Topping off the season

After a season of hard work, it was time to reward our players with medals and trophies.

It was great to be joined by Joe and Gareth from the 1st XV who were on official duty to give out our awards, and reinforcing the One Club ethos that's growing within the club.

After giving out the individual medals, we then presented our 4 trophies. You'll know that one of the trophies comes from votes from the parents, but just to remind you that we can award the other trophies for whatever we want to whomever we want. Last year, the choices were relatively simple, but this year, all the kids have improved so much it was really difficult to make decisions - which is a real credit to the squad! Thankfully, the "office" has a well stocked bar and we worked our way through...

The coaching team decided on;

Parent's Player Of The Year - from the parental vote (ok, that's obvious!).

Coaches Award - based on playing ability, learning curve, improvement, attitude, etc etc.

Most Improved Player Of The Year - as it says on the tin.

Player Of The Year - the player who, in the eyes of the coaches, has played the best through the season and had the biggest influence on the squad's performances.

This year's winners are;

Parent's Player Of The Year - Toby Whetstone

Coaches Award - Osian Best

Most Improved Player - Isaac Taylor

Player Of The Year - Jeramy Brand

Well done one and all!!

If anyone couldn't make it on Sunday, and would like a medal for their little player, please let me know as I've got some spares.

As we've said before, our squad will split through the summer to form the backbone of the U7's and U8's next year. Looking at our group, that's two pretty tasty squads for next season!!

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank;

The kids for being such good fun to work with this year, and for putting so much hard work in - and never moaning about the weather!

The parents for being so supportive and helping our squad feel like an extended family.

Our kitchen crew for feeding hundreds of hungry kids!

Molly Raybould for helping week in, week out, despite not being related to any of the kids or parents!

Helen Lovett for her (thankfully very rare) Florence Nightingale impressions as our First Aid support.

Tom, for all his help coaching and finding loads of balls etc for us to use.

Alan and Andy (Cutler) for throwing themselves in getting stuck into coaching.

Jo for keeping us organised and managed throughout the season - a vital role for any successful team.

And Duncan, my erstwhile colleague and companion. It's been a great couple of years and almost feels like the end of an era.

And finally, on behalf of the coaching and management team, I'd like to thank you all for your kind gifts and wishes. We were all very touched on Sunday; we do this for the kids, and your show of appreciation means a lot to us all, we must be doing ok. Thank you xx

Enjoy your summer and we look forward to seeing you all in September :)

All the best
Andy