Rochester “footy mum” Casey James has mixed emotions about hanging up the boots as co-ordinator of the town’s enormously popular Auskick program.
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She and husband Al have been the key figures at the heavily patronised Sunday morning sessions, but with nine-year-old son Walt now graduating from Auskick the family is moving on.
Walt, and his 13-year-old brother Cale, provided the inspiration for Casey and Al to throw their hats in the ring — and five years later, they will follow their sons onto the next stage in their footballing development.
Both the James boys started with Auskick when they were in kindergarten, Casey and Al striking up a friendship with co-ordinator at the time Craig Williams.
That relationship ended in Craig asking the pair if they would take on the role once he stepped aside.
Casey said the fact she had ran a kids festival in Rochester (Kids Capers) for a few years meant Craig was aware she had the skills sets required to co-ordinate the program.
“The fact we were on the sidelines every week also made it easy for him to target me,’’ Casey said.
The energetic mother has no regrets, however, from taking on the role as she tried to keep up with the development of her boys.
“Their skills far exceeded mine very quickly,” she said.
“Taking on the co-ordinator’s role was a good way of me being part of it.”
Casey described the 10-strong coaching group that supported her as “awesome’’.
“To have that many coaches there every week was great. They are a very committed group,” she said.
Casey said the Auskick group’s “replacement policy’’ had helped it maintain strong coaching numbers.
“We have worked hard on recruiting two new coaches every year. There are a few have that been with me for the whole five years and, funnily, Craig Williams has now returned to assist,” she said.
“He, along with Warren Martin, Steve and Tim Rasmussen, and Dylan Cuttriss, have been there the whole time.”
Luke Ryan, Tom Acocks and Ash Watson are also involved in a coaching capacity with the group.
Probably Casey’s proudest moment is the addition of another mum, the first since she became involved, onto that coaching panel.
“This year we recruited our first mum as a coach, Phoebe Cuttriss,” she said.
Phoebe is no newcomer to football, she is a co-captain with the Bendigo Thunder women’s team.
Casey said her five years had seen an increase in the number of girls participating, which made adding more mums to the team a perfect fit.
The James are also involved with the Rochester Under-14 team, which is competing in the Bendigo junior league.
Cale plays in that team and will soon be joined by his brother.
Casey said the different skill sets of her, and her husband, made them a good team.
“Al has been a huge support. He is good at the practical stuff, pumping up balls, setting up and packing things away,” she said.
The household benefitted from the long-term association of Casey and Al when they were visited by Essendon players Orazio Fantasia, Michael Hartley and Paddy Ambrose.
“They did a camp up here and, through Auskick, had breakfast with us at home,” she said.
The household is dominated by Bombers fans, apart from Tiger Walt, a Bombers painted wall in the backyard evidence of the support.
Casey said the Rochester Auskick centre had managed to maintain good numbers, 90 kids involved in the program, throughout her time in the top job.
“We keep our older kids in Auskick a bit longer. We don’t have an Under-10 team,” she said.
Casey has already recruited her replacements, Nigel and Sharelle Riordan, who have agreed to step up to the plate
Sunday mornings will not change too much for the James family, who still have junior football for a few more weeks.
And then cricket season arrives.
“I’ve done a bit of cricket scoring, it has crossed my mind to get involved with the committee,” Casey said.
“These clubs are so important for towns. We need to give kids a good experience at junior level and then that forms a base for the future.”
She said the only drawback had been not watching her boys as closely as she may have if she was not running around organising things.
But as team manager of the under-14 team she remains in the middle of the action.
“We are a young and developing team. We’ve had some good wins, some surprising ones, but it is a strong competition,” she said.
Kyabram Free Press and Campaspe Valley News editor