Woden Valley FC are a leading club in the Nation’s Capital, having been formed from the Philip Junior Football Club and the Melrose Junior Football Club in late 1988.
The Woden Valley U14s Girls team are a mixture of different teams within Woden Valley. Most of the girls in the team have come up from U11s and U12s to create the U14s team in the KEEPUP Kanga Cup Tournament.
Coach Jenny Haling stated that some of the girls have played together before, and some haven’t met each other before the tournament.
“I’m most excited for the girls to get to know each other, grow some friendships and grow some skills in a friendly environment and have the experience of playing a lot of games in a week”, Haling said.
“We were very late comers to the Kanga Cup Tournament as we weren’t sure we had enough players,” Haling revealed.
“Some of the girls wanted to play in the tournament so we put together a bit of a mix of teams and made it happen for the girls to let them have the experience of playing in the big tournament.”
With being late comers, Haling had no knowledge of the skills and capabilities of the players within her team. Adapting to this was important as a coach and after the first game, Haling has arranged the positions and skills to their expertise for the tournament.
“I didn’t know positions and skills of players half an hour before our first game”, Haling said. “The goalkeeper actually doesn’t usually play in that position but she’s giving it her best for the team.”
The KEEPUP Kanga Cup Tournament is a football tournament that keeps kids active during a week of the Winter School Holidays. It brings a load of fun and excitement for young boys and girls.
“Some of the girls haven’t played in a while, four of them are actually sick so we are missing them at the moment,” Haling commented.
In the Winter Competition Woden play against Canberra teams, although Kanga Cup enables the girls to play against teams they haven’t played against before, such as Lindfield FC.
“We’re playing all Sydney teams, so this is very new for us being a Canberra team. This is a chance to play different teams and see what the quality of playing is like in Sydney and see how we compare to them and for the girls to gain new skills,” Haling expressed.
“A tournament like the KEEPUP Kanga Cup allows the teams to learn new skills and experience different playing styles. The tournament can lead to the girls bettering themselves within their winter competition.”
Words: Shania McCormack
