Last training block of the season, and boy it was hot in the sports hall, but all the girls gave 100%, fantastic to watch and brilliant to coach!

We had two new players come and try Futsal for the first time – welcome, Mandy and Ella, we hope you had fun and we look forward to seeing you again very soon!

As it was nearly a month since we had any training sessions, we worked with the first group on being comfortable with the ball at our feet and moving about the court using all parts of both feet, stopping, turning and changing directions at pace. The older groups had a real challenge, the goals were put in the middle of the court, back to back, and players could play all round them on the court. It was interesting to see how the players tried to play and how they changed their game as information was given. Great work from so many and brilliant to see the players back at futsal!

Click here to see all the pictures from the session

Player of the week for the first hour was Maisie – when Maisie joined us her first thought was to just belt the ball as hard as possible. Over the last 3 months she has learnt to put her foot on the ball, think about what she wants to do and make a much better decision. She is even looking to get goals now! Fantastic improvements, Maisie, keep this up!

Player of the week for the second hour was Martha – apart from being a fantastic young lady, what we love about Martha is the way she learns from her mistakes. Not everything she does is the right decision but she knows and often tells us what she could have done different, a fantastic skill for such a young person. The future is exceedingly bright for this player, awesome, Martha!

Player of the week for the third hour was Emily-Sue – today was a real masterclass in the correct technique for the correct game, she was brilliant. In fact, Emily-Sue was so good today, we have asked her is she would like to train with the Ladies’ team. Keep this up and we will have another fantastic academy player for our Ladies’ team. The best session yet, Emily-Sue!

Final thoughts of a coach – the football academy trials season is definitely upon us and I have mixed feelings about this. Firstly I want players to push themselves as far as they can and play at the highest level they can, any coach would want this for their players. But until futsal is seen as a full pathway, and by that I mean an England Ladies’ Team, then we will constantly lose talent to football. We have thriving men’s and women’s national futsal leagues, both televised and yet, the FA do nothing. Oh, by the way, Northern Ireland have men’s and woman’s teams who play in the European Championships…

The fact we have struggled to recruit new players to the ladies’ team so far this preseason shows that futsal is currently viewed by the masses as nothing more than just a fad. BT Sport is doing everything they can to promote the games, as are so many clubs around the UK. Fingers crossed that the FA wake up and start to support the game as it really should be, and we have that first England Ladies’ game, I for one will definitely be there!