News:

DOC ACADEMY SPREADS ITS WINGS

2 NEW BRANCHES OPENING IN FEBRUARY
GEELONG AND MONT ALBERT ADDED TO DOC FOOTBALL

DOC Football Academy will open in Geelong and Mont Albert in February 2010 to add to the existing two at Eltham and Greensborough Colleges.
Kardinia Secondary College in Geelong has fantastic facilities and we are proud to be associated with it. We hope to build up a close relationship with them over the coming years.
Koonung Secondary College is another top school with top facilities, and are upgrading their sports grounds in the near future. Koonung is well known for its support of all sports in the community and we are so happy to be a partner of theirs.

DOC Academy will have four branches operating in 2010.
- Eltham College. Main Road, Research.
- Greensborough College Nell Street, Greensborough
- Koonung College Elgar Road, Mont Albert
- Kardinia College Ballarat Road, Geelong.

PROGRAM FOR PEOPLE WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

DOC Football Academy is proud to announce their new program for people with special needs. Every Wednesday afternoon members of the Ivanhoe Diamond Valley Centre in Macleod travel to Eltham College to take part in a soccer session.
The men and Women show off their soccer skills and there are some budding stars among them according to coach David O'Connor. It is very humbling to see these guys get out there and give it a go despite their disability. They can show us all a lot in terms of effort and enthusiasm.
SPECIAL NEEDS, SPECIAL PEOPLE

ACADEMY BOYS UK BOUND FOR SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY

Three DOC Academy players are heading to the UK next month to trial with English club Sheffield Wednesday. The boys will be given the chance to impress the Championship giants and hopefully get a contract in the process.

Andrew Taylor, Daniel Agiogha and Nick Sarbin will leave Melbourne on the 16th September to train with the Sheffield club in what will be a great experience for the football mad threesome. All three players were members of our very successful U/18 team last year and all three played with Victorian Premier league teams this year. Andrew with Heidelberg United and Daniel and Nick both played with Whittlesea Zebras.

DOC Academy Director David O'Connor set up the trial and will accompany the boys on the trip. We wish them all the very best and keep our fingers crossed for them.

DOC ACADEMY ON RIGHT TRACK PUTTING 6 OF OUR BOYS ON ROAD TO SUCCESS

DOC Football Academy is about developing youngsters and helping them to be competent sportsmen and women.
So you can imagine our pride in the fact that this season 4 of our Academy players have signed to play with Victorian Premier league clubs and 2 with State Division two clubs.

Daniel Giogha - Whittlesea Zebras
Nick Sarbin - Whittlesea Zebras
Andrew Taylor - Heidelberg United
John Ferguson - Sunshine George Cross
Taan Pivasiri - Diamond Valley United
Alex Scott - Banyule United

This tells us that we are on the right track and is a fine endorsement of the standard of our excellent coaches and the work we are doing at the Academy.
Five of the six players were members of our DOC United U/18 team last season that finished 4th in the league, which was a remarkably achievement as they were put in the league against all the Premier league U/18 teams.
In September we are taking Daniel, Nick and Andrew to trial with Sheffield Wednesday and I have high hopes that at least one of the three will be offered a contract.
We wish all six boy's every success for the future and we will be monitoring their progress with great interest.

DOC PLAYERS FLYING HIGH!

Last Season our U/18 team were put in the top league competing with premier and division one teams. After a shaky start they found their feet and ended up finishing in 4th place which was a fantastic effort from the boys and coach Neil Pearson.
This was a remarkable feat when you consider the fact that seven of the squad were young enough to play for our U/16 team and in the run in to the end of the season beat established clubs like Heidelberg United ( 5-0 ) Altona East ( 10-1 ) and Preston Lions ( 5-1 )
Four players from that team are now starting to make their way in Professional football after leaving DOC Academy to follow their dreams. Daniel Giogha ( Whittlesea Zebras ) John Ferguson ( Sunshine George Cross ) Andrew Taylor ( Heidelberg United ) and Taan Pivasiri ( Diamond Valley United )
Nicolas Sarbin another of our Academy players is in his second season with Whittlesea Zebras and has already made his debut with the first team.
Daniel and Nick both played in the Whittlesea's reserve team recently and both scored in a 6-2 win against Oakleigh.
This is a fabulous endorsement for our Academy and it proves to us that we are on the right track with the development of our kids, it also speaks highly of the standard of coaching they receive from our highly skilled coaching staff.

NEW OFFICE MANAGER APPOINTED

DOC Football is very pleased to announce the appointment of Angelina Fun as the new Office Manager.
Angelina hails from Singapore and has been with us for three years, most of you will know her as she has been at the desk Saturday mornings and responsible for collecting registrations each term.
She is married to DOC Football coach Jason Fun and the proud mother of three children Amos, Ashleigh and Anthea.
Angelina will start on Monday 19th January when the DOC Football office opens for 2009.

NEW POST AT DOC FOR MARIE

Marie Attlee has resigned as Office manager for DOC Football to take up a new job with the education department. We are sorry to lose Marie and thank her for the good work she has done for us over the past eighteen months, our loss will definitely be someone else's gain.
We wont lose Marie completely though as she has enjoyed working with us so much that she asked if she could still stay involved in some way.
So we are pleased to announce that Marie will be in charge of our sponsorship and fund raising department.

JASON GAINS YOUTH LICENCE

Congratulations to Jason Fun on passing his youth licence recently which is added to the Junior licence that he achieved in 2007.
Jason is a valued member of DOC Football and its good to see him gaining his coaching badges. I am sure he has picked up a lot of knowledge watching and learning from our very experienced coaches such as Neil, Kevin, Pat, Wes and Bill and of course he will pass this knowledge on to our DOC Kids.
Well done Jason.

SOCCER ACADEMY EXPANDS!

Due to the huge success of our Academy in Eltham, we are pleased to announce the opening of a second location in Greensborough commencing on Saturday, 11th October 2008, conveniently located just off the ring road for easy access to all areas. Based at Greensborough College which has top class facilities fitting for our top class Academy.
The Academy will run Saturday morning and Wednesday afternoon and this is the opportunity for all kids to develop their skills and techniques making them better players for their Clubs in 2009.
The Academy caters for boys and girls of all abilities from 4 - 18 years of age.
We are proud to have a professional coaching staff of sheer quality that combines years of both playing and coaching experience.
Affiliated to an English League Club, we can give kids the opportunity to realize their dreams if they are good enough, or for those simply wanting to play for fun and fitness we will improve your skills and understanding of the game.
For full details contact David on 0402 520 888 or 8418 0363 and also ask about schools soccer scholarships plus our exciting Christmas holiday soccer camps located at 4 different venues. We also have sessions that cater for men, women and Veterans to all ages.
Don't delay join the Soccer revolution that is sweeping the nation.

REGISTRATIONS NOW OPEN FOR 2009 LEAGUES

DOC Football Academy will play in the Football Federation of Victoria leagues in 2009.
We will cater for everyone covering all age groups from U/8 to U/18. The little ones will not miss out either, as we will run internal leagues for them so everyone can register and be part of the Academies history as we move forward to a new era. The Academy teams playing in the leagues will be known as DOC United Football Club.

Each team will have a Quality paid Professional Coach, not a volunteer parent, and there will be no coach with their son or daughter in their team so that there can be no claims of favoritism etc.

We want to develop our children and give them the opportunity to reach their maximum potential. We will leave no stone unturned to insure our Academy kids get the best of everything and having the Eltham College ground for our home games clearly means that we have the best as it is a joy to both look at and play on. During winter we will be able to train on the new all weather pitch that is currently being built complete with floodlights across the road behind the school.

We are a feeder club to English league club Rotherham United so any of our Academy kids who want to become professional footballers have a stepping stone if they are good enough.

So come on download a registration form now and send your registration details so that you can be a part of our Soccer revolution.

JOIN THE DOC FOOTBALL ACADEMY NOW WHERE THE FOOTBALL NEVER STOPS

Click here to download the Registration form for 2009 leagues

AT LAST A TOUCH OF CLASS

Over the many years that the Academy has been going, both here and in Singapore, children turn up in many different soccer kits. Manchester United are the most popular, with Liverpool , Chelsea and Arsenal also quite prominent.
We have all sorts of tops turning up and we even allowed entry to the one poor misguided child who turned up in a Sheffield United top, but now at last after years of waiting we have at last a touch of real class ascended upon us thanks to Alana Taylor and Katrina Attlee who joined the Academy this term.
 
In the picture above Alana (on the left) and Katrina are in their Sheffield Wednesday kits and how classy do they look. The girls mothers, Sue and Marie, are both from Sheffield and of course follow Sheffield Wednesday, the pride of the north.
The photo was taken after the girls took part in our Easter holiday soccer camp and as you can see both girls won medals but then they must be winners if they follow the mighty OWLS..
 
Three of the Academy coaches David, Neil and Patrick are from the Sheffield area and while David is a big Wednesday fan, poor old Neil and Patrick sadly follow the losers from the other side of the city. Next time you see Neil and Patrick tell them how sorry you are for them.

PREMIER LEAGUE VISIT OPENS NEW ERA FOR DOC ACADEMY

Our recent visit to Premier league club Sheffield United was a huge success and has opened the way for other ventures heralding a new era for the Academy with a follow up tour of the U.K. planned for January 2009.

Four of our promising youngsters were selected for the trip by our coaching staff to travel to England and be assessed by the Yorkshire club with the tour funded by the DOC Academy.

We were made to feel very welcome by Sheffield United and their staff with Greg Batten in particular who could not do enough for us. Greg spent hours with David O'Connor giving him a tour of their Academy in detail.

Jordan Odd, Richard Furguson, Nathan Long and Trey O'Sullivan trained at United's highly rated football Academy mixing with an elite bunch of players hand picked by Sheffield United from all around the country. We wanted to see how our players would go against the talent in Europe and it has to be said that our boys did themselves and the DOC Academy proud as head of United's Academy Greg Batten commented that they did not look out of place at all.

We feel we are doing things right at the DOC Academy as the boys were certainly up there on a skill level however the pace of the game is much faster in England and their players move the ball around a lot quicker. The trip was a learning experience not just for the four boys but for the DOC Academy as we need to know that what we are teaching our kids is up to date and that they are getting the best coaching possible. On what we saw at the very impressive Sheffield Academy we are satisfied that what we are doing here is definitely in the right direction.

All in all it was a great experience for the lads and I am sure they will remember the experience for a very long time.

BAD WEATHER

During the winter months there is goig to be the odd Saturday that we will have to cancel training due to bad weather. In order not to inconvenience you it is advisable that if you have any doubt you should ring me on my mobile before setting out as I normally get to the ground at 7.30am to inspect the field. My mobile number is: 0402 520 888.

ACADEMY STRUCTURE

SOCCER KICK: This is for beginners to sport and our objective is for the children to relate soccer to fun. In the first half of the session we teach them the basics and have lots of fun games related to soccer. The second half of each session is giving them games of soccer.

DOC KICK: This is the step up from soccer kick and for children that have been playing the game for some time. At DOC Kick the kids are assessed and put in to groups of their own ability. We will however put some children into older groups if this is warranted by their ability. In DOC Kick they are taught to play the game and coaching is stepped up to a higher level

DOC ACADEMY: Players only enter into the Academy once they have proven a certain level of ability and it is by invitation only. They are coached on all aspects of the game at an elite level. Once they have reached this level they are very talented and disicplined footballers.The Academy will open doors to the A-league and overseas to any players that we feel is good enough. In January we will send 3 elite players to England to train with a Premier league team

IDENTIFYING ELITE PLAYERS

Soccer in Australia has never looked in better shape with Australia qualifying for the world cup plus the A league attracting big crowds and Aussie players making it big overseas. Players like Harry Kewell (Liverpool) Mark Viduka ( Middlesborough) and Tim Cahill ( Everton) etc in the English Premier league plus others in just about every other major league in the world. There are over a hundred Aussie professional players plying their trade with big time clubs and because of this the football world has its eyes on Australia.

In Europe clubs pick up kids from as young as 7 years of age and put them into their Academies where they are coached and closely monitored as they move through the academy from year to year. Of course most of the children don’t fulfill their potential and are released to be replaced by others but the elite ones will go all the way and make it.
The Doc Academy has a number of talented kids training with us and there are about six of them that we have identified as kids that we believe have the potential of making it as professional players. The Academy will develop these players and open the right doors for them to give them every possibility of becoming the next Kewell or Viduka.