[00:00:00] Today listeners I have in the studio with me and talk about, and we're going to be talking about, and here's the space where we stay in particular soccer. So hi Aaron, welcome to the studio again. Thanks for having me. Tell me, I've been watching with excitement the rise of your football team or soccer team, which do I call it football or soccer? Well, some people call it football, some people call it soccer, but I'm a football man, so for me, depends what country you come from.
[00:00:27] Oh, fair enough. Okay. So I've been watching the rise and you got to the semi-finals and we were all so proud of you and you were very proud of your team. So let's talk about first of all that journey. So what do you call the team? It's the all age ones, so AL1s. At club level, you've got AL1s and then you've got Premier League. So the top club, like top team for our club is the AL1s. We're trying to get into Premier League. And so that brought you up to winning the semi-finals. Yes.
[00:00:56] And last weekend you played the finals. Yes. And we lost 2-0. Oh. We haven't beaten this team in four years. We thought we were going to have a fairytale finish, but it just didn't happen. So tell us about the journey of this team and where it started. And I know that you're extremely proud of these fellas. I'd like to know the journey through and why you're so proud of these fellas. Yeah, thanks.
[00:01:18] I think we need to clarify the tradies part of it because it's generally tradies that end up coaching a lot of these teams because they finish at such a good time in the afternoons. That's how we get sort of involved in it. Our kids want to play football. Then we go, no one's going to coach the team because they can't finish work early enough if you're in corporate in the city. So tradies go, yeah, we'll do it. Why not? Good on you, tradies. Yes. So I want to bring that back to why tradies kind of can do it.
[00:01:45] And this journey started probably, I'd have to say, about 18 to 20 years ago when my son decided he wanted to play soccer and he wanted to play for a local club. And so we signed up for Beacon Hill originally. And then because Beacon Hill was a little bit further up the road, we signed for Curl Curl. I started at Curl Curl 20 years ago. And what I realized at Curl Curl Football Club was there was no pathway for the kids. So it was like you just kept going year by year by year.
[00:02:12] And then what happened was there was a representative kind of competition that started to be developed. So because they wanted to improve football in Australia. And so the clubs like Manly United started and they started their own development pathway. So the kids that were really good or really talented got into Manly. The kids at club level didn't have the same development pathway. And, you know, sometimes it's a little bit expensive to join into the rep stuff.
[00:02:40] So we decided at Curl Curl myself and there's a gentleman called Paul Franks to develop our own kids. So that when they got to senior level football, they'd been developed the way that we wanted them to play and with all the skills that they needed to play at a good level. And so that's kind of where the journey started. We started what we call a JDD program, junior development program at Curl Curl. Wasn't very expensive. Kids could participate. So it meant they were training, you know, one to two nights a week instead of just the one night a week with their coaches.
[00:03:10] Everyone at that level had to have a C license at that time, which is a qualification in sort of your pathway of coaching. Okay. Yeah. And I had a dream that eventually when my kid got to the level or to the age where he could play all age men, that he'd be able to play at the top level at that club. And so that's where the pathway began. Okay. And it went forward how? Well, we kept playing.
[00:03:37] We kept developing and sort of it just kept working its course. And then obviously you get the kids that then because they've been developed quite well by the club, they are actually becoming quite talented now. And so they get to go and play at places like Manly United, Northern Tigers, Spirit FC, St. George, wherever they decide to go, Sydney Wanderers, Sydney FC. And the other ones that are at club level stay at club level and they keep going through.
[00:04:05] So I coached both my kids through Division I. Both of them went off and played reps and then they came back to the club. So I went and coached reps for a while and then I came back to the club to coach them at a Division I level. Okay. Tell us about your team. So my team, the current team. The current team. Yeah.
[00:04:24] So they're a bunch and my goal was always to be able to create a team that was developed by local clubs but have played together or were 80% from the same club rather than sort of taking a lot of players from different clubs and putting a team together. It was more about how can I create a team that is being developed by Curl Curl and is 80% Curl Curl players when we got to that level.
[00:04:51] And so we've now created that in terms of there's 80% of the players that play together are Curl Curl players or have played together in the local comps at some point and they're mates. And that was the most special thing for me that these boys as mates could compete at a very high level or a very good level and still be competitive. So what's the age group level in your team? Well, we've taken some 19-year-olds on this year.
[00:05:21] So they were too old to play 18s again this year. So they've come and played for us. So the whole idea was to be able to bring the younger kids through as well and be developed by older players and mentored. So it's 18 to I think the oldest person would probably be 40. Okay. So you've got a good mix. Yeah, it's a good mix. A lot of experience. Yeah. And it's really important.
[00:05:43] Like we tried, I think it was about four years ago, I took a group of 19-year-olds into men's football and that was an absolute disaster for us because they just weren't mentally ready for it. They just, you know, they were playing against growing men and growing men know how to banter. They know how to get in a young kid's head. Oh, yeah. And so they just used to wind them up all the time and there was fights every weekend and it was just like, oh, no, what have I done?
[00:06:08] So we dropped back to 21s for a while and then we went back into our old age men's when they couldn't play 21s again. Okay. And so this has been very successful not only just in winning the games up to the semifinals but also for the mental health and the physical health of all these players. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And to see a group of young men, we've thrown different things into the mix over the time. I can't lie.
[00:06:34] We did actually throw different players in and different nationalities in and things like that. And it just didn't gel until the boys actually started playing just with their mates. And you can see the camaraderie, the banter they have, you know, and it's not really necessarily a drinking culture but they all love going out together. They love, you know, socialising together. And it's a big part of their weekend.
[00:06:57] And I know when I was playing football, it was just the highlight of my weekend that, you know, to play together with, you know, 16 guys and then have a beer afterwards is just huge. Okay. What's happening next year? Oh, look, this has been the five-year plan. So since I took the boys into men's football, it's been a five-year plan that we had as the coaches. And we said the first year, we're not going to do so great. So we finished last. That was good. You finished. That's a bit. Yeah.
[00:07:26] Not so good for their mental health but they did well and they came back. And, you know, you always gauge a coach and a club on the fact of the returning players, not the players that leave. And if you can get 80% to 90% of your players coming back every year, you're doing a good job in my eyes. And so the first year was bottom, dead bottom. Probably, I think, no, we didn't even win a game. Second year, we finished second to last but we got off the bottom of the table. Third year, our goal was to finish in mid-table.
[00:07:55] So we finished fifth and then the fourth year, which is this year, we were going to finish in top four. So we finished third. And in the semifinal, we played the team that finished second who are now being promoted into Premier League. So we did beat the team that's being promoted. Oh, so you've got a chance next year. Yes. Okay, guys, you've got to work hard. You've got to make it. Five years he's given you and that's the fifth year. So next year is like we've got to win the comp next year and we're getting promoted.
[00:08:20] And not unfortunately, like I'm not going to take it away from the team that sits top. They're called Wakehurst. They're a great group of guys. They've got a very similar culture to us. It's all about, you know, building up the young players, bringing younger players through. These guys have played together all their life, you know. And so they're a group of young lads that can't get promoted because they've already got a Premier League team. So they win the comp every year and they're a good group but they can't go up because there's already a Premier League team.
[00:08:48] So our goal is to beat them next year and I have to apologise to Wakehurst but we're going to do it. Good on you. That's a positive attitude. Correct. That's really important in sport. So the development of your club, how's that going to go forward? So we've got a great group of younger kids already being developed. So our 18s is very strong. Our 21s are very strong. A lot of the 21 ones and twos came and played for us this year. So hoping that they're going to come across and strengthen what we call our reserve grade side. So you have a first grade and reserve grade.
[00:09:18] Unfortunately our reserve grade finished last this year but it was because we were concentrating on first grade. And as a coach that's kind of what you do to begin with. And then you strengthen reserve grade. So this year we're looking at can we bring the younger kids through to now strengthen our reserve grade side. So we've got a lot of depth across the board in Curl Curl. So that the younger kids or the kids that are in first grade are playing for their spot. They've got to turn up to training. They've got to be turning up to the games. They've got to have the right attitude.
[00:09:46] Otherwise they're on the bench or they're in reserve grade. And you know there's nothing taking away from reserve grade because it is a part of a squad. But the first grade is what you get judged on at this level. Tell me a bit more about the tradies that coach and what the coaching culture is like. I have to say Curl Curl have probably and I'm not I'm a little bit out of the loop with the group like the coaching committee these days. But I think Curl Curl's probably got the most amount of C license coaches within the community football clubs at the moment.
[00:10:16] They're very driven about coaching or coaches at a division one level must have a qualification. So they've been through either the community grassroots coaching courses or they've done a C license which is the first stage in your professional coach. coaching career. Tradies, God love them, have a fair bit of time on their hands apparently. It would seem so, but that's for the good of the community. Correct, right. So they love to give back to the community and I've always been that way.
[00:10:44] I've done, you know, I've been in surf life saving clubs. I've done nippers. I've done coaching. And it's just who I am. And I know that there's a lot of tradies out there that just love giving back to the community. So generally a lot of the times we're the first ones to put our hands up because the timing suits as well. Because somebody who works in the city doesn't finish till five, doesn't get back till six. It's too late for an under six teams to go like to train at seven o'clock at night because they're available. So we just go, yeah, okay, we'll do it. And then we work it out as we go along.
[00:11:13] Well, listeners, I can vouch for the fact that Aaron is amazing. Through our community, he puts a lot of time in. And he also helps out with community projects as well. And ever since I met him, he's just, yeah, he's full on community. And that's just something we don't see a lot of these days. So tradies that are putting their hands up to help the community, I tip my hat to you guys. Thank you so much because we're having a real problem with volunteering these days.
[00:11:42] People don't understand that volunteers actually run a community. And if you take the volunteers out, there's either no community or you have to pay through the nose for the services. So thank you so much, tradies. You are doing us a great service. And congratulations to the guys in the football team who got to the semifinals this year. And all kudos to you to get to the finals next year. So, yeah, I'm hoping everyone will come down and support us, you know.
[00:12:11] And it's really interesting because this is probably for the last three to four years, I've been really positive that we could bring younger kids to come and watch us play. We've got such a good culture. So it's not about, you know, biffo on the weekends and them taking their aggression out in the field. And there's, you know, compared to what we were, you know, about five or six years ago, it was a pretty volatile kind of situation. Whereas the boys in the last three years have just really matured. And it's all about football.
[00:12:40] It's not about, you know, how can we win the fight? And so it's, I guess, getting the younger kids now to come down and support and have a look and watch what, you know, that level of football looks like is just, to me, I'm just so proud of that. Yeah, it's got to be helpful. I remember in my younger days, my boyfriends were footballers. I had one particular boyfriend who coached younger teams. And we went out to some games and their coaches were more or less just hit them, kick them,
[00:13:08] thump them, you know, whatever it takes to win. And, you know, our kids were kids that played the game. So it was really awful when we came across that. There weren't a lot of them. There was one or two. But it's wrong. So anybody that's out there coaching and pushing that practice, stop it. Definitely. Silent sidelines. Yeah. It's just wrong. They're there to play a game. They're there to enjoy it. They're there for camaraderie. They're there to learn social skills, not how to biff.
[00:13:37] And you can see it with the coaches. The coaches drive the culture. So if you've got a coach who's very aggressive and kind of yelling and screaming at the ref all the time and things like that, the players will do the same thing. The coaches are the ones that set the culture of a club or a team. And same with the presidents and everyone else. And to a certain extent, the parents. And I'll always give coaches this tip. When I was a coach of younger kids and you get some very kind of competitive parents, let's say,
[00:14:05] not necessarily competitive kids who possibly think that they're kids to next Ronaldo or next superstar. We all do that. Correct. And it can be quite a confronting thing for a coach to approach a parent and ask them to be quiet. So my trick for that was I used to have yellow and red cards in my pocket. And if a parent, and I'd set the tone at the beginning of the season, if a parent was yelling and screaming, I'd just go up and give them a yellow card.
[00:14:35] Oh, good one. Shut them up quickly. You don't have to say a word. Yeah, this is what you need to do. Oh, it's an aha moment for a parent, right? If they've got a red card, they're in the car. Yeah, fair enough. That's it. They couldn't be on the sideline because we set the culture. So if you're yelling and screaming at the ref, it's so hard to find refs. It's really hard to keep young refs going through the system if they're constantly getting abused and yelled at. Well, in recent years, they've been even hit and bullied.
[00:15:03] And, you know, it's just ridiculous. It's a game, people. It's a game. Yeah. And it's not the World Cup. Exactly. Even at the World Cup, you shouldn't be doing it. No, exactly. It doesn't matter what level, you know. And I just – I think it's one of the things that probably is good to get across is when you look at the difference between, say, rugby and rugby league and soccer. The respect that the rugby league and the rugby union players have for the referee is phenomenal.
[00:15:30] They call them sir, madam, whatever, and they don't touch them. In soccer, they all crowd around the referee. It's like, oh, my God. It's about time we change that culture. Well, it's totally from the top down. Well, that's wrong. You're going to start to change it. Yeah. Yeah. It needs to happen. Yeah, definitely. These people come out and spend their time on the field, not expecting to be abused, accused or otherwise, or even hit. And we need referees. We need them. You know, they may make mistakes, but they're human.
[00:16:00] That's what a referee is. They do their best. Absolutely. And, you know, I guess over 35 men, I'm going to give you a bit of a chip here, but it's not about releasing aggression on the weekends and having lots of all-in brawls and taking out your frustrations for the week. It's about playing football. It's about having fun. And, you know, everyone needs to go to work on a Monday morning. So I think when you look at, I guess, in terms of even the rugby league culture, right, it used to be bring back the BIF. Do you remember?
[00:16:28] And then, you know, some of those BIFs were, you know, they're entertaining to watch, but somebody got hurt. Exactly. And now you look at rugby league, they don't touch each other. It's handbags at 50 paces almost because they're scared of the consequences of what might happen. I have grown up through rugby league most of my life. And my kids are just phenomenal over the top with Natalie Seagulls. Back in our day, a lot of it, you know, as I said, a lot of the coaches, several of the
[00:16:54] coaches, not all of them, did do the BIF and Ruff and Tupple and the older ones would get to the end of the game and then they'd be at the pub. And then they'd get drunk and then there'd be fights. You know, all that has calmed down a lot. And it's done good for the codes. Oh, absolutely. And, you know, it does good for the kids coming through. Yeah. You know, they don't have to think about themselves. They're grown men, right? So, but the kids coming through, they aspire and they look up to these players that, you
[00:17:21] know, the Wally Lewis's of the world and, you know, and the Trevor Gilmeister's and all that, you know, who used to punch on, but they don't do it anymore. And so these kids aren't growing up with that fighting culture in the sport. And I remember, I've got one player particularly who's very, very quick, but he's also quite volatile. And he's done so well this year to really calm himself down. And I'm so proud of the kid. But because he's so quick, players just, coaches ask their players to take him out. To take him out. Yeah. As he's going past. You know, the kid gets hurt every single weekend.
[00:17:51] And, but fair play to him. He's really turned himself around. And I think that's part of the culture we've created where it's like, that's not acceptable, mate. I get that that's happening, but you've got to learn to deal with that because you're going to have it all the time. Yeah. All right, Aaron, it's been absolutely wonderful talking to you. Thank you for coming in and talking to us about your team. Pleasure. And thanks for having me. This is great. I've been talking to Aaron Kemp from Tradies Mentoring Tradies about his football team at Cool Cool.