By JARROD POTTER
PARKMORE Pirates’ Junior Football Club will set sail towards 2015 with a burgeoning line-up of at least eight teams and for the first time, a Youth Girls’ team.
With teams in under-nine, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15, along with Premier under-17 divisions are set to compete in next year’s South East Juniors competition. Parkmore has grown rapidly in previous years and has decided to branch out into Youth Girls for the first time next season.
Parkmore president Michael Palma said the move to start up the first Youth Girls team club in the City of Greater Dandenong was to keep a trio of devoted Pirates juniors at the club after they reached the girls’ cut-off age, in boys’ football, of 14 years of age.
“We had three girls playing our under-14s and as you know the girls have to stop playing boys’ footy at under-14 level and the girls were reluctantly going to be going,” Palma said.
“We didn’t want that as they wanted to stay at the club and had been with us for a long time.
“So we said ‘ok girls, with your help we’ll just try and get the team together’ and the girls have started asking their friends.
“At the moment without even going out there too much there are eight or nine girls that we’re aware of that already have put their hand up.”
The club is hosting an information night on Monday 24 November and is encouraging players from all backgrounds and with all levels of experience to come along and join up.
Parkmore is also asking for expressions of interest in the development of an under-12 girls’ football team in complement to the 13 to 18 year-old Youth Girls team.
The information night will be held at Wachter Reserve Hall, Bloomfield Road Keysborough, from 7pm.
More information is available by contacting the club at youthgirls.parkmore@hotmail.com.
