Waimak United Football Club eNewsletter

Waimak United Football Club

Issue Three

19th August 2021 Newsletter

We are coming into the last 4 weeks of the season, we have many opportunities for football outside the winter season. If you have any further queries please feel free to contact General Manager Amy Pawson on waimakunited@xtra.co.nz or Football Development Officer Adam Keizer on fdo.waimak@yahoo.com.

Upcoming Events:

Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd August- No Football this weekend - NZ Football Announcement.

Saturday 4th September- Last day of football for In-house competition. Junior and Youth Mainland Competition- TBC.

Saturday 11th September- End of season for Senior Football- TBC.

In-house prize giving- Maria Andrews. All groups- First Kicks, Fun Football and Mini Football. From 10am-1pm.

Sunday 12th September- Junior and Youth Prize giving at A&P Showgrounds from 1pm (Juniors- 9th-12th grade), 3pm (Youth- 13th-18th grade).

Friday 17th September- Senior Prize giving at RSA in Rangiora from 7pm.

Sunday 3rd October and Monday 4th October- 9th Grade Festival at Maria Andrews.

Sunday 10th October- Tuesday 12th October- 12th & 14th Grade Girls Regional Tournament.

Tuesday 5th- Saturday 16th October- Regional Tournaments.

MainPower Stadium

The MainPower Stadium on Coldstream road opened to the public on Sunday 8th August. Waimak United Football Club were down there showcasing our new Futsal programmes. Thank you to the teams who came down to be involved.

Our new Futsal programmes (indoor football) were one of the first programmes to start in the new stadium and were a success. It was great to see so many members and non members giving Futsal a go. If you are keen to give Futsal a try and would like more information please feel free to contact Adam Keizer our Football Development Officer on fdo.waimak@yahoo.com.

“We’re aiming to become a leading club in the South Island” – Waimak Utd FDO Adam Keizer

Waimak United Football Development Officer Adam Keizer has laid out the clubs ambitions to become a leading community club in the South Island over the next 5 years.

The club moved its headquarters to the new $28 million Mainpower Stadium in Rangiora this week, that boasts 4 futsal courts, a state of the art gym facility , a Prama room and offices and meeting rooms that will play a huge role in the clubs future according to Keizer.

“With the turf at Kendall Park and now the incredible facilities at the Mainpower Stadium, Waimak United is now is a position to really reach our full potential over the next five years”, said Keizer.

“It don’t think there is many clubs in the South Island that has the facilities we have and with our membership growing rapidly each year we have the opportunity to push towards becoming a lead community football club in the South Island. I know that in the past the club may have had a stigma as that club up North who no one wanted to play against or some perceived negative aspects in terms of culture but I don’t think that’s the case anymore. I see Waimak United as a progressive forward thinking club with clear club values, a positive and inclusive club culture and excellent standards across the board. ”

The Mak established a number of free community football programmes this year, including the Excel which saw over 300 young people gain free football for 8 weeks prior to the season starting and will running again in term 4 for the off season. Over the past 2 months the club has also been running a free Girls programme for ages 4 to 8 years old with all the clubs community sessions delivered on the turf at Kendall Park. This week has seen the club begin its new Futsal provision at the Mainpower Stadium with over 200 players aged 4 to 50+ booked on to take advantage of the new stadium each week.

“Our community programmes have been really well received, I think it’s important football clubs try to make the sport as accessible as possible to the wider community and next year our aim is to begin to really grow in that area and start working heavily with local schools and organisations to get as many kids in North Canterbury experiencing football and having fun playing”, added Keizer. “But what’s really exciting is we are also in a position to now establish a leading coach and player development set up here using the Turf and the Mainpower Stadium to give aspiring players a chance to reach the highest levels they can. Our youth and senior 1st teams will get access to an extensive training schedule that includes quality training on the turf, strength and conditioning in the gym, agility and coordination sessions with the Prama room and video analysis sessions at the stadium. We have already shown we have a good level of youth boys and girls coming through the club in every age group and now I think we can start to take this to the next level.”

One of the main ambitions for the club over the coming years is to become one the largest football clubs for female participation.

“With the Womens World Cup coming to NZ in 2023 we are going to be investing a lot of resources into growing our female numbers, not just in terms of players but also coaches and giving girls the same level of player development opportunities you currently see in the boys grades, in terms of qualified coaches, number of training sessions and all the other additional programmes we are putting in place with the new facility. We have a history of producing Football Ferns in North Canterbury and now the next generation of Waimak girls have the best possible opportunity to aim for the top. ”

For any information on player development or futsal opportunities or if you are keen to get involved with the club you can contact Adam at fdo.waimak@yahoo.com.

Club Photos & Canterbury United Club Cards

Club photos have arrived. Most have received both team photos and cards, however there will be Mainland competition teams who are waiting on club cards and team photos. These will be given out next weekend. For In-house these were handed out at the end of the session last Saturday 14th August, however there are some teams photos that are still outstanding.

Canterbury United Club cards have deals for our members. We do have a few that are outstanding and will get these out before the end of the season. See below the link with information as to the deals.

Canterbury Club Cards

End of Season and Club Prize Giving

The last day of the season for our In-house is Saturday 4th September. Junior and Youth were also set to finish on this day, however with the suspension of football this weekend, we will reconfirm end of season dates.

This is the same for senior football which was due to finish on 11th/12th September. We will reconfirm dates once more information is given.

With the end of season coming up, prize giving dates have been set. Please keep these dates free to attend.

Calling all referees and volunteers needed

Waimak United are holding our 9th grade Festival at Maria Andrews in Rangiora on Sunday 3rd and Monday 4th October.

We are needing volunteers to help with refereeing at the festival as well as helping to set up and pack up. Referees are refereeing 7-a-side football on a junior pitch.

Waimak United are also hosting the 12th and 14th grade girls Regional Tournament on Sunday 10th, Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th October at Kendall park in Kaiapoi.

We are needing volunteers to help with refereeing at the tournament as well as helping to set up and pack up. Referees are refereeing 9-a-side football on a intermediate pitch and 11-a-side football on a senior pitch.

Please email Amy at waimakmarketing@outlook.com if you are able to help.

We have had a fantastic 10 weeks for the first part of our Excel programme. The Excel programme will recommence later in the year for the further 6 weeks.

Waimak United Football Club are excited to announce our Excel sponsors. We are very grateful for their generosity and support of the programme which delivers free football to our football and local community. Without their support we wouldn't be able to make this happen.

If you have a business and keen to sponsor our Excel programme, see below for more details.

Here at Waimak United we are very lucky to have a state of the art Turf pitch at Kendall Park, Kaiapoi that allows us to provide a quality football experience for young people within our community.

The Excel programme was inspired by time FDO Adam Keizer spent in Germany completing a work experience at Borussia Dortmund where the focus as a football club is getting as many children as possible from our local catchment area playing football in a non pressured environment, one where they can make new friends and have lots of time on the ball playing fun age appropriate games and training activities.

In term 4 Excel will be running. Registrations will open in mid September with more details to come.

How can we afford to offer FREE football training?

Here at Waimak United, we can not be reliant on funding given the current climate see funding options limited and no guarantee of getting funding each year means we can not run a long term successful football development programme by relying on funding.

Equally we want to ensure we can run the Excel programme every year and sustain it as a long term programme, given the huge demand and positive impact it can have on young people in our local community.

Therefore we are looking for local businesses to support our Excel Programme and ensure we can provide FREE football to as many children in North Canterbury as we can, simply by becoming an Excel Patron.

Excel Patron - Support FREE sport in North Canterbury

For only $1,000 local business can become an Official Waimak Excel Patron and help us deliver this fantastic programme every year.

As an Excel Patron, local businesses will receive;

Promotion on our club facebook page and website
Promotion via direct communication with our members throughout the year
A FREE advertising board at Kendall Park to promote your business for 12 months
A lot of goodwill from the local community for being seen to help support local free sports initiatives to hundreds of local children in North Canterbury.

If you have a business or know anyone who may be keen to become an Excel Patron please email Adam at fdo.waimak@yahoo.com. If we get local businesses supporting this we can provide something truly awesome for our North Canterbury kids without having to go into town to get quality sporting opportunities that is accessible to all and for free! If we get enough support through the Patrons I am sure we can grow the Excel to well over 500 kids per week.