With A level and GCSE exams being held in our usual sports hall, we have decamped to St Olaves for the next few weeks. No problem, this is where the club started, so kinda feels like coming home!

We had a group from Bishopthorpe U10s come and play Futsal today, some for the first time – welcome, we hope you had fun and we look forward to seeing you again very soon!

The first group worked on their passing and control across different distances and through gates that they chose the width of. It was great to see the different techniques and challenges the players set themselves. They finished with some full court games and we got some fantastic goals and saves, well done everyone!

The second and third group continued their work on transitions. After some short, sharp sprints to wake everyone up, we played full court 3minute games in which the winners stayed on, or both changed if no one won. The winners always defended the far goal, and play started immediately the 3 minutes finished with a new team. After a bit of confusion at the start the players reacted quickly to try and catch out the oppositions, great to watch.

Click here to see all the pictures from the session

Player of the week for the first hour was Irma L – what a fantastic session, she showed brilliant technique to shield the ball from the opposition, even stopping Coach Suzy getting the ball. Her sole of the foot control was near perfect and she did all this with a huge smile on her face! What a top young lady, well played Irma!

Player of the week for the second hour was Lacey B – we run out of superb’s for this player, she really does have it all. She showed so much confidence to put her foot on the ball, use her body to shield it, and then drive out of pressure! The club has so many strong players at the moment in all the age groups, and Lacey is right up there. Top display Lacey!

Player of the week for the third hour was Freya D – not only did she score a fantastic hat-trick in one of the matches, but she defended brilliantly and stopped 3 or 4 certain goals with last gasp challenges. Freya really does read the game well and gets herself in some fantastic positions on the court, great to watch. Seriously good session, top marks Freya!

Final thoughts of a coach – each week I record the attendance for all the age groups, and today was a real milestone, we had 50 girls across all the sessions for the very first time. Yes thats right, we had 50 girls come and play futsal! Wow! Our very first session was in the same sports hall five years ago and we had four girls.

What gave me the biggest smile today was Clare, Emily-Sue and Freya, who played that first day, are still playing futsal. These girls are real examples that if you create the right environment, set the correct challenges and encourage and support the girls, they are very happy to stay and continue sport. We are eternally grateful to them all for their amazing support to the club, Clare, Emily-Sue and Freya you are shinning examples to us all.