Thank you for visiting us. The information below will answer most of your questions to do with our club and programs. Please feel free to get in touch directly with us if you have further questions after reading this.

About us

We are a not-for-profit community soccer club started in 2018 in response to strong population growth and demand for another choice in soccer training for the area. We welcome new players into the club any time, as a result we have experienced steady growth and we hope to continue to welcome new players and their families any time.

Facilities

At the moment we have been allocated a home ground at Lakeside Recreation Reserve on Shearwater Drive, next to Pakenham Lakeside Primary School.

We also have a relationship with Heritage College in Officer and Beaconhills College in Pakenham whose facilities we hire on a seasonal basis as necessary to accommodate training and/or games when it's not possible to do so at our home ground.

Days of the week

Our Pre-season training (school term 1) will take place on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

During the Winter competition season (school terms 2 & 3), we train on Tuesday's, Wednesday's or  Thursday evenings depending on the age group, with matches played on either Saturday or Sunday mornings depending on the preferences of the majority in a team.

Junior football programs

Age groups:

If a player turns 4 in a calendar year, they're considered as Under-4 in that year for the purposes of forming teams under Football Victoria's guidance. The system is flexible however, so players may play below or above their age group depending on availability of squads and/or their own abilities as well as a range of other factors. Our goals are to provide players with good football and club experiences, so when we're allocating teams, we consider age, abilities, team availabilities, current friendships and bonds between players and their families, amongst other factors.

Beginner Training for 4-7 year-old players (MiniRoos Kick Off Program):

We offer beginner training for this age group.

• Schedule: This program is usually a once or twice a week program. Programs generally run in-line with the school terms and players can join these programs at any time.
• Costs for these programs are generally $60-80 for an 8-week program (depending on the frequency of training) plus a Football Victoria fee of $40 (once a year only) giving each player insurance and a starter pack (boot bag, ball, shin guards and water bottle). 

Competition Training for ages 7 and above year-old players:

These older players also train in line with the school terms.

• Schedule: Pre-season training generally starts in Term 1 and spans the 8-9 weeks prior to the Winter competitions season which starts in Term 2 (April).  The Pre-season is designed for players to get to know each other and form squads in preparation for the competitions. Training takes place either once or twice a week depending on the team and towards the end of this period, players will usually have adequate competency and confidence to play in competition squads for Home and Away matches against other clubs on the weekends during the season. The competition season spans Terms 2 and 3 (April to September) and normally has 18 rounds of home and away matches. During the competition season, players will train and play a match on either Saturday or Sunday morning depending on the league they choose to participate in. At the end of this, players will have a Presentation event to be recognised for their achievements. Spring training starts in Term 4 and is a time of relaxed skills development usually done once per week to allow players the option of participating in a summer sport.
• Competition leagues organised by Football Victoria cater for all experience levels (see below) playing on either Saturday or Sunday mornings. 

• Experience levels: Football Victoria leagues are generally grouped by competency levels to match players with those of the same competencies in order to maximise enjoyment of participation. These levels are Joeys, Wallabies and Kangaroos:
• Joeys level is generally for beginners playing for the first time or the equivalent in ability. 
• Wallabies level is for players who’ve had 2-3 years of experience or the equivalent in ability.
• Kangaroos level is for players who’ve been playing since very young so have had at least 3 years of experience or the equivalent in ability.

Youth & Senior Football

We are looking to develop players from Under-12 and above for the 2022 season. Please let us know if you would like to be involved in building a squad for Youth teams.

Likewise for players 18 years and older, if you would like to be involved in the development of a senior team for the club, please let us know.

Female participation

Currently all our groups and squads are mixed gender, but we understand girls have more fun playing in an all female environment so we're keen to develop this in our club. If you'd like to champion this cause, please let us know. 

Holidays & Breaks

We break when there's a public holiday, long weekend or school holidays to allow families the option of other activities and travel.

TRIALS & COMMUNICATION

New players are encouraged to attend up to 3 trial sessions to help them decide whether or not they would like to play longer. Registration for trials is strictly via Team App as follows:

1. Register a profile for yourself (not your child) on this Team App website or by installing the phone app (our preference);
2. Join our app by searching for "Officer City Soccer Club" on Team App then join the access group "Trial / Enquiries". When prompted, you can leave us a message as follows: "Trialling".
3. When filling in your details, the only compulsory information are your name, gender, email & phone, and the 3 questions about the trialling player, coaching and volunteering at the club.
4. If you don't have the phone app, you can go to OfficerCitySoccerClub.TeamApp.com to use this app via a web browser. In this case, our communications with you will cause an email to be sent to you (instead of the notification directly via the phone app), so please ensure that emails from us or from Team App don't end up in your Spam/Junk Mail.

Please note, we use Team App to make it easier to communicate with everyone, so it's imperative that you at least be on our Team App using PC and email if you don't want to install it on your smartphone.

If you're not on Team App:

• you won’t receive training session reminders or notifications on changes of location or cancellation due to inclement weather;
• you won’t receive updates on the club’s programs, etc.
• you won’t be on the coach’s attendance list;
• you can’t RSVP to training sessions or let the coach know your availabilities;

COACHING

To become the best community club, we want to empower parents with knowledge and skills to take up a coaching role so that our players will have the best training at the lowest cost possible. We do this by:

1. providing plenty of support to parents in terms of coach training options, reimbursement of training costs;
2. providing easy access to coaching info, tools and material;
3. payment of coaching honoraria aimed at reimbursing costs associated with being a member of the club, in recognition of your dedication, effort and time.

Please speak to us about becoming a coach, especially if your child is playing at u6 level and will be moving into U7 next year.

If you have any further questions or need any help, please send us a message via

our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OfficerCitySoccerClub/

or

email: enquiries@officercitysc.com.au

Cheree Appledore - Club President