2010 was a terrific year for everyone associated with Hampton Rovers Under 9 West. Once again, we were blessed with a wonderful group of people full of sportsmanship and support and we had an amazing bunch of wonderful kids, all as keen as mustard, willing to listen and learn, and raring to go.
We had a team completely made up of St.Marys boys with 10 having played last year and the other 11 boys playing their first year of footy. As would be expected with them all being school mates, they bonded together beautifully and every training session and match was full of enthusiasm.
Every boy improved dramatically throughout the season. 15 out of the 21 boys kicked a goal, every single boy managed to get more than 1 kick, nearly every boy took a mark and most importantly, all 21 boys had fun.
I think the highlight for the season was our 2 point victory over East Sandringham in the Lightning Premiership (thanks to a stunning goal from the boundary line with seconds remaining!), after having been defeated by them by the same margin earlier in the season. The rendition of Oh We Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside… was deafening!
Trophy winners were:
Best & Fairest – Miles Bergman
Runner-up – Tom Maginness
Coaches Award – Alex Grinter
Most Determined – Oscar Buscombe
Most Improved – Marcus White
Best Finals Player – Olly Bytheway
Congratulations to all the boys who were just fantastic and a joy to coach.
I must say a special thanks to Tim for doing a wonderful job in his thankless role as Team Manager, Linda for being our trainer and a calming influence on the sidelines, Brendan and Sam for their excellent job as runners, Adam and Ross for their on-field coaching at the beginning of the season, Pete and Paul for their boundary umpiring, Nigel and Niall for their goal-umpiring, Belinda and Nicole for taking such wonderful photos and everyone for their support, encouragement, barracking and for producing these sensational kids!
It has been a pleasure coaching these wonderful boys and I am proud of them all.
Ralph Bergman
U9 WEST COACH
