Photo: Greg Symes.
While some Esperance sporting codes are struggling to field numbers, in line with national data indicating high rates of teenage dropouts, the Esperance Soccer Association (ESA) is bucking the trend.
“When I first got involved, there were 95 kids and then over the last three or four years we’ve managed to get just under 500,” ESA vice president Olie Jones said.
In the past, we’ve had four teams in the 12-13 age group and when they got up to the 14s-15s we’d drop to one team, but this year we’ve got four teams with 16 players in each.
“Two years ago we had about 15-20 girls, and now we’ve got an U12 girls league which stands on its own, and then our U14 girls play one side in the U13 boys league so it’s massive progress.”
Jones said the association had kept players involved by offering a good competition in which teams from Perth regularly came to play Esperance sides.
“Esperance is a very thriving regional town and the sports are quite good so I think we just seem to be lucky,” he said.
Jones said head injuries in contact sport had also become an influencing factor.
“I think we’ve got something over footy in that concussion is becoming a massive worry amongst parents,” he said.
We’ve got a lot of kids who stopped playing footy because their parents don’t want them to, or they’ve had three or four concussions and they’re 15 years old.
“I think we are almost seen as the easier option to keep kids in sport.”
Research by La Trobe University on teenagers in team sports found more than 30,000 dropped out of sport every year.
The paper showed lack of confidence was the key contributor to a young player’s decision to quit, with 46 per cent of parents claiming their teenager struggled with it on the field.
Jones said from experience coaching soccer in Perth, he had seen kids deflate others because of their ability.
“They let them know,” he said.
Jones said Esperance soccer was different.
“It’s a really nice atmosphere so if someone on the pitch makes a mistake everyone has a laugh and the game carries on, so there’s not one person on the team hammering them because they’re not up to the ability level,” he said.
“There’s some players that don’t have the ability to make a pass, but they try their best and everyone on the team respects it so even the best player on the team is very encouraging.”
Jones said the player’s optimism came down to the fact everything was signed through the association which eliminated the “club” aspect of sport.
“We’ve got mixed teams, so we have 16-, 17- and 18-year-old girls playing with 14–15-year-old boys on the same side and the atmosphere is very supportive,” he said.
It’s a competitive league but it’s within the limits, like they know there’s that group of players and there’s no one else… they’ve all got to do it themselves otherwise they don’t have a league.
“We’re lucky to have that.”
More than 70 per cent of players said their confidence came from coaches, parents and teammates, according to the La Trobe study.
Jones said at the ESA, everyone looked out for each other.
“We’ve got no parents who know what they’re doing — we have a few who shout on the sidelines but most are just happy to stand back and leave it so you have a free run,” he said.
“I think footy breeds a different kind of atmosphere.
“We don’t have parents on the sideline who have played for Ports or Gibson, hammering their own kid because they’re playing for Gibson and they’re not as good as them.”
