Tara Murray
Balmoral has locked in a new coach as it aims to continue to progress its development in the FV state league 4 west competition.
The club announced that after an extensive interview process that they had signed Slavce Sokolovski as coach.
He has a strong educational background, including holding a sport and recreation management diploma, a certificate IV in fitness and personal training and a bachelor’s degree in sport and sport science.
From a coaching perspective he spent a number of years coaching juniors at Altona Magic and was mentored by senior assistant to Vlado Tortevski and Socceroo legend John Markovski.
He spent the first half of this year as coach of Keilor Wolves, who was also in state league 4 west, before he parted ways with the club.
Balmoral president Enver Malkic said they would have a fresh look this season.
“Our old coach Vlado Vanis had to step down due to an exciting opportunity,” he said. “He took us to a championship.
“We went to the market to see who was available and we decided to go with Slavce.
“We’re very excited for what is install for next season,” he said. “ We want to improve on this season and Slavce is a good person to take us into the coach.”
In the past two seasons, Balmoral claimed the title in state league 5 west and then finished third in state league 4 west this year.
Malkic said they were able to build as this season went on.
“We started off slowly but we made some changes to the squad for round six,” he said. “It was very positive but we were too far back.
“We managed to finish in third and we were able to build on that.”
Since the season has finished, Balmoral has claimed the Australian Boasian Cup for a second straight season.
There were almost 100 people from Balmoral make the trip to Queensland for the cup.
Malkic said everyone was really excited.
The club continues to have big expectations next year.
“We know what we want to achieve,” he said. “This year was a big learning curve for us.
“We made some mistakes and we know where we have to try and fix them. We should be in a good position for next season and everyone is hyped up for next year.”
Malkic said they were currently working through their squad for next season and would likely add a few players.
