Wanting to secure the best future possible for their young talent has seen Hanwood Football Club decide to launch their own academy.
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With uncertainty surrounding the future of the academy run by the Griffith Football Association, Hanwood president Dom Schirripa felt the time was right for the club to take the next step.
"It's been running through Griffith for a while, but the last few years, it has been hard to get full club engagement and cooperation," he said.
"We had a lot of people involved from our club coming and saying they wanted it risen to a higher level and wanted something better. We had been thinking about it for a while, and we had the majority of the coaches and players involved anyway, so why not do it ourselves?
"We didn't want the kids to be left with no development program and we were proactive about starting it because we weren't sure whether it was going to get off the ground or not under the association."
The program will be spearheaded by experienced coach Gabriel Abdala, who comes on board as Head of Football, and Schirrpa is thrilled to have someone of his quality involved.
"It's a pretty big moment for the club, and we are excited to have him on board," he said.
"He is probably the most experienced coach in the region, and the fact that he is still involved with being the head coach of TSP (Talent Support Program) and he is current Country NSW coach it is a big advantage for our kids and players."
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There will be an information session held at the Hanwood Club starting at 7pm for any players or parents interested in finding out more about the program.
It won't just be the academy that Abdala is overseeing, as he will also take over the reins of the Pascoe Cup defending premiers.
He said the call to step into the first-grade role wasn't initially his plan, after taking a season away from the game in 2022.
"I personally had no intention to begin with, with first grade or anything like that, I actually enjoyed coaching the third grade," Abdala said.
"That enjoyment turned into something that maybe I want to start testing myself, keep pushing myself back into that high level.
"In conversations with Hanwood, when they mentioned that Jason Bertacco wasn't going to return as the first-grade coach, that was, for me, an opportunity.
"I respect Jason quite a lot, I love his dedication, his commitment to the club, the club is as successful as it is because of what he's been able to do within the club along with the committee at Hanwood.
"I'm not someone that will step on toes or anything like that, I wanted to get his grace to do it, his 'okay' to do it, and he was quite happy for me to take the mantle and start shaping Hanwood in this new journey."
One lasting legacy from Bertacco is the way he had all senior teams train and coach together, regardless of the grade. Abdala said because of that, there is a good sense of camaraderie.
Schirripa also paid credit to the work that Bertacco did over the past two seasons.
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