Steve Gordon calls it quits

Around three years ago Steve began the Highlands junior soccer development program.

This program took a bunch of the most talented young nine and ten-year-old players in the local Association each season and began working very hard with them right through the year, summer and winter.

The pick of these kids ended up in the Highlands Junior League sides playing in the Sydney based competition.

Two nights a week, hail, rain and shine, but more often on cold, frosty nights, Steve travelled to Mittagong’s Ironmines oval or Yerrinbool or Hill Top to work with these kids until after 8pm.

Then on Sundays it was off to Sutherland, Nowra, Blacktown, the Central Coast or wherever the junior league competition took them.

In his spare time he put together coaching schedules, marked the kids home training programs, attended meetings, phoned parents, attended coaching clinics and did a million other little things to ensure it all worked.

Former Development Squad coach, Geoff Duxfield said on Sunday that Steve Gordon has lifted the standard of junior soccer on the Highlands to a new level and his loss to the local scene will be a significant one.

“These kids couldn’t have had a better coach.”

Next month Steve is travelling to Europe with his son Adam’s Bankstown soccer side where they will play in Belgium, Germany, Austria and Holland.

While he is there he hopes to look closely at European training technique and the superb facilities they have for soccer.

The qualified Dutch Coerver coach will then make a decision about where he will coach next year.

In a sporting career spanning many highlights, Steve said on Sunday he has gained the most satisfaction from seeing the current twelves side through from being raw club players three years ago to the level they play at now, competing with the best in the State.

He said these lads can now play soccer anywhere and not be intimidated by the standard, “matching it with anyone wherever they go.”

The general consensus among parents after Sunday’s game was that they had indeed been fortunate to have a person of Steve Gordon’s calibre and dedication looking after their kids.

They reckon he has been a terrific role model and also taught them a lot about soccer.

“But more importantly,” said one, “he has instilled a culture of discipline and commitment that they will hopefully carry on through life, both on and off the sporting field.”

And the thing he is going to miss most - “training at Ironmines oval on those frosty Highlands nights with that lovely smell of mushroom compost wafting up your nose in the crisp evening air.”