2021 - A year in review 

If 2020 was the year that nobody expected, then 2021 was like a sequel to a film that we didn't like in the first place. Like most things in life, we were able to learn and reflect on the things that we found to be most important to us and start to realise what we could quite easily do without. 

Football was not one of those parts of our DNA that we could do without, and we saw this with the return of our children to school and training. Competitions were not able to resume at a school level, so we were left with lots of unfinished business and chances to grow and develop stronger relationships with each other and with the game that we love.

Thank you to all the students in the Keilor Downs College Soccer School for their resilience and commitment to their development in what was another challenging year globally. It was another chance for us all to learn about how strong we are when we are pushed to the limit when we have what we love taken away from us. Every disadvantage has an advantage, and we are so proud that our students were able to spend time working on Yoga and Pilates at home to give their bodies a new level of flexibility and strength that will be a mainstay in their growth as people and players in the future.

We were also able to create this iNewsletter to give some context to what we are doing at the KDC Soccer School and why we are doing it. We hope that this connection with our families and supporters continues to grow and we always welcome feedback and ways that we can improve what is always an evolving program that places the children at the forefront of our minds.

We can’t wait to launch the new and improved version of our program in 2022 and help differentiate the level of learning for each individual person in our program so that nobody gets left behind in the complex journey of youth development.

Our most prestigious award, the Sarah Lorca Medal, was awarded to year 11 student Octavio Montalvo for his performances is training, in competitions and especially his character in leading the charge for all members of our program with his attitude towards others. He often helped coach both younger boys and girls throughout the year and he is a fine fourth addition to our honour board, following on from Ayah Karim (2020), Phillip Lesar (2019) and of course, Sarah Lorca in 2018.

*Note - The iNewsletter will be published quarterly next year so that we can ensure quality content at the end of each school term.

KDC Soccer School coaches Josip Loncaric and George Katiforis