Canberra Grammar School’s soccer program prides itself of player progression and improvement throughout its junior teams.

As this has been the focus for the program over the past few years, the school has seen success through multiple teams ranging from the U13s to U18.

Adam Glanville, coach of the Canberra Grammar Second XI, has coached the group over the 2022 season and qualified for finals with his team after a slow start to the season.

After losing their first two games 4-2 and 13-0, Glanville had to work hard in order to get his team to the finish line.

“We started the season off pessimistically, as we feel we were in a higher division than we should’ve been.” Glanville said.

“But, by the end of the season, we had really rallied has a unit and put on some strong performances against solid teams.

“The boys were super proud of themselves, and I was super proud of them for that.”

Glanville ran into some challenges over the season, most importantly motivating the different personality types in his team and getting them to work towards a single goal.

“Motivating a group of very diverse personalities towards a single goal is always challenging,” he said.

“Trying to balance letting the guys have fun and helping them to improve as players was also challenging. Ideally both occur at once but that’s easier said than done.”

Glanville has had some standout players through the season, which include James Rensch and Jack Taylor and many more.

Although playing in the under-18s division one where winning is important, Glanville still pressed hard of improving his players, none more than Carl Vitolovich.

“Rensch has been amazing, he never stops running and is one of the most fearless players I’ve ever seen before,” Glanville admitted.

“Jack as well, he has been unanimously voted captain by the boys. Carl, our centre back, has improved a lot. Once he gained a bit of confidence in himself, he really became the anchor of our defence and someone the rest of the team really looked up to.

“He became braver, smarter and much more physical throughout the course of the season.”

The seconds qualified for the finals of their season, in which they would face the Canberra Grammar First XI in their semi-final.

Glanville had a gameplan set for their main rivals, which had seen them improve from a 13-0 loss to a 2-1 loss where they created more chances than their opposition.

Although Glanville’s side would score first in the semi-final, they would lose 5-2 to the CGS First XI.

Although their season did not win any trophies, Glanville still took his team to the finals and showed his ability as a coach and what his players could do when they worked together.

“They are a really great group of guys, and I had a great time coaching them,” he said.

“Maybe we don’t have any premier league prodigies, but once we figured out our identify as a team and who’s good at what, we really started to have a lot of fun.”

Words: Matthew Williams