Mariners Mail, edition 4, 2023

Busy start to 2023, and lots more to come

I HOPE you are enjoying the new season as much as I am so far. It’s wonderful to see Civic Reserve filled each weekend

The new kits look great, and we hope everyone is enjoying playing soccer in competition again.

I want to particularly recognise the Senior Women’s team, who have really kicked off with a bang with three wins out of three.

It’s been a long time coming, but it’s great to now have a team that our junior girls can aspire to play in, along with the senior men ’ s teams that our junior boys can aspire to join.

There isn’t going to be much rest for the volunteers on our Executive and Committee over the coming weeks –we have several events to organise to go with our regular duties.

Please remember to fill in the volunteers Jotform (click here) if you can help us out with this work

A presentation evening was held by club sponsor, the Community Bank Mount Martha, on April 18 at Mount Martha Life Saving Club where the bank distributed over $250,000 to 20 local community group. We were the recipient of a grant for $20,000 for new chain link fencing. I was fortunate to attend this presentation with our treasurer David Swift.

Finally, we will be organising an order of club jackets in the very near future too, so please keep an eye out for that form in the next few days See you on the pitches!

FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK With Rhys Piper

Teams set sail on 2023 voyage

Proudly wearing their brand new kits, Mount Martha's Junior and MiniRoo teams hit the field for the first time on April 22-23. There was no better display of the our colours than before the battle of our U10 Mariners and U10 Captains (pictured right).

Our U14 Raiders (pictured left) have commenced 2023 strongly with two wins and a draw from their opening three games.

The U14 Mariners (pictured below) have also kicked off their new season strongly with a pair of solid wins and a narrow loss.

The core of our U11 Raiders team (below left) are entering their third season together. The girls have steadily improved over this time and have made a positive start to their latest campaign.

Some of MiniRoo teams celebrating their return to the pitch for 2023:

TOP LEFT – U8 Raiders

TOP RIGHT – U8 Mariners

RIGHT – U11 Pirates

BELOW LEFT – U11 Mariners

BELOW RIGHT – U11 Buccaneers

TOP: Our Senior Men's team with their mascots ahead of their recent Derby clash against Mount Eliza.

ABOVE LEFT: The U12 Captains opened their season account in week 3 with a win over Mount Eliza.

ABOVE: Our Senior Women ahead of their first ever game against Boronia.

LEFT: The U11 Cruisers are a new team for season 2023 and are pictured with the club's only female coach, Lindsey Forsyth.

Mariners make 3-0 start

It’s been a really pleasing start for the Senior Women’s team with three wins from three games, 17 goals scored and just one conceded

All of our forwards have opened their accounts with Kira Greenwood and Maddie Way each scoring four goals, followed by Lexie Holland on three

In our first official game, we played away to Boronia and came away with a 7-1 win. One of the highlights was Maddie Way scoring our first ever goal

It was a more than fitting way that Maddie was the first to hit the back of the net as she is the longest serving female player at the club having played at Mount Martha since the club’s formation.

In our second game we came away with another away win, 6-0 against St Kilda

Sunday, May 7 was a historic occasion as we played our first home game and came away with a 4-0 win over Monash University.

All of the players relished the opportunity to play in front of friends, family and supporters for the first time and it meant a great deal for the girls to share the moment with the mascots from our U8s, U11s and U12s

It was especially noteworthy for

Steph Calvert, Kira Greenwood and Meredith Read who shared the moment with their daughters.

Now that most of the “firsts” are out of the way the team will be looking to consolidate its solid start at home to Skye United on Sunday.

Finally I want to acknowledge the great work that has gone on behind the scenes to enable this foundation team to be where it is today.

A huge thanks to people like Vaughan Menlove, Shelley Christie, Cheree Lane and everybody else on the committee, and to previous coaches such as Adam Jowett.

Women’s football needs strong advocates, both male and female, to flourish I’m proud to be part of a club that has both Go Mariners!

MARINERS' SCOREBOARD

ROUND 1 (HV Jones Reserve, Ferntree Gully)

ROUND 2 (Alma Park, St Kilda East)

WOMEN'S STATE LEAGUE

ROUND 3 (Civic Reserve)

SENIOR WOMEN'S REPORT With Robin Smith

SENIORS: Mount Martha 7 (Maddie Way 2, Kira Greenwood 2, Misha Campbell, Paris Phillips, Lexie Woodhill) def Boronia SC 1

SENIORS: Mount Martha 6 (Kira Geenwood 2, Maddie Way 2, Indie Jowett 2) def St Kilda Celts SC 0.

SENIORS: Mount Martha 4 (Lexie Woodhill 2, Misha Campbell, Jade Sollner) def Monash University 0

Dear Matildas, signed Mariners!

WE'RE excited to announce the opportunity for our Juniors and MiniRoos to write letters to the Matildas ahead of the 2023 FIFA World Cup.

Your words of encouragement and support will be posted a wall for the Matildas to see and read as they prepare for the biggest football event ever staged in Australia.

Choose your favourite player/s or all the team and send them a letter, drawing or message of encouragement

With less than 80 days to go, it’s exciting to have this opportunity for our members and I encourage all to get onboard and cheer the Matildas to World Cup glory

Details: One page only – A4 or smaller, with your name and club written at the bottom of the page; and hand into your Team Manager by no later than Wednesday, May 24

MARINERS' SCOREBOARD

The club’s Senior Men’s record for youngest League goal scorer (17) has been beaten twice in the last month.

The mark was set by Ethan Sanderson against Knox United on May 15, 2021.

Eli Masterson broke it first with his winner away to Barton in round 4. Then, Anton Beeby snatched it off him, through the consolation goal he scored against Mount Eliza, one week later.

ROUND

4 (Barton Reserve, Cranbourne West)

SENIORS: Mount Martha 2 (Ethan Sanderson, Eli Masterson) def Barton United 1

RESERVES: Barton United 2 def Mount Martha 0

ROUND 5 (Civic Reserve)

SENIORS: Mt Eliza 3 def Mount Martha 1 (Anton Beeby).

RESERVES: Mt Eliza 4 def Mount Martha 0.

ROUND 6 (Olympic Park Rec Reserve, Rosebud)

SENIORS: Rosebud SC 2 def Mount Martha 1 (Neal Byrne).

RESERVES: Mount Martha 3 (Davey Jones 2, Anton Beeby 1) def Rosebud SC 0.

ROUND 7 (Civic Reserve)

SENIORS: Mount Martha 4 (Mitch Hawkins , Eli Masterson, Jaden Taberner, Anton Beeby def Pakenham United 0

RESERVES: Mount Martha 9 (Davey Jones 3, Marcus Poda 2, Finn Tweedie, Sam Walters Jacob Platt, Mikis Vemis) def Pakenham United 2

SENIOR MEN'S PLAYER OF THE MONTH (APRIL)

ELI MASTERSON

We first met Eli in December while he was trialing for our U17/18 development squad. In short time he has established himself as a first team regular and one of the first names on our team sheet each week! His performances and attitude have been top class from day one. This is a well-deserved recognition and to cap off a great month, he also scored his first senior goal.

APRIL started slowly for the Seniors with a bye in round 3 then the Easter weekend. We got back to business with a gusty away win at Barton

However back to back derby defeats to Rosebud and Mt Eliza, left us slipping down the ladder

The lads responded well last week with our biggest home win in the short history of the team, a 4-0 victory against Pakenham United, moving us back up to a mid-table position.

Our Player of the month was Eli Masterson who has established himself as a regular in the senior side (profiled below).

We go again this week with another derby away at North Seaford Reserve, hope to see you there!

RESERVE MEN'S PLAYER OF THE MONTH (APRIL) RORY PHILPOTT

Rory has had an excellent month and has been a real leader for the team both in games and at training. Rory sets the standard of effort and commitment in games and has been our best player this month.

Mount Martha forms African connection

MOUNT Martha is thrilled to be able to announce a “sister club” partnership with the Academy of Kasabuni Sports (Acakas), based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Acakas was founded by Peter Merital (pictured right with one of his young charges) in the Mathare area of the city, which comprises mostly slums and shanties.

It was established in 2013 with the number of regular participants rising from 20 to 115 over the past decade Peter is the head coach and leads a team of eight other coaches.

Players are provided with training kits (boots & uniform), life skills programs, books and schools uniforms Occasional games are played against teams from other slum areas.

Peter and his small team of volunteers also provide a meal before and after training sessions as many of the children don’t eat every day.

“We are so grateful and honoured to form such a partnership with an aim of elevating and giving a chance to these determined girls & boys,” Peter said “Asante sana (thank you very much) to everyone at the Mount Martha Soccer Club.”

MMSC committee member Sean Callander was humbled to be able to bring this opportunity to the club

“We’re working with Peter and his team to establish some specific projects that we can assist via some modest fund-raising activities,” Sean said

“We for ou boys a learn mutua