By JARROD POTTER
THERE is no time to take in the beach views down at Frankston Park for a group of up-and-coming south-east footballers.
The Dandenong Stingrays Youth Girls Academy (YGA) has been using the Dolphins’ VFL ground as its base of operations throughout the first phase of the 2015-16 pre-season and will get to run around there for a pre-season match-up on Sunday.
The girls are keen to play against the rest of the YGAs – starting Sunday 13 December – when the Stingrays battle Calder Cannons from 10.30am following a frenetic first month of pre-season training.
Stingrays coach Scott Gowans thinks the training has gone well so far as the new-look line-up has taken to the tough conditions with aplomb.
“To their credit, they’re (the Stingrays) are doing really well,” Gowans said.
“We have 25 girls who I’ve never seen before in this program but it’s going great.
“The conditions have been hard – it’s windy and hot – but they’re working really well and it’s an impressive group.”
Gowans is hopeful the side will also play a few official matches on Frankston Oval because he wants to let his charges loose on one of the better fields in the south-east.
“I love it – it’s a beautiful oval, beautiful surrounding and creates that environment for coaches, players and families to enjoy,” Gowans said.
Players from south-east juniors clubs – Beaconsfield, Cranbourne, Lyndhurst and Officer among others – have integrated with Frankston and Mornington-Peninsula players to form the best squad feasible ahead of a big year for women’s football.
The competition has been expanded on account of the looming 2017 deadline for the AFL Women’s competition and Dandenong is keen to improve rapidly in the meantime.
The Dandenong Stingrays’ home-and-away fixture will commence early next year with matches likely to be slated for February and March.
