The Premier Women's team at Western Springs has reached a new level this season and never before enjoyed so such success. In charge of the team are Jose Figueira and Paul Temple, young coaches with high aspirations. This is just the second season that Western Springs have been playing top flight football and only a small total of 30 league games at premier level to count as experience. With a team full of teenagers it's a pretty impressive display to reach a National Cup Final and finish 4th in arguably the most competative women's league in New Zealand. Jose was in charge of the team in it's first top flight season and he lay the foundations for success, for this season Paul Temple was introduced and between the two of them they have helped Springs achieve even more. The future certainly looks bright.

Jose:

For me in my second season at the club I could not have wished for things to be any better right now. A top four finish in the Northern Premier and a Cup Final runners up is testement to all the hard work put in by all.

Last season was about laying the foundations and beginning to encorporate my style and infulence on the setup, this year has been about signing young players, ambitous and hungry players that fit into my philosophy. In adding more players it was paramount that I recruited an assistant and for me there is non better then Paul, we have worked together for many years and I have a huge ammount of trust and respect for him, for me that is the most important element when chosing coaches. Paul's coaching quality and knowledge comes as standard.

The most pleasing aspect of this season has been the development of the players. The average age of the team is 16.9 but you would not have guessed that in the maturity of their performances. Along with this the team spirit that has been established is second to non and for me the best I have encountered. As a players its great to know that the person next to you on the pitch trusts your ability and will give 110% for you.

This year has seen us put in some memorable performances - Three Kings away springs to mind as Paul & myself asked alot of the team tactically. It was probably then that I realised the level that the girls could reach. The two Lynn Avon games again showed the quality in the team and our three games vs them this year have been: 5-1 loss, 3-0 loss and a 1-1 draw. Constant improvement and confidence has been the theme for the season.

I feel that the best performance of the season has to be our away trip down in Christchurch to play Ferrymead bay's. It was a huge test for the girls, testing their Character, Desire, Concentrations and their Nerves - and as the result showed they passed all with flying colours. It was a polished professional performance and I was delighted for them.

Paul

I followed springs quite closely during Jose's first season in charge and it was clear there was huge potential at the club, everything looked to be moving in the right direction and when Jose approached me about helping him with the team I was very excited about the prospects.

I think Jose derserves alot of credit for the way he influenced the culture in his first year, he changed the attitutes of the players and brought some professionalism to the set up. This year we have managed to really push those two aspects. The attitude of our players has been top class and we have a sense of professionalism in everything we do now. We sat down at the start of the season and planned for the next 2-3 years and set some goals. Manson came on board as sponsors and it's fair to say their sponsorship helped us get 12 months ahead of ourselves, having them involved has been extremly valuable.

I must say this season has been one of the highlights of my coaching experiences, their is such a good spirit amoung the squad that i really enjoy trainings and match days, I look forward to tuesday and thursday nights and when your enjoying yourself you perform better, thats goes for players and coaches.

The players have been fantastic this year, i've been blown away by their ability to keep producing what we ask of them. I thought when Pam and Bex went overseas it would make things hard for us but the girls reacted so well to that, they stood up and raised the bar and it showed in our results during the second part of the season. I have to agree with Jose, our best performance was Ferrymead Bays away. Purely the pressure it involved, it was a big game, against a team we knew nothing about , on their pitch and so much at stake. To perform like we did was a credit to the girls and their maturity levels.

I'm looking forward to next season already, i'm very excited about our squad of players and what we can achieve, if the players continue growing like they did this year we can expect big things from lots of them next year, we will only get better.