthe joint training session each week withall the mini teams. Don’s going to needlots of help to continue this verysuccessful program, so put your hand upfor some fun. It beats sitting on thesideline.Mini training will be held on

Wednesday afternoons with all teamstraining at the same time.This allows us to set up a series of

drills and “skill stations” and have theteams rotate around each, as well as runpractice games. Don and the coacheswill be organising different activities eachweek to keep things exciting.This arrangement also makes it really

easy for inexperienced coaches to learntheir role.There's plenty of help and lotsof ideas.And finally, if you have any questions

you can call me, Chris Salmon, on0417 696 001 (preferably in theevenings) or our Mini FootballCoordinator, Don Walker, on0401 348 412. Here’s to another greatyear of Mini-Football with theTigers.Chris SalmonVice President

M I N I F O O T B A L L : U n d e r 6 , 7 & 8 .

Summary of Important Dates

Team allocation: Wed 23 February 5 pm to 6 pm at Boronia Park.

Everyone gets introduced to their team and meets the coach.All mini

players should come to this.

Training starts: Wed 2 March.

Season starts: Sat 2 April. Games are always on Saturday mornings.

Small-Sided Games for Under 9 and Under 10Small-sided games (SSG) have become the pathway to betterfootball for our young players. GHFA this year is extending theSSG program to the Under 10 age group. For those whoplayed U9s last year, they will find the set-up in U10s to bethe same.Teams for both age groups are 9-a-side and the field is

70m x 40m with a 5m wide goal.All the usual rules of footballapply including off-side. There will be a competition table(points for a win, etc) and the top teams at the end of theyear will play off in the semi-finals and grand final, just like allthe other age groups.For those moving into U9s this will be their first year of

competition. We will also be conducting player grading toselect the teams. It is always a much more positive experiencefor young players to play with and against others of a similarlevel of ability so we attempt to select the teams to allow thisto happen.If you have any questions, please speak to one of the Club

committee at registration, or give me a call.Chris SalmonVice President

Need to Contact Us?A full list of Club Contact details are listed onour website. For those of you who receivedClub Magnets last season those phone numbers arestill current.The web address is: eewtiger@tpg.com.auTheTigerTalk is published every 2 weeksduring the season, holidays excluded.We welcomeyour comments and team reports (no more than50 words).This year we would like to incorporatesome action photos. Please email your comments toeewtiger@tpg.com.au byWednesdaymorning each week.

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IMPORTANT DATESFEBRUARY:Monday 21st, midday, teamnominations close

Tuesday 22nd, GHFA Grading @ 7:00pm

Wednesday 23rd, Mini Teams, U6/U7/U8Meet & Greet & gear issued@ Boronia Park, 5:00pm

MARCH:Wednesday 2nd @ 5pm Boronia Park,Mini Training commences

Wednesday 9th,Team nominationsclose for U6/7/8 & Premier League

Wednesday 16th, 4pm, all other teamnominations close

Saturday 27th, First competition gamefor Premier League

APRIL:Saturday 2nd, competition starts for allother teams. Details to be advised.(Draw is usually given 7 days priorto start).

Note: no games for Mini U6/7/8on April 16

Questions, please callIan Kendal 9858 1605

Managers & Coaches Meeting Dateto be advised.

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