Excitement and anticipation is starting to build in the air above soccer pitches around the Limestone Coast when the Limestone Coast Football Association season kicks off tomorrow night with the new SE Voice MiniRoos competition.
The region’s biggest and only locally owned and operated newspaper is proudly getting behind the stars of tomorrow, who will launch another massive year of round-ball action.
Kids will fill pitches every Friday night for the next 11 weeks before the fun wraps up with a huge carnival at Blue Lake Sports Park on Friday, May 6.
This week International hosts Apollo, while Millicent travels to MGA Park to meet Centrals for the opening round, while Blue Lake enjoys a bye in the main competition. These five clubs field sides in the Under 6, Under 9 and Under 10 and 11 age groups which are all modified to create a fun and welcoming atmosphere for young players and families.
LCFA men’s director and MiniRoos organiser Bruno Vadori said the exciting new competition is all about getting youngsters active and involved in the world game.
“We have a lot of talent in our league and that stems from our youngest kids in MiniRoos,” he said.
“So we are trying to put some time in these younger kids to enjoy the game, provide a pathway into our clubs and grow our league in the years to come.”
The Under 6’s is a four-a-side competition played on a 30m x 20m pitch where kids will aim to kick a size three ball into a 2m x 1m set of goals.
These sizes gradually increase to the nine-a-side Under 11’s competition with goals and pitches more than double the size of the Under 6’s regulations.
Vadori said each age group was tailored to provide the best possible experience for each age group.
“Obviously different age groups develop different and our youngest play a very small brand of football with a four v four on the pitch and it is all about them just touching the ball and enjoying it,” he said.
“The Under 9’s and 11’s have more players on the pitch with bigger goals. The league has changed the Under 11 game to nine-a-side competitions to coincide with the leagues around Australia.
“Hopefully a lot of the top age MiniRoos will play in the development series on a larger pitch each Sunday.”
Vadori said MiniRoos is all about fun and participation and numbers are looking strong for the program which keeps building momentum.
“It is about the enjoyment of getting outside and touching the ball,” he said.
“Kids can start learning not just foot skills like how to move the ball, but lots of team and life skills.
“We have been very lucky to have a big contingency of young kids playing which is down to a lot of very passionate people in our league who started MiniRoos many years ago.
“We have got pretty consistent numbers through all the clubs and it looks really promising.
“A lot of the feedback has been positive and people cannot wait to get back which is great.
“Even a couple of clubs that do tend to struggle from year to year are starting to shine getting a lot of players.
“It will also be exciting to see some of the older MiniRoos stepping up to our Under 12 Development competition held on Sundays.”
