By Dongyun Kwon
After wrapping up the 2024 season, Healesville Soccer Club turned its gaze towards the last competition of the year.
Christian Football Federation Australia National Titles was held at the home of the Matildas, the Victorian State Football Centre in Bundoora from 4 to 7 October.
Healesville Soccer Club members participated in the tournament with different roles as players, coaches and volunteers.
Gordon Koel is one of the players who represented Victoria in the Under 14s division.
He played left back for the team and ended up bringing a gold medal to Healesville.
Koel said he was extremely happy about being part of the team that managed to win the title.
“The teammates and the coach were all super accepting and were really good people to play with and just be around,” he said.
“Our grand final opponent was New South Wales and we won 1:0, which overall played very well.”
Koel is well known within Healesville Soccer Club for his consistent hard work and passion to improve his skills.
Lindsay McKie, who has coached him for about four years at the Healesville Soccer Club, was one of the people who was impressed by Koel’s attitude toward soccer.
McKie said if he is picking a team, Koel is one of the first kids he will pick because he is determined to improve and helps everyone around him.
“He is one of the best kids you’ll ever meet, he is incredibly well driven and disciplined,” he said.
“When I came across in the Under 12s, Gordon had already been playing for a few years, but he was probably a fringe player, so he wasn’t in the best five or six in the team.
“Between Under 12s and 13s, he spent most of that summer working with one of the best players in the team to get himself better, and he got himself into the best four or five in the team. He put gym routines and fitness regimes in place for himself and tried to get others involved.”
Koel has played for the club for about four years, primarily playing for the defence line either centre back or right back but also striker occasionally.
The coach said Koel is a reliable defender, and his team has given him a nickname of The Great Wall of Gordon.
“No one gets past him,” McKie said.
“Because I was coaching [one of the teams in the Nationals], I was lucky enough to be there and watch his games.
“We were so proud of his effort, ability and how far he has come.”
Koel said both experiences of playing for a local soccer club and representing Victoria in the national competition were incredible.
“It was tough starting out [at Healesville Soccer Club]. I started in a team where a lot of players were already very good and older than me,” he said.
“They are incredibly good players with demeanour and a great supportive attitude who helped me improve a lot.”
Another four Healesville Soccer Club members, including coach Lindsay McKie, were involved in the Victorian Men’s Development Team at the Christian Football Federation Australia Nationals as players and coaches.
The team advanced to the grand final but they were defeated by Queensland by one point at the penalty shootout after each team shared one goal during the regular time.
McKie said he was disappointed that they didn’t make it to win the title.
“But it was an extremely close game. [The Nationals] was a great learning opportunity for the assistant coach Joseph McLachlan, two Healesville players Johnny and Josh,” he said.
“Johnny quickly became one of the leaders of the group, we named him vice captain. Although he was really sick during the tournament, he still ended up playing and we’re proud of his effort.
“Josh, in my opinion, would have been one of the best three players in my team.”
The Victorian Men’s Development Team was announced in June and had some practice matches as well as training sessions before the Nationals.
To build a good camaraderie among the players in a short period of time, the coach didn’t announce captains until the final week of training.
“We wanted to see who the natural leaders were and who people gravitated towards,” McKie said.
“We thought if we announced it early, we might restrict someone’s potential. They might pop up late and we didn’t want them to feel like they couldn’t say things.
“During training, we would run the same drills over and over so that players felt confident in what they were doing, so they focused less on learning what we were doing and spent more time on interacting with each other.”
Lindsay McKie, who started his coaching journey at the age of 13, has been involved in Healesville Soccer Club as a coach and a player for about five years.
After having experience of coaching with a few other clubs, McKie started coaching a junior team in Healesville.
“This year, I coached juniors Under 15s, I’ve coached this team since they were Under 12s. My son’s in that team too,” he said.
“We won the division and the title last year but this year we actually came last because we lost a few players.
“We improved but so did the league and unfortunately, they just improved a bit better than we did.”
Healesville Soccer Club vice president Leesa Riley was on the organising committee of the national tournament and supported the competition as volunteer coordinator during the tournament.
Riley said the tournament was run by volunteers.
“During the tournament, there were 12 dedicated volunteers across the time, and all of the committee were volunteers as well,” she said.
“I coordinated all the volunteers that gave their time across the tournament to help the tournament run smoothly.”
This year nine Healesville players participated in the Nationals, an increase from four last year.
Riley said it was exciting to have so much involvement and interest from Healesville Soccer Club.
“I’m really proud that Healesville had so many volunteers that were willing to give their time to the tournament to make a good experience for the players,” she said.
“In terms of the player side of Healesville participation, [the increased number] shows the growth in the skills of our players and how progressive Healesville is becoming a talented club with lots of talented players.
“Gordon has done an amazing job, and Ava, who participated in the last year’s Nationals, was the youngest in the squad last year and this year she captained the team, which shows the growth in our players.”
