There’s an old saying that suggests whatever you do in life, you should always put family first. So for Bayside United’s newly signed youngster Emma Robers – who treasures football over almost everything else – she’s let that adage dictate her short journey in the sport to date.
The footballing family in which a young, bourgeoning footballer is exposed to in their development is often the most important source of guidance to help foster improvement. That is pushed two-fold when your actual family has doubled as a large part of the club environment in which you’ve played your football.
For Emma, her journey through the ranks of former club Sandringham SC was helped by not only by the players and coaching staff which she labels “family”, but also by her father Georg and younger sister Elisabeth, both of whom helped make up the match-day experience at the club.
Her two older brothers Thomas and Nikolas – the latter of whom was with the senior squad at Oakleigh Cannons under Huss Skenderovic and is currently playing in State League One – both have deep affiliations with the sport, with mother Gill happy to play the supporting role for her football aficionados.
Georg coached Sandringham’s reserve squad, where 15-year-old Elisabeth Robers has flourished playing up top. Having made her senior bow for Sandringhma at the tender age of 13, her form continued in a similar vain last season, as she appeared twice in the senior line-up, including 45 minutes in the league against South Yarra in Round 18.
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Emma had to wait just a little longer than Elisabeth for her first team debut, with her journey up the ranks spanning over a decade at Sandringham.
“I started [playing football] when I was really young – when I was five – and it was mainly just my dad and my brothers, seeing them playing [football] and from there I knew that’s what I wanted to play as well,” Emma says on her early foray into the sport.
“I’ve always loved football. I’ve always loved running, with a ball at feet, even better. I kind of just played it for fun [to begin] but I was playing with boys a lot, and that was half the fun, running around with them [and testing myself]. As I grew older, I realised it was something that I wanted to do.”
She was soon introduced to football via a program run by Sandringham SC, unbeknown to her the longstanding association she was to have with the club.
“I’ve been at Sandringham basically my whole life since Goalkick (a program run for children between the ages of five and seven, to introduce them to football), up until I was 12,” she says.
“Then I spent two years playing with the boys at Beaumaris Soccer Club until under 14’s, before I went onto the State Development Program.”
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Her experiences playing away from Sandringham – opting to play in a boys league instead – helped Emma develop a dogged will to both win and keep the ball, and fight physically for possession, something she believes has influenced the way she plays today.
“Definitely it makes you work hard for the ball,” she says on her experience playing against the boys at Beaumaris.
“I played with boys for two years – between 13-14 – under coach Rob Giabardo and that definitely brought up my speed and my strength. It’s definitely influenced the way that I play.”
Father Georg was also complimentary about her experience with Beaumaris and the role it played in her football upbringing.
“Keeping up with the boys [her brothers Nikolas and Thomas] was a big part of her early life and that’s why she had no problems playing with the boys at Beaumaris, those were two exciting years under Rob,” he says.
“As a result, she’s also seen a lot of football, and she has a good understanding of how the game works and how it should be played.”
Following on from her time at Beaumaris was a stint with the State Development Program (SDP), the pre-cursor to what is now the National Training Centre. Her experience in the more professional set-up of the SDP gave Emma her first taste of what a future in football could offer.
“I really enjoyed [the SDP], and that we had training three to four times a week. I liked that we played a lot more and how the training was a lot harder,” she says.
“[The training] under Vince Ierardo focused on development, learning and improving your skills, rather than aggression and things like that. Personally I really enjoyed it and I think it helped my touch and improved my skills.”
“It really opened my mind to the ‘professional world of soccer’ if you can say that. The possibilities and the opportunity to represent my state in a national competition was amazing. It definitely cemented even more that I wanted to pursue soccer [as a profession].”
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A return to Sandringham followed, where she broke into the first team as a sprightly 15-year-old in the first game of the 2014 season. She’s since been a permanent figure for the South-East based club, featuring in every single fixture since making her debut.
The natural attacking midfielder’s avenue to the first team was a little different to what she may have expected however, offered a berth at left-back in her debut game, ironically against the Senior NTC, which they won 6-1. She made a fullback role her own across the span of a 2014 season, which saw Sandringham narrowly miss finals in sixth spot.
Robers revealed that it took some work to get her accustomed to the position, with her coaches Shaun Parton and Deborah Nichols helping her learn the role over the course of the season.
“I am incredibly grateful to my teammates at Sandringham who encouraged me so much,” she says.
“It’s a position I’d never really played before, so Shaun [Parton] and Deb [Nichols] coached me through it a lot and really helped me get comfortable with the role.
“Learning to play another position on the field I think is really important and [the coaches] were so generous with me and so supportive of me in the team, making my break through into the seniors.
“I think it was a good way to start playing in the seniors – I learned new skills, particularly defensively, that I’ll never forget.
“It’s a very diverse position actually, it is a defensive position obviously, but it also helps you learn to use the opportunities to break forward but then also constantly working back to defend.
“[Football] is such a team game obviously, so you might be exhausted, but it’s all about going back and helping the team. You learn not just defending but getting forward as well.”
The desire for Emma is to eventually settle down as a number 10, filling the creative void in midfield for her new club. Last season saw her make big strides in that position, but Emma’s versatility meant she also enjoy short spells once more in defence as well as on the wing.
“Attacking midfield is definitely my favourite position and where I want to be, but being a diverse player, and being able to play in a number of different positions is also important for different opportunities and keeping doors open,” she says.
“I’m sure that when I get older, I’ll be cemented more to one position but at this age, being able to play a variety of positions is really important. I take that as a compliment, 100%.
“Both [Deb Nichols and Shaun Parton] were so supportive and encouraging, to know that they have trust in me to play in a number of positions is definitely a compliment.”
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The encouragement offered from her coaches however is self-admittedly shadowed by that of her father, who Emma declares has been the single-biggest influence on her footballing career to date. Georg coached Emma through much of her junior career through Sandringham, and as well as being her biggest support base, is her harshest critic to help keep her grounded.
“My dad has been the main person in my life throughout my soccer career, always supportive and encouraging, everything like that,” Emma said.
“He coached me for the majority of my younger years so he definitely created the base of my soccer skills and who I am. There’s constructive criticism too, but that’s all part of the package. He’s definitely been a major person in my soccer life.
“He definitely makes me work harder, and although I’m not always thankful to him for it, I truly am. He’s probably the hardest person on me, but he creates results.”
Her father is immensely proud of the player that Emma has become, taking the time to reflect on the traits which he believes will best help her succeed in the future.
“You can just tell she loves the game,” Georg says.
“She understands the game really well, so I’d say she’s all-action and she’s pretty creative going forward. She makes some smart passes.
“We always knew she had the technical skill – you can always be better of course – but it’s certainly now this mental toughness and alertness. It’s not just the opposition that can be tough, in a competitive team environment, everything can be tough.
“So just to be adaptable and resilient, that sort of thing. You always have to be alert all the time for possible opportunities.”
His other daughter Elisabeth is also a promising futsal player, only recently returning from a trip to Sydney to compete in the National Futsal Championships as a part of the Victorian Under 19’s squad. She was the youngest player in the travelling squad and even scored a goal in a 2-1 win against South Australia.
It caps off a promising season for the youngster, who made her second senior appearance in Sandringham’s 4-1 Quarter-Final Team App Cup loss to Boroondara before then featuring in their 4-0 win over South Yarra in the league, replacing Lucy Kapusta at half-time.
She – much like her sibling – also enjoyed her apprenticeship at fullback; with it presenting Emma with the chance to play alongside her sister, who she says is one of her biggest supporters on the pitch.
“It’s fantastic, I always love having my sister there. There’s always someone to come talk to, support and encourage – and she does the same for me,” Emma says when asked about her younger sister.
“We’ve grown up playing soccer together since we were little, so to have her right by my side, and improve, is fantastic.”
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As for the future, Robers has the world at her feet after a good two years in the Women’s Premier League system. She has her immediate NPLW future sorted after signing with consortium club Bayside United – the continuation of sorts of the Sandringham name – as one of their three senior players announced so far.
Emma is hoping that this season will help propel her further as a footballer as she declares that she’ll be giving a career in soccer “a good go” and is eyeing off a berth at a higher level “as soon as possible”.
“I definitely really want to have a good go at soccer. It’s always been a major part of my life, and it’s something I’d really like to do – so definitely!” She says.
“I want to go as far as I can [with football] is all I can say. Obviously there’s Melbourne City now so there [is double the opportunities].
“Otherwise I’m just going to keep learning, keep training and developing to be as good as I can and go as far as I can.”
Feature image: Matt Johnson