Perfect pitch for juniors
North Geelong’s academy has moved into its new training base
NORTH Geelong’s junior academy has found a new home at Herne Hill’s Hurst Reserve.
The club has been bursting at the seams with junior numbers and the move from Hume Reserve to its new training pitches will ease the pressure on its set up.
The academy, which plays in local competition under the North Geelong Cardinals name, has more than 250 juniors on its books.
Academy director and former Croatian international Joey Didulica said the move to Hurst Reserve was a step in the right direction.
“North Geelong has exploded with junior numbers,” Didulica said.
“It’s been a long process, a massive process to get some junior grounds.
“It’s going to make it easier for our coaches. We used to have 17 teams on one little field.
“Now we have more space and we can cater for the teams that we have. And now the players we said no to, because we couldn’t cater for them, now we can say yes.
“And that’s the most important thing.”
Didulica praised Mayor Bruce Harwood, who helped North Geelong quickly secure a move to its venue.
“He was unbelievable,” Didulica said.
“He has helped us out immensely in such a short period. We were sort of kicked off the ground there at Hume Reserve, so the Mayor has come in and said, ‘We need to find a home for you guys’.
“He proposed Hurst Reserve and it’s been fantastic.”
Didulica said the pitches “definitely need some work” and expected that to happen in the near future.
Didulica said he has been able to channel into his contacts with overseas clubs including Ajax to produce the best possible junior program for North Geelong’s academy.
“The Cardinals are a branch of the North Geelong Warriors. We are the academy,” he said. “We cater for everyone. We’ve got the elite pathway, the community pathway.
“I’ve gone around to Ajax Amsterdam, I keep in touch with the people running the academies there ... We get all the junior development tools, the latest practice and the best practice.
“We try to combine that here into our culture and get the training program catered to every single individual in our program.
“We are bracing for the future. We have some great talent there and we want to nurture them and give them the best possible training we can.”