Busy month ahead for football
We’ve just re-introduced beach soccer to the local sporting mix, with a series of tournaments and leagues scheduled to run through until the end of March.
With the help of the Eastlink Tennis Centre in Hamilton we’ve created a purpose-built venue for what is a fun and creative version of football.
We’re looking forward to seeing how it progresses.
We’ve also just completed girls and women’s week, which is an annual promotion of the female game.
We anticipate this will help generate interest for our girls only junior leagues, which have been growing in popularity during the couple of years we’ve run them.
This is an excellent entry point for girls to try and enjoy our wonderful sport.
Term 1 is also all about futsal, a small-sided, court-based variant of football.
We have various leagues and tournaments scheduled across the region, while WaiBOP’s women’s team has just completed their National Futsal League campaign, finishing as runnersup against the best female futsal sides in New Zealand.
Other things to look out for over the next month include our pre-season goalkeeper boot camps, which are booked in for nine venues across the region, Level 1 referee courses, and the start of our community football coach education courses.
Full information is available on our website.
-Karyn Walters is the chief executive of WaiBOP Football, one of seven district federations that leads, inspires and delivers football in New Zealand. WaiBOP covers the Waikato, Thames Valley, Bay of Plenty and King Country regions. Visit waibopfootball.co.nz.