Positions Held on the GUFC Committee:

Joined the GUFC committee in 2006 and carried out the following roles over the next 12 years –

2006 – Committee Person
2007 to 2013 – Head Coach / Director of Football
2014 to 2015 – President
2016 – Vice President
2017 to 2018 – Committee Person


Achievements:

Headcoach

  • Rollout of Small Sided Football including organised / supervised training for U6/U7 teams
  • Implement GUFC Coaching Academy for boys and girls using experienced professional coaches
  • Implement “coach the coaches” seminars run by professional coaches to improve the skills of club coaches including Charlie Davidson and guest appearances by professional players like Zeljko Kalac
  • Rollout “FFA National Coaching Curriculum” including information sessions and demonstration nights for club coaches
  • Club became the largest and most successful club in the Sutherland Shire winning the most premierships on multiple occasions including the prestigious AL1 competition and a number of state cups

Capital Works / President

As self-appointed project manager with the assistance of Michael Blumor (illustrious treasurer and Life Member), Daryl Clark (100% successful grants officer and Life Member) Doug Sparks (Illustrious builder and Life Member) and Alan Dean (claimed to be an engineer whose father was a founding Life Member) plus a very supportive committee embarked on a 10 year plan to develop the existing facilities at Gymea Bay Oval.

Before any works could commence a site master plan was created, building plans developed and endorsed by council which was a very time consuming process due to the many levels of council approvals required.

The following projects were designed, approved, built and certified during this time –

  • 2009 – Retaining Wall and Pathway Western end of Gymea Bay Oval No.2
  • 2009 – Upgrade of Lighting to Gymea Bay Oval, GBO1 – 100 Lux for competition games, GBO2 – 50 Lux for Training, both now complying with Australian Standards
  • 2010 – Successful application to play competition night football matches at Gymea Bay Oval, first matches played
  • 2011 – Develop Masterplan for Gymea Bay Oval
  • 2013 – 2014 – Construction of GBO1 Covered Western Viewing Area improving viewing and access for all users of the facility
  • 2013 – 2014– Construction “Ellis Ward Ladies Pavillion” (ladies changeroom), the first of its kind in the shire recognising the size of women’s football in the shire.

Lighting Upgrade, Greg Harris, Life Member (in orange) carried out these works for GUFC

 

    

Construction of GBO1 Western Covered Viewing Area including the opening with Barry Collier, state member for Miranda, and Steve Simpson Mayor of Sutherland Shire Council and junior players.

 

     


Favourite Memories:

My favourite memories are about coaching teams at GUFC, I first joined GUFC as a coach of my twin boys Jarrett and Brayden with the mighty 6L (famously known as the Invincibles) side in 2001 and coached them for the next 15 years, winning the elusive premiership as the 18E’s in 2012.

In 2007 I commenced coaching my son Daniel and have coached him ever since, we won the 16A premiership in 2015 and the Football NSW U17A State Cup in 2016 which were great achievements for the boys and great fun to be involved with.

Coaching teams at GUFC is by far the highlight of my time involved with the club, to be involved in coaching a great bunch of kids at a great club like GUFC is a privilege I will never forget.

Another great memory was our “Project Control Group Meetings” where the building project team found an excuse I mean needed to meet up the oval every Sunday during summer to inspect Doug’s building works, a number of beers were also consumed and Doug would face a barrage of silly questions from people with limited construction knowledge, fun times!

Funny Stories:

An envelope appeared in my letter box, it was an invite to play in an over 35’s team being put together by the bloke in the photo, team became known as the G2’s and the rest is history, as you can see from how fit we look in the photo there wasn’t a lot of football played but it was a lot of fun!

Who would have thought we’d become Life Members in 2015!