A change of scenery

Due to the very heavy rain last week, we had to use our fallback pitches; the astroturf at Ringwood Leisure Centre.

The great thing about using these pitches is we can train all year round and not lose weeks through waterlogged ground. The downside is we have a fraction of the space! However, we managed to get through the session with no kids crashing into walls or goalposts - so all good!

We’re trying to get the kids thinking and playing as a team now. While it may seem odd to keep stopping them when they’re playing, by the end of the session, they were questioning themselves as to where they should be to receive a pass/make a pass/support their team/take a tag. It’s a long process migrating them from personal to team glory, but we’ll get there - honest!

As we needed to exit the pitches quickly to allow the older age groups in, we didn’t award any trophies this week. Hopefully we’ll be back at the club this weekend, where we can spread out and have some breathing space.

A big thanks to Andy and John for stepping forward to help Andy, Jon and Rob with parts of the session. If anyone else is interested in helping out, please speak to Andy on Sunday; the more the merrier…

On that note, a few have expressed an interest in helping through the online payment portal. Apologies for not having spoken to you yet; we’ll get to you very soon!!

Despite the high spirits and great fun in the games, the kids were all perfectly behaved while observing the minutes silence for Remembrance Day. Some of our kids were away taking part in Remembrance Parades, and were equally well behaved. They are all a real credit to the club - and their parents :)