Senior side on the agenda for radiant Suns, new president announced

THE Surf Coast Suns Football Netball Club’s new president already has a long-term objective in mind following his appointment to the committee just a fortnight ago.

Incoming Suns president Jay Williams said one of the top items in the club’s long-term objectives was simple: establish another senior side on the Surf Coast.

“The club is in an amazing position at the moment.

“I look around at how many junior footy games we have going on during the weekends and how many netball courts are filled during the week, and all the parents that are around, it’s a testament to Mike’s [Thomas] efforts to this point and the team that has supported him.”

Williams, who has been a parent at the Suns for the past five years, assumed the president position of predecessor Mike Thomas earlier this month when the position became available.

Williams, a father of three Suns players, played and coached at the senior level at the Beaumaris Sharks and the Black Rock Jets in South-East Melbourne, and knows first-hand the effect that a senior pathway can offer young and aspiring footballers.

“It all comes down to experience and exposure to the senior level of the game,” he said.

“There are numerous parents around the place that have experienced senior football themselves, even experienced play at the VFL, country and WAFL levels, so I’m going to lean on as many of those guys as I can to train up and prepare our 16s and future 18s players.

“We’re trying to introduce a program where some of our 16s players umpire our more junior games and learn more about football. But at the end of the day, preparing for senior level footy is exposure.”

Williams admitted there were several hurdles to clear before a senior program could be established, ranging from the pavilion expansion at Banyul-Warri Fields to clubrooms, but was optimistic about the probability of a new senior side establishing itself on the Surf Coast.

“With hockey, soccer, netball, basketball and football going on over the weekends, this precinct could become a real mecca in the region, if it isn’t already,” he said.

“That’s the vision that I’ve had from the start, a place to exude sport and with the addition of senior football and netball sides that can only be a good thing.

“Whether it’s in the Bellarine league or the Geelong league is more of a league decision, but as long as we expand the Suns in a functional and sustainable manner then I’m sure the community will back it.”

If Surf Coast is successful in producing a senior program, it would become the sixth club to establish itself in the municipality, joining Anglesea, Modewarre, Torquay (BFNL), Lorne (CDFNL) and Winchelsea (GDFNL).