Has anyone else ever had much involvement in grassroots football?
I'm about to come to the end of things with my team that I've coached from U8s to Now U18s, in that time I've had over 50 kids pass through the team!
Although I do feel like I am ready to get my weekends back a little, I also know I am going to miss it greatly. We've never really been a team that wins things, I started with the kids that nobody else wanted, that could hardly kick a ball, in the very lowest division and the first thing we are about to win apart from promotion (in 2nd place twice) is this years league, the lads are currently top and need just 3 pints from the last 12 to win the league, they have only lost once all season.
I've always tried to teach them to play football, to allow them to make mistakes and feel safe enough to do so, to express themselves on the pitch, it's been a philosophy if you like I've stuck to all the way through and this year it's finally paid off, we play a lot of teams who are very direct which has its place but when the lads start to play now, they absolutely "football" the other team to death. Here are a couple of goals from this weekend's victory, yes unfortunately they do play in black and white!
I'm incredibly proud of the very small part I've played in some of these lads' lives, some are still with me from the very start, and I am not sure how I am going to feel sort of losing touch with them.
I'm not stepping out of GR completely, I now find myself as the club chairman (I'm not sure how it happened either) so I now co-ordinate, along with the most amazing volunteer committee 27 teams, boys, girls and mixed teams and over 400 children, it's a role I enjoy, although it's incredibly hard work around work and family life.
Our whole family is involved, my lad @Lewis plays for my team, my wife is our child welfare officer and my daughter helps in the tea and coffee hut at weekends,
I just really want to say I doth my cap to anyone who has done it or still does it, thousands of people give so much more time and effort to kids' football than most people realise.
I'd love to hear your experiences
I'm about to come to the end of things with my team that I've coached from U8s to Now U18s, in that time I've had over 50 kids pass through the team!
Although I do feel like I am ready to get my weekends back a little, I also know I am going to miss it greatly. We've never really been a team that wins things, I started with the kids that nobody else wanted, that could hardly kick a ball, in the very lowest division and the first thing we are about to win apart from promotion (in 2nd place twice) is this years league, the lads are currently top and need just 3 pints from the last 12 to win the league, they have only lost once all season.
I've always tried to teach them to play football, to allow them to make mistakes and feel safe enough to do so, to express themselves on the pitch, it's been a philosophy if you like I've stuck to all the way through and this year it's finally paid off, we play a lot of teams who are very direct which has its place but when the lads start to play now, they absolutely "football" the other team to death. Here are a couple of goals from this weekend's victory, yes unfortunately they do play in black and white!
I'm incredibly proud of the very small part I've played in some of these lads' lives, some are still with me from the very start, and I am not sure how I am going to feel sort of losing touch with them.
I'm not stepping out of GR completely, I now find myself as the club chairman (I'm not sure how it happened either) so I now co-ordinate, along with the most amazing volunteer committee 27 teams, boys, girls and mixed teams and over 400 children, it's a role I enjoy, although it's incredibly hard work around work and family life.
Our whole family is involved, my lad @Lewis plays for my team, my wife is our child welfare officer and my daughter helps in the tea and coffee hut at weekends,
I just really want to say I doth my cap to anyone who has done it or still does it, thousands of people give so much more time and effort to kids' football than most people realise.
I'd love to hear your experiences
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