What an odd end to the season and as we are now all locked away in our homes I’m left to type up an end of season review. It has been a time to reflect on the good, the bad and the, well, different. My first as a manager of a team and my first end of season write up I’m sure they will get easier with time.
At the start of the season, all I wanted to get from this season was a group of girls enjoying playing football, so they would finish the season happy in what they have achieved. Not wanting to ruin the rest of the write-up but I think/hope the coaching team have achieved that this season. It started back in mid-September on a sunny Sunday morning. For most of the girls this was the first taste of football. We started the first game with 7 players and to be honest I didn’t even know all the girl’s names. The other coaches had a number and told us their names.
The girls didn’t really know about positions but we had 7 girls that wanted to play football and we scored a goal in our first game. When we finished the game we had a bunch of happy smiling parents and the girls seemed happy as well. Then the training really kicked in on Friday nights with Megan and Alice coaching the girls in positioning as well as some of the basic football skills passing, shooting and not standing near each other (social distancing on a football pitch).
As we headed to Christmas we had learned the basics and started to understand our strengths as a team. We then had a Christmas break and I think all the players got a new set of footballing brains as all the work the coaches had done started to come together. In the first week of 2020, we played a ‘non-competitive game’ and we scored more than someone else and we started to show all the good work we had been practicing on the training ground this continued throughout the year.
This brought us to the prestigious U9 cup competition, the only games that we can say the result of. This season we made it to the Semi-final and with the form the girls were in, who knows!! (easy to say now the season is over) We played 2 games and all the coaching and hard work the girls had done over the season really paid off with 2 hard-fought victories. I could not have been more pleased for the girls.
During the season every player had great games and its difficult to remember them all. Ava and Chloe have scored some amazing goals. Megan in goal has been awesome, at times saving shots girls several years older would never have stopped. The no-nonsense defending from Astrid was straight out of the old school footballing book, tackle and kick it back down the other end. Louise shows moments of greatness in defence and midfield, learning those roles and doing the job the coaches asked her to do each week.
Sofia scares most teams with her tackling and battling for the ball she has even shown in the last few games she knows where the net is as well. Emilia, great striker she is, listens to the instructions she is given and has scored goals from this (I think her dad was even happier than she was).
Poppy and Anya and both great footballers that track up and down all day long, great midfielders players that tackle well, and both can score goals. We also have some players that have trained with us all season and they are also developing well and we look forward to them hopefully playing games next season.
Summary
As a group we have all come on a journey, including me and the coaches as well as the players and parents, we all have learned so much and hopefully made some great memories. From the high points of the girls scoring the low Friday nights in the cold and wet. I personally wouldn’t change any of it. The running of the team is a really hard job and I would like to take this moment to thank a few people
Pete – For helping get us started, he still attends most games as I think he like the style of football we play
Megan – She has been there all season coaching and me. She is leaving us now and I’m sure we will all miss her but she is off to university but has promised to come down and see us when she is back. We wish her all the best.
Alice – Also has been with us all season helping on match days and coaching on Fridays. Simon Merry – The team reporter a role he says he hates but has shown he is good at and I tell myself he must love it really.
All the parents for driving the girls to training on Fridays and games on Sundays. Your commitment is amazing as I know how hard it is to get the girls ready for football.
Jason for helping me with coaching ideas, trying to think of new ways to occupy the girls and coach them is hard, Jason has a wealth of knowledge and experience which has proved invaluable throughout the season.
Finally the Club and its volunteers without them the girls would not have a club. They all work really hard in the background just making things happen from events to equipment they all know who they are.
So on to the awards.
Each of the players voted for there player of the season and this year that player was:
Players Player of the season 2019/20 – Ava – she works hard and is liked by the entire team
Each of the parents voted for there player of the season and this year that player was:
Parent player of the season 2019/20 – Astrid – she has slotted into defense well and made the position hers a key player within the team
The coaches were asked to vote for there player of the season and as a group this was hard we ended up with the most complicated voting system and came up with:
Runner up was Megan. It showed she had played last season and her shot-stopping was top class
Coaches player of the season 2019/20 – Chloe – she has played in every position and never moans, scores goals and has even played in goal when needed she has been a true team player and both Megan and Alice outvoted me
The most improved player was hard as all the girls have come on so far so as coaches we used the complicated voting system and came up with a result. Runner up was Emilia. She joined us with little footballing experience and she has grown in every game she plays, scoring goals and learning the basics of football. I can see that she will be an important part of the team next season.
Most improved of the season 2019/20 – Louise – Louise always has a smile on her face and going from a girl that had almost no footballing understanding to a player that scored her first goal in a match. Plus the best memory for me was the game when she fell over in a tackle and got muddy. She was not happy with that!
Looking forward
Next season whenever that might be we move to Under 10s and 7 aside. This means bigger pitches, more running and loads more fun. Loads more learning for all of us again and hopefully lots of happy smiley faces. I can’t wait to get started again but until then please all of you stay safe!
Simon