It’s safe to say that from the start of the season we were working with what can only be described as a blank canvas. This had both its positives but clearly negatives. No youth players.
The positives being, we have been able to plan and lay a foundation as to how we envisage the football club growing, progressing but more importantly the structure of how the club will deliver its football to the children of our local community.
We are proud to say that, week on week, we have achieved record numbers, with this week setting a new record of 28 players. We have welcomed 36 new faces to the club in the last 8 weeks, with a further 11 players confirmed to attend their first session over the next two weeks!
We set a standard for ourselves to deliver fun and engaging sessions however they must be focused on improving technical ability, fitness and confidence. With the help of Buster at BGKT coaching and fitness we have been able to build a strong, experienced and passionate coaching team.
Some of the feedback we have received from onlooking parents has been nothing short of phenomenal!
“We came from a club and all they did was play games like tag with no football focus. It is completely different here”
“My son has enjoyed it so much he’s even started watching football with me at home”
“My daughter has completely come out of her shell since joining”
Moving into the final weeks of training before the Christmas break, we’re have moved onto more of a match based syllabus to prepare players for matches come the new year. We intend to have a minimum of two teams in January competing in friendly matches at the least.
We strongly believe that players will be ready when they’re ready and we will not rush or force this. We feel putting players into live matches to soon can bruise confidence and in some cases put them off football all together!
This coming week, we will be running our first Goalkeeper specific session, an area we know is overlooked throughout the grassroots pyramid, this will run regularly to focus on improving our already great young goalkeepers.
The best part of all this is, it really is just the beginning. We have big plans that were gratefully received in a FA run course that Aaron Puleston (Vice-Chairman) and I (Jon Stock, Youth Representative) attended in late October. To quote what was said by Danny Fenner, the FA representative that took the course, “if all clubs adopted what you are doing, football in Hertfordshire would be much better”
Over the coming months we will be looking for additional support with numerous tasks such as; coaching, managing and match day events. If interested please reach out to Aaron to discuss further.
All that is left to say is watch this space, spread the word and remember Any Child, Any Ability!
Jon Stock