The future is looking bright for a group of under-15 Timaru footballers after completing a historic double last month.
Timaru United Sports Club’s boys under-15 development squad showed they were a cut above the rest this season winning both the Southern Development League and 15th grade South Island tournament held at Sir Basil Arthur Park in Timaru.
They are the first team from outside of Dunedin to win the Southern Development League — boasting an impressive 10 wins, three draws and a single loss.
They then scooped up the South Island tournament cup with a 2-1 victory over Marlborough 15th Boys after three days of gruelling tournament action in late September.
Coach Matthew Barber said although it was great to pick up the silverware his focus had always been on the development of his players.
‘‘We started the season in March with a preseason and then the league began in April,’’ Barber said.
‘‘I felt at the time I was pretty happy with what I had, we had some special players in there.
‘‘I don’t have expectations during the league, particularly because it is called a development league for a reason. It’s more about how can we develop those players more than what we’ve got.
‘‘The players themselves have to really want to be here and really want to improve their game and luckily this year, pretty much all of them did. Some progress a little bit quicker, some a little bit slower but it’s all about the work at training and games, and what they can get out of themselves.’’
He said to make it through a league campaign with just a single loss was a special achievement.
‘‘We just focused on the process, on what they can control, which is their actions, their hard work, and their learnings. Luckily they did all that and progressed heaps from the start of the season,’’ he said.
‘‘We’re pretty proud to be the first team outside of Dunedin to win it. In fact, this year, the top three were all from outside of Dunedin, which is really cool for the region, it shows that football isn’t just in the main centres.
‘‘We’ve always punched above our weight, and this year was even more satisfying in the fact that not only can we really compete against the leading teams, we can actually do pretty well and come out on top.’’
When it came to this year’s tournament, Barber said he believed his team had the right mentality and commitment to get the job done.
‘‘You go up against a Cashmere Tech for example, their academy programme is so much more inclusive than what I can offer here and they’ve also got hundreds more kids to choose from in the same age group.
‘‘Their ability, so to speak, could potentially be way more than us and in the past it’s been Timaru players going up to Christchurch to play a Christchurch team and they’re sort of beaten before they even get on the field because they feel maybe they’re a little bit inferior.
‘‘We’ve worked on that over the last two or three years to the point where we’re not as scared any more. The players trusted in what they’d been doing all season, and knew if there was a setback, then we could get back, and we could change things.’’
He said the team worked really hard across the three days and found a way to win.
‘‘I said to the players before we went out for the final, ‘I haven’t talked about results this year, but I do believe that you can go out and win this game . . .if you trust each other, trust the process and the game and give everything you’ve got, then I’m confident that you’ll get through’.
‘‘We had to hang on at stages in the game, in the second half, there was no score, it was just very much defending and working really hard as a team to keep a strong Marlborough side out.
‘‘They were so determined and the elation they showed at the end of the game was pretty cool. I’ve told it many, many times that this group has just been really special, so congratulations to them.’’
