Go Fives summer series a hit

LEONGATHA Knights Football Club’s Go Fives summer series is well underway.

The competition – now heading into its third round – will run for eight weeks, with a break after week five for Christmas.

Play will resume on Wednesday, January 10.

The Leongatha Knights have been thrilled with the turn out, experiencing an 80 per cent growth of registrations.

“Sixty per cent of those players didn’t play for this year, so they are from other clubs, are new to the sport or they are returning to the sport,” Knights coach Bethany Milkins said.

“We took a risk running extra competitions, but it has proved there is a lot of enthusiasm for the sport locally.

This summer, the club is running competitions for junior girls, U12s mixed, U14 mixed, women’s, senior social and senior competitive, introducing more opportunities for women and girls to get involved.

There were 28 registrations for the junior girls’ competition.

“We are really keen about getting a junior girls’ team into the league,” Bethany said.

“It’s looking good. We’ve got a women’s sub-committee, and that’s focused on getting more opportunities for women and girls.

“There’s a lot of enthusiasm, and a lot of the credit goes to the coaches. There are a lot of coaches on board for the junior girls’ team to fill a need. They’ve created opportunities for their daughters, which is wonderful.”

The women’s competition – also running for the first time, the senior socials, and the junior girls’ games are played on Wednesday night.

Thursdays are packed with games played for U12 mixed, U14 mixed and senior competitive.

All games are played at Mary Mackillop Catholic Regional College.

“We’ve maxed out in a couple of the competitions, namely the senior competitive and the U14 mixed,” Bethany said.

“It’s been wonderful, and it just shows how much passion there is for the game, especially off the back of the Matildas. All the girls’ teams are named after Matildas players, which they are very excited about.”

Bethany said the beauty of the Go Fives competition is the fact that there’s no formal training required.

“You just rock up and play. There’s no experience needed, it’s all about having a kick and having fun,” she said.

“It’s about creating friendships – it’s a really beautiful environment to be in.”

One player enjoying the Go Fives experience is Beau Glenn. 

Beau has been playing soccer for two years with Korumburra City Soccer Club and Southern United.

She said she loves everything about soccer, and has been enjoying the Go Fives program as a way to play the game she enjoys with her friends. 

Beau aims to continue working hard on her soccer skills and one day become a Matilda.