Register a player

Coach information

Have you considered coaching a team?

The Howrah Junior Soccer Club (HJSC) is managed entirely by volunteers, who are mostly parents of our players. We rely on the families of players to get involved and do what they can to make our club successful, safe and enjoyable for everybody.

The biggest contribution you can make is to become a volunteer coach.

Coaching a team is incredibly rewarding. It’s a great way to meet other parents and have a positive impact on your team members and their families.

Before putting your hand up to coach, you should consider that you’ll need to be available to:

– run one training session per week,

– lead the team on game days,

– participate in development sessions for coaches.

Coaches aren’t usually soccer professionals. Most of our volunteer coaches have little or no experience playing soccer or coaching any other sport. The club will assist you throughout the season, including pre-season coach training to provide support in planning for training sessions and game day. Parents and carers of your team members will be there to help too, the most successful and fun teams include participation from everyone.

We need coaches! Teams exist because our families volunteer their time to help. If you’re not sure and want to ask us a question about being a coach, send an email to kara@hjsc.com.au.

Before you get started

If you’re thinking about being a coach, there are a few things that you’ll need to do.

Volunteers must complete the following activities and satisfy the requirements below before being able to volunteer with children. They must also maintain the relevant registrations throughout the period they are performing their role or duty.

Registration to work with vulnerable people (RWVP) card Volunteers must have a valid RWVP card. RWVP cards must be presented to HJSC for viewing. For more information and to apply, visit Service Tasmania   
RWVP portal  Volunteers must add HJSC as an organisation via the RWVP portal. To update, add or remove an organisation, visit https://wwcforms.justice.tas.gov.au/MyLicence/ and select ‘Update Volunteering Details’.  
Football Australia Register as a coach on the Football Australia website 
‘Your Obligations’ online video Volunteers must watch the ‘Your Obligations’ online video offered by the Department for Education, Children and Young People (DECYP) and powered by Go1. Obtain a Certificate of Completion in 2025. Certificates obtained in 2024 will not be accepted.  Access the learning at https://decyp-safeguarding.mygo1.com/signup/email and follow the prompts to create a new account or access an existing account. Email a copy of the Certificate of Completion to info@hjsc.com.au where it will be retained on file. 
Read the HJSC Child Safety & Protection PolicyRead the policy

Congratulations, you’re a coach!!

Well done and thank you for volunteering to be a coach with the Howrah Junior Soccer Club.

Below is some information to help you get things started with your team.

Communication

Team members will be sent an email with their team names, players and the name and phone number of their coach.

We recommend that you contact your team members families to introduce yourself. Your team will look to you for communication about training sessions, games, etc. You may like to set up a group chat on a platform such as Messenger for ongoing communication throughout the season. We will communicate with coaches and families via our website http://www.hjsc.com.au and our Facebook page. We’ll also have some recommendations about preparing for your first training session and games on our Facebook page.

We’ll communicate via email or phone for individual correspondence.

Managing your team

Being a coach doesn’t mean the whole load rests on your shoulders. We recommend that you consider asking players’ families if they would like to volunteer to help you with managing the team. There are several roles they can assist with:

  • Team Manager – Manages communication, informing everyone of game times and locations.
  • Substituting players (‘Subs’) – Rotates out the players for a rest during the game and to assist with monitoring the wellbeing of players.
  • Timekeeper – Keeps time during games
  • Assistant Coach – Assist with coaching and training sessions if the coach is unable to attend or to provide support.

Your team may also like to bring oranges, other fruit or snacks for half-time or the end of the game. We suggest this is rostered at the start of the season, so everyone shares the load, and so they know when to plan for it.

Training sessions

We’ll provide you with training equipment and playing tops, usually at your first training session.

Weekly training sessions are run on the bottom oval at Howrah Primary School on a weekday afternoon from 3:00pm – 4:00pm. Individual coaches may choose to run shorter or longer training sessions depending on the age of the players.

During player registration, coaches will have the opportunity to nominate any weekdays that suit their schedule. Where possible, we will try to schedule teams of the same age group on the same weeknight. This allows teams to have combined training sessions and practise games.

Game days

The roster for the 14 round season is prepared by the Eastern Region Junior Soccer Association (ERJSA). Games are played at multiple grounds around Hobart’s eastern shore on Saturdays from 9:00am through until mid afternoon.

The under 12 age group may play some Friday evening games under lights and potentially one game at New Norfolk and North Chigwell per season. The rules on game day are set by the ERJSA and can be found here. There are rules that apply to all age groups and some that are age group specific.

Preparing for training sessions and game day

Prior to the season starting, the ERJSA will facilitate two courses:

1. Coaching training, and

2. Game day training

The coach training provides guidance on how to plan and run an age appropriate training session.

The game day training provides guidance on the game day rules, how to be a game leader (referee) and lead a fun and fair game for everyone.

These courses are highly recommended, even if you’ve coached before. We’ll notify you of the dates as they become available.

Ongoing development sessions for coaches

HJSC has engaged the services of Alby Hooper in 2025. Alby is the Junior and Youth Technical Director at Hobart City FC. Alby will attend some of our weekday training sessions throughout the season and provide support and guidance to our volunteer coaches.

Questions & Help

We’re here to help! Most of our committee members are coaches or have been involved with the club in some capacity for multiple seasons and we’re keen to make sure you are supported.

If you have any questions from your team, or there’s something you’re interested to know more about: ·

Alternatively, please contact committee member, Kara Glover (Coach Support) via email kara@hjsc.com.au or Messenger if you require any further assistance.