Highlands soccer on Saturday May 4 was a day of north end Gala Days and Cup matches combined with the usual round matches for those not involved in a cup or gala day.
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With the U6s at David Wood at East Bowral, the U8s at Joe Smith at Yerrinbool and the U12s and 13s at the Antony Liberale Cup at Hill Top for extended hours it's a big logistical challenge for clubs and families alike.
Coaches, managers and parents often have to be in two or three places at once and this is where our 'family club' culture really comes into its own.
Mums, dads, coaches and managers all muck in, collecting each other's children, getting them to their venues, ensuring they have a water bottle or a jumper and some verbal encouragement and then returning them all to their own, or temporary 'for the day', parents at other venues.
It takes some planning and as always there are last minute solutions made on the run for medical emergencies resulting in coaches not being able to run their gala day, or parents who have been called in to work.
Somehow every player gets to where they need to be, participates in their match or gala day, and then is returned to their family rather more tired than when they started out.
For some we leave town at 7am and get back for dinner around 5pm. Thank goodness for Peggy's Bistro at our local Robertson Bowling Club. They're open all day and are always ready to meet the days hunger with efficient, hearty meals - even if we arrive slightly earlier than the traditional dinner service.
Our U12s and U13s teams participated in the Antony Liberale Cup at Hill Top.
It was an early start and a long day and quite a challenge to get the kids to manage their enthusiasm and pace themselves to last the day. The U12s team ran with the bare 11 and the U13s with just 9 - 2 short - due to a camp weekend that saw a good number of players out for the day.
The matches were short, sharp 10 minute sprints - a challenge for teams used to being able to play themselves into a match.
The U13s did amazingly well given they were two players down. With no subs there was no opportunity for rest but they managed to top their pool. The fatigue and number of players made a difference in the semi-final though and they went down 1-0 to Moss Vale who went on to win the competition.
A highlight was the performance of Hill Top's U13s goalkeeper who despite at times being peppered continued to defend their goal with great determination and also managed to save a penalty.
Clubs love hosting a gala day but what an effort it takes to do so! There is weeks of planning and often a bit of angst in the lead up attempting to cover all the man hours required to prepare and make it through the day.
Thanks Hill Top, Yerrinbool and Bowral for hosting this time. Next week sees Moss Vale, Exeter and Bundanoon have their turn along with Robertson when we host the U10s Beryl Fitzgerald Cup.
We all hope for reasonable weather and good coffee.
The U15s met Yerrinbool at Joe Smith and with a depleted team suffered a hard loss going down 9-2, with their Machiavello hitting the double hat trick with 6. But there's always a positive and to get two back with nine against is something to be proud of.
Speedy Ethan Shobrook hit the back of the net twice - that kid can run.
The Robertson Gold ladies played Mittagong Yellow in their Noelene Munro Cup match at Ironmines, with the coach and a number of players racing from the Hill Top gala day prior to its completion to make their own match.
Thank you to Kurt for not only stepping in as coach for the U13s but also delivering a number of the players to their parents at Mittagong afterwards before travelling to his own match at David Wood. Despite working hard the ladies went down 1-0 with some disappointment.
Newcomer Josie found her feet working hard in defence, and the young ladies pushed hard up front with mentor Lizzie Green attempting to choreograph some scoring which never quite worked out.
The Robertson Maroon ladies met Moss Vale Black in their Noelene Munro Cup match at David Wood and comfortably came away with a 5-0 win.
Young ladies Shenoah Furniss and Jemma Coulter both found the back of the net, along with Taylor Bopping and ever reliable Natasha Wann got a double.
The men's George Auld Cup, although at David Wood, was a local derby with the maroon men taking on the gold men.
Our new team shirts came into their own with the maroon men in their maroon versions and the gold men in their gold versions. They played a good natured but competitive match and although the result might not suggest it the gold men didn't make it easy for their maroon club mates.
The maroon men took the match 7-1 with four goals to Will Hore, two to Mason King and one to the big man David Wright, showing the way as their youth grade coach.
The gold men's Yeison Guevara scored their only goal. It's a credit to the maroon team that they didn't have more scored against them as the tenacity of the gold guys was evident throughout.
Even as the stiffness of the days matches just starts to build the coaches and committee already turn their mind to the next week of matches and what is required to make them happen.
Go Robbo.
