Wodonga's Buddy Randall and Pieter Maas return to coach soccer team

Yesterday they were proud to see their hard work finally pay off and a legacy created as they coached the school's current soccer team, who wore the jerseys.

In 2019, former Baranduda Primary School students Buddy Randall and Pieter Maas, then in Year 5, were keen members of the school's winning soccer team at the Wodonga Winter Sports Carnival.

But Pieter said when they went up to the podium they didn't look the part.

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"We just had to play in our school uniforms, but every other team, every other sports department, had a jersey to wear," he said.

"It wasn't great, the footy, the netball, they all had really nice jerseys, so we wanted to make sure we looked good when we played as well."

From there, Buddy said they decided to raise money to purchase their own jerseys and set about organising their own school fundraising group.

"We went around in the summer before school started in the 40 degree heat for hours every day, just selling cans and knocking on every door we could find, trying to raise some money for some jerseys," he said.

"We ended up having so much that we bought the jerseys and we also had like $500 to spend on soccer equipment."

But they never got to wear the jerseys - in 2020, when the boys were in Year 6, the sports carnival was cancelled due to COVID-19 and in 2021 they'd left the school to start Year 7.

Buddy said the soccer team had been devoted to its goal of playing at state level and spent four months training at lunchtimes and after school, and even tried to organise a match against another school, but it never happened.

"We were very disappointed that we couldn't play," he said.

Pieter agreed.

"We just didn't get to show what we were worth ... we just felt like we had wasted potential," he said.

But on Friday the pair were treated to a pleasant surprise - they'd been invited back to coach Baranduda's current soccer team who would wear the jerseys at the first Winter Sports Carnival since COVID.

Buddy said he was happy to do it.

"It feels awesome, I never thought I'd ever see it after COVID, but I'm very happy that we got the chance to coach them and watch them play with the jerseys on," he said.

Pieter said the team was doing well, with at least one win under their belt.

"It's great seeing them wear all the jerseys we spent our time and effort for," he said.

Baranduda Primary School assistant principal Jason Smith said it was wonderful to see the highschoolers return and offer their mentorship.

"To see them here today and see the jerseys in place for the first time is really great and it's a wonderful legacy for our school to have these new jerseys," he said.

"They look really fantastic."

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