Well, we get to the end of another block of futsal coaching and we think everyone is in need of a break! That said it didn’t stop the girls putting on a show of excellent futsal!

We had one new player come and try futsal for the first time – welcome, Hattie , we hope you had fun and we look forward to seeing you again very soon!

As is the norm for the club, the last session of the block is based around games, games and more games. We ask the girls to show us what they had learnt in the previous 5 weeks. With a local football tournament on the same day, numbers were down, but this allowed more playing time for the girls who turned up. A gentle reminder from the coaches to reduce the number of touches and be more patience in possession saw some great futsal from all the age groups. Huge thanks to Paul, Aide and Katie for taking the majority of the sessions, so Coach Chris could catch up with a few parents.

Ladies captain Ellie Whittaker dropped by to check up on the U16s, who were having their last session before they travel to Newcastle on Saturday for the regional finals of the the FA Pokemon Futsal Cup. It will be very hard but the girls have improved so much this year, the club has high hopes and know they will do themselves proud.

Final thoughts of a coach – We have been offered some more training space at another two venues for the new season and as a club we jumped at the chance. We will be offering extra training to the girls to help move them on quicker in their futsal journey.

As this extra training is now on an evening, this has led to a few conflicts of the girls choosing between football and futsal. As the club has expanded, this stage of our development was always going to happen. All we can do is offer the opportunity for the girls to play more futsal, we can’t make them attend. We feel we offer a very good package – top quality venues, UEFA B futsal coaching, low numbers with good court time and the opportunity to progress into a national league side. We do everything we can to make the girls want to come, but ultimately it is down to the individual. I have no problems if a player’s heart is in football, and they are using futsal as a development tool to improve their football.

With the introduction of the ladies’ team 18 months ago, we now have a responsibility to this team and the club to try and develop the best open aged futsal players we can. On one hand we will never change the ethos of the club – everyone is welcome regardless of ability, but also we want to showcase the hard work of so many at the highest level of female futsal within the UK. Let’s hope everyone understand the direction we are currently undertaking, only time will tell…

Thank you for everyone’s amazing support in this block and we start back on Sunday 11 June at St Olave’s for the last block of the season. Stay safe and have a good break….now sleep…I think I need it!