Everyone at Bootham Girls’ and Ladies’ Futsal Club – York would like to wish King Charles 2nd the very best for his reign as monarch.

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

We had a surprise guest this morning when Ellie Whittaker, ladies’ first team captain dropped by to watch the sessions.

With so many new members to the club, the coaches decided it was about time they revisited an old friend – recovery! It is one of the non-negotiables in futsal and there is no excuse for any player not doing it during training or a game! So for this week, we paused the work on pivot player and really worked the players hard. The players, across the various age groups played high tempo 4v2s and 2v2s, quick change matches with loads of generous encouragement from the coaches to recover! Needless to say, we had plenty of extremely tired players at the end of each hour and we are delighted to say not one player let us down today. The commitment from each and every player was brilliant, it was so good to watch.

Click here to see all the pictures from the session

Player of the week for the first hour was Irma L – A young lady who plays every game with a smile on her face, and never stops running throughout. She has good feet and is not afraid of a tackle. Still very young but a fab young player and one we love working with. Fab job, Irma!

Player of the week for the second hour was Isla H – The coaches gave her a bit of encouragement with her recovery runs at the start, but she never gave up. A young lady with great technique and still finding her way in futsal but we really like what we see. Great start to your futsal journey, Isla!

Player of the week for the third hour was Millie T – Another of our new players who is finding her feet in futsal. Great energy, fantastic technique and a shot to rival anyone in the club. One of the players we are really excited to work with and yet another the ladies are watching closely – keep going, Millie!

Player of the week for the fourth hour was Emily-Sue T – One from day one, and one who never lets us down, and today ran herself into the ground. She never stops, never quits and is a shinning example to the younger members of the club what commitment is all about! Your are one in million, Emily-Sue!

Final thoughts of a coach – When we talk to the players about non-negotiables, it always gets a mixed reaction. Nearly all the girls have come from a footballing background, so in some respects they are trying to learn different techniques – sole of the foot control, toe poke finishes etc. But the one that causes the most confusion is always recovery. It is one of the fundamentals of the game – every player must do it and there are no excuses for not doing it! Is it the football brain of the players that causes the issues or just the lack of knowledge of the game – honestly, I don’t know! That said today, not one player didn’t recover, some took a bit of gentle encouragement, but by the end we saw some serious hard work from everyone – fab group of young ladies!

I am always delighted when one of the senior players turns up at training to watch/help the academy players. This morning ladies captain Ellie Whittaker dropped by and immediately the faces of the young girls lit up. They know who she is, they want her in their team and they honestly give an extra 10%. The support the ladies get from the academy players at matches is growing with every game, and they know they have to give something back. Watch this space for more to come!

We are definitely building something here in York with women’s futsal – the club is still growing and the quality and understanding of Futsal on the court is getting better and better each and every week. I have so many plans, so many ideas on what to do next in the short term and the long term dream. Anyone else want to get involved in anyway with any part on this journey?