With the weather warming up outside, the temperature on the futsal court was just as intense. With the annual St George’s Day parade taking place in York, numbers were lower than usual, but that didn’t stop the players who attended from giving it their all.

We continued focusing on defensive principles, particularly how to guide attacking players into areas you want them to go. The girls worked on using their body positioning to limit space and influence the attacker’s direction. We then progressed this into a 2v2 scenario in a similar area, introducing the importance of communication. Without talking when out of possession, things can quickly fall apart.

These concepts aren’t always the easiest to grasp and may not seem the most exciting, but through repetition and plenty of encouragement from the coaches, we saw some excellent progress. Many players really stepped up, showing great improvement and taking big strides forward.

First Hour – Mia T – Another brilliant day from Mia, she was absolutely on fire. She put in so much work on the 2v1 defending and her out-of-possession play was excellent. You can really see how much her confidence has grown from playing matches, it’s making a huge difference. If we can just get her to truly believe in how good she is, we’ve got a serious player on our hands. Top job Mia!

Second Hour – Poppy L – One of our newest players, and after today’s session she said it best: “Futsal… this is hard!” She’s working incredibly hard to adapt her footballing brain, and week by week you can see her growing into the game. The effort and commitment are always there, and that never goes unnoticed. We know there’s a great futsal player in there, just needs time and patience, and it will come Poppy!

As we move towards the end of the competitive season, with leagues and cup competitions reaching their tense and often exciting final stages, it raises an important question: what is success?

Is success measured by the number of games you win, the goals you score, the clean sheets you keep, or the trophies you lift? Don’t get me wrong, these are all achievements to be proud of and represent one form of success. But if only one team can ultimately finish first, does that mean everyone else has failed?

A well-known sports brand once used the slogan during the Olympics: “You don’t win silver, you lose gold.” It is a powerful line, but is it really the message we want young players to believe?

I often see coaches and clubs place far too much emphasis on winning. Of course, competition has its place. But surely, if your players come back week after week, give their very best and do it all with a huge smile on their face, isn’t that success?

Perhaps success should be measured differently. Improvement, effort, resilience, teamwork and the courage to keep going after setbacks are qualities that last far beyond a final league table. For many players, success is stepping onto the pitch with more confidence than the week before, making better decisions, supporting teammates and growing both as players and as people.

Winning is part of sport and it always will be. But it should not be the only measure. Because if development is the goal, then success becomes something far more inclusive and far more meaningful.

Not everyone will agree with this view and that is fine. But it is one I firmly believe in and one that will not change.

Coach Chris

A few images from today: