Melbourne’s newest A-League club is set to create massive opportunities for young soccer players, according to some of the state’s brightest talent.

The team, currently known as Melbourne Heart, was boosted by its recent appointment of former Melbourne Knights midfielder John Didulica as Football Chief, announced last week.

The Victorian club is set to enter the national league infrastructure in the 2010/11 season after confirmation from Football Australia’s CEO Ben Buckley at the A-League’s 2009 launch.

Its inclusion is part of Football Australia’s grand plan to expand the league to more greatly encompass Australian soccer – already evident in this season’s two newest additions: Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury.

Melbourne Heart will only be Victoria’s second team in the A-League and, whilst still deep in its developing stages, has the ability to dynamically transform the state’s youth soccer landscape.

Andre Leao Rodrigues is one young player who has spoken about the opportunities that will be created by the presence of a second national soccer team in Victoria.

“Their (Melbourne Heart’s) inclusion will basically double the amount of chances Victorians will have to play at the highest national level,” Andre said.

“I have personally played with and against many players who probably deserve to play at this level, but because of lack of available spots, they are left to play in the state league.”

“Melbourne Heart means a new senior and junior team. Suddenly these players have a far greater chance to get into the system.”

Born in Campinas, Brazil, Andre ascended through both the town’s junior soccer ranks and the prestigious Sao Paolo youth system.

Arriving in Australia in his adolescence, The 20 year-old now studies a Science major at Monash University whilst continuing his flourishing soccer career.

He said that he hopes to try his hand at turning professional after his studies and, although new opportunities are now present, the system is still not perfect.

“In Brazil there is no shortage of national league teams and while many Brazilians play overseas, the country’s own league has maintained both a good standard of play but also promises a great standard of living for the players,” Andre said.

“In Australia there are a lot of teams in each state’s league but only a few in the A-league. While the A-League players are able to carve out a good living from their sport, the state players so often do not have this privilege.”

“That’s why I think so many young Australians throw the dice and try and make a career overseas.”

The great amount of Australians playing professional soccer overseas may be an indication of the lack of genuine opportunities and financial incentives in their homeland.

Timeline of Aussies Abroad - click for larger view

How does the A-League stack up internationally? Click for larger view

Currently there are 130 Australians playing overseas – in great contrast to the situation 20 years ago, where there were only 23 Australians plying their trade abroad.

But the acquisition of Socceroos Jason Culina and Mile Sterjovski by current A-League teams have buoyed supporters who believe a league with some of the country’s premier players has become an attainable dream.

The opportunities that will blossom from Melbourne Heart’s inception are not solely limited to that of male players, as the club will also participate in the associated national female league.

The W-League has been a great success since its inception in 2008 and is currently in its second season.

Paola Bernini, currently playing for Ashburton soccer club in the Victorian Premier League, understands first-hand how female soccer has already changed in the state.

Paola Bernini evades an opposition defender

The 20 year-old former Victorian representative watched as, during the W-League’s inception, the State Premier League began to lose some of its best players.

“I played with and against quite a few girls that played a bit with Melbourne Victory,” she said.

“Although the majority of players were poached from the powerhouse teams of the league (Box Hill and Heidelberg), we had a few departures.”

“And with this new Melbourne Heart team, there is sure to be more.”

Paola said that, although the W-League is a great step moving forward for woman’s soccer, it still has its limitations.

“The W-League is a bit funny in regards to its timing,” she said, “although it occurs in the off-season of the Victorian Premier League, there are still regulations that prevent players from playing in both leagues – even though they don’t conflict.”

“It basically means that often, you don’t get the best players in the W-League because they want to stay with their old teams.”

-Michael Tarquinio

Australia’s National Infastructure:

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The governing body met this week to thrash out plans for the new competition, aimed at providing a clear pathway for talented players currently being lured to other sports.

While BA high performance manager Wayne Carroll remains tight-lipped over its format and possible age-limit, the competition is set to fill the void as a second-tier feeder system to the elite National Basketball League.

“The Basketball Australia board (discussed) the proposed development league this week,” Carroll said.

“The product of those discussions will give a clearer direction regarding this league.”

A key to those discussions will be how the new competition should work with the various state leagues, which are seen as incapable of working together to offer young players a direct springboard into a professional career.

Victoria’s state league, the Big V, has already presented its case, seeking greater clarification of its position in the sport’s pecking order.

“Right now there is some confusion about what is the direct pathway at the senior level beneath the NBL,” Big V media manager Davin Sgargetta said.

“There isn’t a clear step or sequence of steps that lead to the top level of the sport.”

While the Big V was rocked last year by the loss of powerhouse clubs Dandenong and Sandringham to the rival South East Australian Basketball League, it remains open to the prospect of its teams switching to the new development competition.

“They could, but they should only qualify by winning a state championship,” Sgargetta said.

“There should be a cap of teams per state and the lowest finishers from each state in this new competition should be relegated in place of teams that go on to win their respective state championships.”

Sgargetta said the new competition should run simultaneously with the NBL, allowing young players to remain in their state league during the winter off-season.

The opportunity to come under the watchful eyes of NBL coaches is seen as an incentive for juniors to resist lucrative offers from other sports, with Scott Pendlebury and Jack Watts headlining a growing list of players who have quit the game in favour of AFL careers.

“There are a lot of kids my age playing footy now that were top basketballers growing up,” 21-year-old Andrew Kelly said.

“Basketball really needs to work hard to stem the flow of talented players turning their backs on the sport, and if a second-tier league will help, then I’m definitely all for it.”

Kelly stepped up to the Waverley Falcons’ State Championship team this season after honing his skills in the Big V’s own youth league, winning the 2008 Most Valuable Player award with 17.4 points and 12.4 rebounds per game.

However, he fears the competition is no longer strong enough to produce stars of the future after many of its clubs were poached by the SEABL, which created its own youth competition, the D-League.

“The D-League has done more harm than good,” Kelly said.

“They’ve created nearly an identical competition to the Big V’s, which has watered down the standard for both their own clubs and ours. Young players no longer have the same chance to play against all the best players from their age group as they did when all youth teams were in the Big V.”

SEABL General Manager Mark Chivers was contacted but declined to comment until BA makes its recommendations.

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-Michael Scibilia

Two Documentary sources:
“Plan for a Number 2 tier”
Big V Media Guide 2009

Almost 75 of the country’s best young footy talent attended the NAB AFL Draft Camp last week and it is said that the camp will produce the bulk of players set to be drafted.

Young hopefuls battling it out at the NAB Draft Camp last week

The Draft Camp has been the be-all and end-all for players throughout the years, including North Melbourne’s Nathan Grima.

Grima understands that it can be difficult for young, aspiring players; he said that, “juggling school with either Year 12 or Year 11 studies is a big one”.

“There is often a lot of travelling involved for some of the kids, particularly those who live in country Victoria and have to travel to train with their TAC Cup club.

Grima faced a grim start to his AFL career, into his fifth week as a North Melbourne rookie, he hyper-extended his knee on landing.

Nathan Grima knows all too well the impact of a serious injury in his early career

Grima wants all young hopefuls to know that they should “train hard and have fun”.

However he doesn’t think his knee injury had a negative effect to his career, he is now “mentally stronger” and has “more passion for the game”.

Emma Quayle, a senior Football writer for the Age has recently written a book that provides an inside look of the AFL draft, which looks at all aspects of a young boys chances to be an elite footballer.

Quayle is an expert sportswriter and knows of many young players, like Grima who have had “season-long injuries in their final year of juniors”.

“Travis Varcoe, from Geelong, had a bad foot injury,” she said. “Beau Muston, from Hawthorn, had a knee reconstruction and Tom Swift (West Coast) had a knee reconstruction as a 17-year-old.”

West Coast’s new recruit Tom Swift has had little luck with three knee injuries

There is a lot of pressure on AFL hopefuls today, according to Quayle most of the recruiters have checklists of different qualities to tick of on.

“Most will have an idea of where the kid would end up playing for an AFL team, they then try and figure out if they have the certain physical and mental attributes that will allow them to play that position,” she said.

According to an article written on the AFL website, the NAB AFL Draft is the centrepiece of the AFL’s off-season. It commands huge media attention for the young guns because all selections are analysed and each club’s strategy is assessed.

However all is not lost for the kids wanting to play, Grima said that, “the important thing is just to enjoy playing, set your goals high but make them realistic”.

“The best piece of advice I can give a young player is to never take your eyes off the football and have confidence in your ability.”

Almost every young boy dreams of playing AFL and for those 75 young hopefuls that attended Draft Camp it may become a reality.

Some of the hopefuls at Draft Camp 2009

Jack Watts, the number one draft pick for 2008, made his debut for the Melbourne Football Club in July.

The key forward, who is in Year 12, felt “obviously very lucky”.

“I wouldn’t have played in front of 2000 people, let alone 70,000, so it’s definitely going to be an exciting game to be a part of and hopefully I can just do my bit for the team,” Watts said before his first match against Collingwood.

Last year's top pick Jack Watts after his debut game against Collingwood

So the question on all the young hopefuls lips, who will be the number one draft pick for 2009?

With two new clubs close to entering the AFL there will be even more of an opportunity for our youngsters as there will be more than 90 spots to fill.

For more information on the NAB AFL Draft, visit www.afl.com.au
or check out Emma Quayle’s blog, Footy Talk by The Age, with up-to-date information on the NAB AFL Draft 2009.

Special thanks to Emma Quayle and Nathan Grima for giving up their time to give some insight to our young readers.

- Candice Brown

Dale helps the Aussie team win the shot-put in the England vs Australia track and feild challenge in Newcastle, 2009.

Age: 21
Sport: Athletics, specialising in shot-put.
Occupation: Currently studying Secondary Education and Sport and Outdoor Recreation at Monash University in Victoria.

Monash University student Dale Stevenson last week successfully defended his Australian University Games shot-put title, breaking the games record and setting a new personal best in the process. The young throwing power-house has gone from strength to strength in 2009, achieving some stellar results. After finishing second in the shot-put at the national championships in March, Dale went on to represent Australia in both the shot-put and discus at the World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia.
There’s no doubting that Dale is a talent on the rise! Be sure to look out for him at next years Commonwealth Games.

Dale took some time out from his busy study and training routing to have a chat to YounG’UNS.

CC: What is it that you love about athletics?
DS: Athletics is obviously a sport where you generally don’t make much money. You might get a little bit of prize money and sponsorship here and there, but its hardly enough to even scrape by. So everyone who is trying to make a career out of athletics is really in it for the love of competing and the love of the sport. I really enjoy the fact that its so self-driven. It can be great to be part of a team, but I love that I alone have control over my performance. At the end of the day, it’s you competing, achieving…failing. It’s about me. You really can’t compare the sort of satisfaction you get as a solo athlete with team sports.

CC: What has been the highlight of your athletics career so far?
DS: Definitely competing at the World University Games in Serbia earlier in the year. It was just a great experience for me, and the standard of competition is amazing. Its actually the second biggest multi-sport competition in the world, after the Olympics. It was a massive experience, and I learned so much from it. It’s really going to help to set me up for the Commonwealth Games next year.

CC: What are your sporting goals?
DS: My biggest aim is to continue representing Australia at a senior level. Right now, Im very focused on training to make the 2010 Commonwealth Games team. I’m also hoping to compete at the 2012 Olympics. I’ll be 23 by then- so I’ll be getting to an age where I can start to be really competitive at an international level. I also aspire to promote sport to kids and hopefully help and inspire them to make the most of all the opportunities they are given.

CC: Do you play or follow any other sports?
DS: I love all sport, but Im a very passionate Collingwood supporter. I’m a member, and I try to get to games as often as I can when I’m at home. Its been a bit difficult this year, though, I’ve been competing overseas- although I did get to go to some of the finals games. I also played junior football (AFL) until I was seventeen, but gave it up to focus on athletics.

CC: How do you go about balancing your study with a busy training and competing schedule?
DS: It can be a bit tricky to find a balance at times, especially at this time of the year when so many assignments and essays are due. But Im a part of the Monash Elite Athletes Program, which allows me the luxury of having a bit more flexibility in my coursework. I still have to complete all the same assignments and teaching rounds as everyone else, but they recognize that I might have to take time off to compete occasionally, or might need to hand in an essay a week early or a week late. It’s been a big help.

CC: What advice would you give to up and coming young athletes?
DS: Just stay at it and keep working hard. But at the same time, you need to be in it for the right reasons. If you don’t enjoy it and you’re not having fun, there’s no point. Athletics can be quite a solitary and lonely sport, so its important to talk to competitors and keep making friends- get involved with things like the Uni Games and try to meet people.

-Courtney Crane

Check out the highlights from his season playing for the Western Jets, this 18-year-old football hopeful is still in high school and is juggling Yr12 commitments and the likelihood of being drafted to a club at the end of the year.

- Candice Brown

Amongst the superstar players is St Kilda’s key position captain Nick Riewoldt. Riewoldt was drafted in 2000 and debuted in 2001, he won his first St Kilda Best and Fairest award in 2002 where he won the National AFL Rising Star Award.

Saints and Cats will fight it out this Saturday at the G

With the Grand Final rapidly approaching, St Kilda has done what few clubs have done before. The club has won 22 of 24 games, holding them in good stead for the blockbuster match at the MCG.

Geelong’s Harry Taylor will be the first player to take on Riewoldt in the Grand Final. According to the Herald Sun, Taylor will use his athleticism, height and mental relaxation in a bid to curb the brilliance of the St Kilda skipper.

“He’s a superstar,” Taylor said earlier this week, “I watched him pretty closely on Friday night.”

Geelong fans have nothing on their mind except getting a glimpse of their heroes at Skilled Stadium before Saturday’s Grand Final. The ecstatic fans will be cheering on the Cats and are hoping superstar Gary Ablett takes home the Brownlow Medal.

Geelong enters its third consecutive Grand Final and reports from the Geelong Advertiser suggest that they are in tip top shape.

Young superstar Gary Ablett has said that the 2009 season will mean nothing if the Cats don’t take home the premiership cup this weekend.

With the two teams in finals lock-down, AFL fans across the nation will be gearing up to watch the two teams battle it out for the ultimate finishing prize.

- CMB

The initiative is part of a broader push to promote AFL in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. AFL New Zealand is also hoping that the representative honours will help in their quest to lure talented youngsters from other sports- an ongoing challenge in a country populated by hard-headed rugby aficionados.

The Victorian team will field three players selected from each club in the VAFA competition.  Over New Zealand’s Labour Day long weekend, they will play two games against a side of U20’s selected from leagues all over New Zealand.

Victorian representative Todd James is looking forward to pulling on the ‘Big V’ guernsey. The St Marys Salesian on-baller says the trip will be a fantastic opportunity for the boys to test their skill in unchartered territory.

“This is the first year that the VAFA have played New Zealand, so we don’t really know what we’re in for yet,” he said. “As Australians, we’ve grown up playing footy so I feel like we might have the advantage. But they’ll be used to playing rugby, so the tackling could be brutal.”

No matter what the outcome, James says that he hopes the exciting and fast paced nature of the game will spark some interest. “It’s a great opportunity for us to show other young people what a great game AFL is. But at the end of the day, I’m sure it will all be a lot of good fun.”

-CC

NBL Bound: young South Australian Chris Molitor

The National Basketball League’s new under-23 rule has attracted plenty of critics, but Chris Molitor certainly won’t be one of them.

Molitor, 21, is set to make his NBL debut later this month after signing with the Adelaide 36ers as their mandatory young Australian player.  

The 204cm, 104kg forward is coming off a solid year in the State Basketball League, averaging 17.5 points and 8.4 rebounds per game and catching the eye of 36ers coach Scott Ninnis.

“Chris has really earnt this spot,” Ninnis said.

“He has been a dangerous player in the local State Basketball League for the past few seasons and has improved immensely since he started training full time with us earlier in the year. He now has the opportunity to carve out a long NBL career.”

The league’s requirement for an under-23-year-old on each team has caused much conjecture, with some veteran players forced out of the competition.

John Rillie, who is without a basketball home after being dumped by Townsville in the off-season, used his blog to launch a stinging attack on the rule.

“By restricting one of the ten available roster spots per team, every year you are going to lose talent just to fulfil this age limit obligation,” the 38-year-old wrote.

“When basketball has the audacity to call it ‘professional’ sport but we put so many restrictions on players, it really leaves me shaking my head.”

The new season tips off on September 24, with Molitor’s 36ers opening their campaign in Cairns.

-MS