On Sunday a question was answered as to whether or not the six-year Shepparton Junior Soccer Association experiment has been worth it.
With all three entered teams returning grand final wins in the AFS Shepparton Cup, the answer is a resounding, undoubted, yes.
The SJSA under-10s and under-12s secured cup victories while the under-11s left with the plate, signalling a clean sweep from the ‘‘green machine’’ in the three-day event.
“The tournament in all honesty was amazing,” SJSA technical director David Davkovski said.
“After a four-year hiatus with the floods and COVID it was it was just really good to see all the kids running around on the park.
“That was a real winner, also getting a bit of stimulus back into the local economy; restaurants booked out, motels fully booked ― it was really good.
“And the event was well organised again, so it’s a credit to the AFS team.”
The under-10s, coached by Tommy Giuliani, went through their pool unbeaten before beating Keilor Park 2-1 in the cup final.
Paul Nieuwenhuizen’s under-11s finished the group in third, progressing to the plate final where they toppled North East FC 1-0.
And the under-12s, led by Davkovski, won five games straight which included a 4-0 thrashing of The 12th Player Academy in the cup final.
“The program was originally designed six years ago and put into play five years ago and to see these kids come up and beat some top NPL teams was just evidence that what we’ve done is a good thing,” Davkovski said.
“It’s just a little bit of evidence and a little bit of reassurance for the plan and that it really works.
“To get all the parents around us afterwards, there were just so many text messages going out on Sunday night.
“The phone was red-hot with multiple text messages from parents just thanking us for everything that we’ve done.
“People are coming up and saying ‘oh great tournament’, but it’s not the tournament, it’s five years (in the making).”
The standard of play from SJSA was so good Davkovski said he had coaches coming up to him asking what academy they’re from.
That in itself was enough to know the program has been a raging success.
“We’re far from an academy, we’re a school-based competition and we’ve only trained one hour a week for the last five years,” he said with a laugh.
“People just couldn’t believe it, the quality of play was just unbelievable.
“It was awesome to be honest, I’m completely humbled with the whole thing.
“Also, a special mention goes out to our parents’ behaviour on the sidelines ― by far our parents were the best behaved.”