By Tara Murray
Melton Phoenix is putting in plans for the club to head in a new direction.
Under new president Michelle Williamson, who came into the role six weeks ago, the club has formed a strategic plan focusing on the direction of the club between now and 2023.
Williamson said there had been a lot of work behind the scenes to get the plan in place, which brings the focus back to “All About Football”.
She said after a couple of tough years the club was in a good position off-field and was hoping that success would continue on-field.
She said with three other clubs in the Melton council area, including some much bigger clubs, Phoenix had to plan for the future.
“We have had tremendous growth over the past 18 months, doubling in size and in particular our girl’s teams,” she said.
“We’ve been getting a strategic plan in place with a lot of hard work.
“We have a brand new committee, We want to get back to focusing on the football.
“We’re trying to engage with the community and getting more participation.”
Making sure there were pathways for all players was a priority to give the players the best opportunity to play at higher levels.
Williamson said that drive was something that had been lacking in previous years despite it being a strength in the past.
She said they wanted children to be able to stay at the club, instead of ending up at other clubs to keep playing.
She said their specialised female program was another big focus.
The club has several junior girls teams, a kinder program and soccer mum’s program.
This year they were unable to field a women’s side, having previously had one.
“We want to get the women’s side back up and running next year,” she said.
“We want to have a competitive 11-a-side by 2023. Hopefully we’ll have a junior girls team for every second year soon.”
Encouragingly on the men’s program, most of their senior side is under 22.
Williamson said they were hoping that group could stick together and move through the ranks.
The club will also get updated facilities in the next few years, as part of stage 2 of the MacPherson Park master plan.
“It’s about getting the community feel and things going a bit better off-field,” Williamson said.
“Hopefully that turns into success on-field.”
On Saturday, the Melton Phoenix’s men’s state league 5 had a 1-1 draw with Barwon. Jason Moody was the goal scorer for the Phoenix.
The draw takes Melton Phoenix to a 5-5-5 record.
This week they face Deakin Ducks away.
