Stawell Soccer Club has wrapped up its first year in style with a come and try day.
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After a successful seven-a-side tournament in November, the club decided to give residents a chance to taste the experience of joining a soccer club.
Club president Jason Oosthuizen said there was a fantastic turnout for the come and try day.
“We had a bit of a kick around and there were a lot of junior players there. We also received a number of apologies due to the time of year,” he said.
“Overall we were quite happy and the interest has allowed us for future planning moving forward.”
Mr Oosthuizen said 2018 was a fantastic year for soccer, sport and the community.
“We’ve all worked really hard together to get to where we are. From an idea we were able to form the club and there are plenty of positive signs going into 2019,” he said.
One of those positives is the club’s alignment into the South West District Soccer Association for the 2019 season.
“The league has been supportive of our decision and our vision for the club,” Mr Oosthuizen said.
“We decided to move into a smaller league and see how we go.
“We just need to get our numbers and our teams together and submit in January so a proposal can officially be put to the board for our acceptance into the league.”
Not only are the Stawell Pioneers opting to enter a senior team, Mr Oosthuizen said there was also enough interest for under-12 and under-14 teams as well.
“After some interest we have received we believe we can get the teams up and running,” he said.
“The games are played on Sundays, which means it won’t interfere with Australia Rules Football as some players were interested in playing both."
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Mr Oosthuizen said the next step for the club was to resume training in January.
“On the field, we are training on Monday and Wednesday nights and will start back on January 7,” he said.
“On the committee, we are heavily invested in applying for grants and seeking major sponsorship.
“The support we have had so far has been great but we really need to ramp this up in the new year as expenses such as uniforms will come in to play.”
The official season will start in April and Oosthuizen said there were talks about hopefully hosting another tournament.
“We are hoping we can host a pre-season comp. It will be either be a seven-a-side competition again or a full 11 players on the field,” he said.
READ MORE: Stawell Soccer Clubs becomes incorporated
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