The 2014-15 season has kicked off, and there has been plenty of change at the club! The club has a new constitution, welcoming back former coach and secretary, Trevor Middlecote, into the role as club chairman. Another of our coaches, Dave Biddlecombe is also appointed to the positions of club welfare officer, and FA Standard Charter Co-ordinator.
On the pitch, we are delighted to welcome Ben Evans to the coaching team, who has started up the brand new Under 6 team. It is always a challenge to recruit volunteers at the youngest age groups, so this is a huge boost. We also have a new Under 10 side, being coached by Lee Marshall.Nigel Moorcroft has also started up the Churchdown Panthers Goalkeeping school. Both Nigel and his other coach Tommy, hold FA Goalkeeping coaching badges.
This gives us a great opportunity to develop young goalkeepers. There is great interest and great feedback so far, and has attracted goalkeepers from outside the club.
Our club also put in a proposal to the Cheltenham Youth League, to create an U18 division. After U16 level, the jump to mens football is quite a big one, so this is a great stepping stone for an additional 2 years of development. We are delighted that this was voted in at the league AGM, and we have retained those U16 players from last season.
All in all, we have over 220 children on the books across the 12 age groups. There is also another 30 players in our mens side in Cheltenham Association League. So the club is in a fantastic position and growing every week.
There has been some mixed success with the opening games of the season. The mens team, having just been promoted to division 1, have made a great start with 2 wins from 3. Notable opening weekend scores from our youth teams, include wins of 11-2 and 5-1 for our 2 Under 12 sides and a 7-1 away win for our Under 14s.
The below picture is one of our Under 11 sides, who are modelling their new kit for the 2014-15 season. This kit proudly promotes the “Jenson’s Journey” charity.
Jenson’s Journey was created to raise awareness of Ducehenne Muscular Dystrophy, and donations to drive research into a cure. Jenson is an 18 month old toddler, and little brother of one of our Under 11 players. To find out more about Jenson’s journey, visit his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pages/Jensons-Journey
Early days so far, but hear is to another very successful season!
If you would like to find out more, play or coach for Churchdown Panthers, then please get in touch: info@churchdownpanthers.co.uk.