Archive for November, 2009
Dear Under 15 players and parents-carers,
I am very sorry to have to inform you that the club has decided that it has no option but to disband the under 15 year group with immediate effect.
This decision has been taken with great regret and only after many efforts have been made to find ways to keep the team going. However, the decision should not come as a surprise to anyone: I have made numerous appeals for parents-carers to get actively involved with organising and managing the boys on match days, and have been warning for several months that if more parents-carers did not step forward to help manage the team on match days (with all that involves) it would not be possible for the team to continue.
I am very grateful to Luke’s mum and Charles’ mum who both offered to volunteer to help with various administrative tasks; and to George’s mum who has often gone out of her way to give boys lifts to and from matches and training. I am also grateful for the offer of sponsorship which was made by one of the boys’ dads. All of these offers were valued but, unfortunately, as I have explained several times in the past, what we could not continue without were parents-carers prepared to attend matches and actively manage the boys (including arranging the completion of relevant paperwork, etc).
I would also like to particularly highlight my thanks to James Dixon, who was prepared to invest many hours of his own time to plan and conduct training sessions for the boys during the last year. As James did not have any children of his own in the under15s squad, this was a very generous, selfless thing to do.
I feel very sad that it has become necessary to disband the team, as I too have invested a lot of my own time in recruitment, planning, managing and coaching activities in support of the under 15s. I feel particularly sad because I have to come to know and like the boys, and all I have wanted to do (with James’ fantastic help) was to help the boys play and enjoy football.
However, as I said in the last notice I posted on the website, all year groups’ teams ultimately depend for their continuation on the preparedness of the boys’ own parents-carers to get involved in coaching-managing, as well as administration. While teams, can for a while, depend on volunteers who do not themselves have any of their own children in the team – as has been the case with the under 15s with James and me – it is unrealistic and unreasonable to expect this situation to carry on indefinitely.
For my own part, I have two sons, who play in Larkhall teams at under 13 and under 17, and the time I have spent coaching the under 15s, has meant that I have had to sacrifice being able to coach and watch my own sons. I have been willing to do that up to now, but now want to be able to spend more time supporting my own sons’ football activities. I am sure you will therefore understand why I feel unable myself to take on managing the boys for their weekend matches.
Looking to the future, I would like to say thank you to all the boys for their enthusiasm and efforts and to wish them all the very best with whatever they do – hopefully they may be able to find opportunities to play with other teams.
Refund of subscriptions
In the circumstances, after relevant deductions have been made to cover pitch and astro hire costs and League fees, it is appropriate that parents-carers receive a refund from membership subscriptions where they have already been paid the £90 which was due. The necessary sums have not yet been done, but I would imagine that a refund of around £50 would be due to those parents-carers who have paid the full £90 subscription. However, please note that this sum is subject to confirmation.
I will now arrange for the relevant information to be passed to Richard Stone, the Club Chairman, so he can arrange for refunds to be sent to parents-carers. We will endeavour to do this as soon as possible.
Best wishes,
Tony Day
Posted: November 15th, 2009 under Under 15s News.
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Dear under 15 players, parents and carers,
The purpose of this note is to explain the current position with the under 15s team.
As you know – especially those of you who came to training and friendly matches last season – I and one or two others have volunteered a lot of time and effort during the past year or so in trying to establish a team at this year group.
Efforts began last summer when I started training a small group of boys (then under 14s). Partly because of then limited player numbers, it was not possible to enter the team into a league and so the boys had to be content with playing a few friendly matches and in tournaments. Subsequently, though some players “came and went”, continuous efforts to recruit more players resulted in slowly growing numbers to the point where we recently had between 14 and 16 boys training and a good squad of players with which to move forward. Also, James Dixon was successfully “recruited” (as an unpaid volunteer) to help coach the boys. James is a very enthusiastic, good coach and I am very grateful to James for all his efforts.
In several respects, therefore, including a good base for training at St Marks School, we had several key factors for a successful team in place.
However, as I have explained on several occasions, the success and continuation of a team in any year group crucially and ultimately depends on the parents-carers of those players in that team being able and willing to themselves get involved as volunteers to undertake the necessary roles which need covering (including coaching and managing the team on match days). Without such involvement, the continuation of the team relies on volunteers (James and myself in this situation), who are not parents-carers of any of the players in the team, which I would hope you would agree is not, in the long-term, a reasonable expectation of the volunteers concerned.
The current situation is that, with too few parents-carers being prepared to volunteer to take on all that is involved with match-day management, I regret to say that it very much looks as though the team will unfortunately have to be disbanded.
A final decision on this will be taken during the next week and will partly depend on the outcome of a Midsomer Norton League management committee meeting tomorrow evening at which the situation of the under 15 team will be considered. The committee will decide whether the team can be given more time (perhaps 2-3 weeks) to try to find more volunteers or whether it will be asked to leave the league now because of falling behind with its fixtures. As a way of trying to enable the team to catch up its fixtures, I have suggested to the league committee that the “catch-up” matches could be played on Monday evenings on the St Marks School astro, but I am doubtful that the league committee will agree to that suggestion.
And, in any event, even if the League does grant the team more time, the main problem of insufficient parent-carer involvement will remain. Therefore, should anyone be prepared to volunteer to take on all that is involved with match-day management, please get in touch with me immediately.
If a decision to disband the team is confirmed, it would be my expectation that the club would offer to those parents-carers who have paid the full £90 subscription a partial refund of this amount, after deducting an appropriate amount for the costs already incurred (e.g. for hire of the St Marks astro). The final decisions will need to be taken by the members of the club’s senior management committee.
I feel extremely sorry for all the boys that things are turning out as they are, especially as so many of them have been so enthusiastic for so long and all they want to do is play and enjoy football. This is all I have wanted to encourage and facilitate, but things simply cannot continue as they are without an immediate injection of significantly more parent-carer involvement.
Pending final decisions on the way ahead, I have decided to cancel training tomorrow evening.
Tony
Tony Day
(07833133031)
Posted: November 1st, 2009 under Under 15s News.
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Larkhall Athletic 2 v Chippenham Town 0
I was there, 29th November 2009, Royal High school….a date to register in the annals of Larkhall Athletic Club history!…with the first ever win for our U16 Girls.
After the first 5 minutes Larkhall started to take control of the game with Alice Lyne and Alice Sibley passing well in midfield and Izzy breaking up Chippenham attacks. Hattie was showing well on the left and Lynsey made some incisive runs down the right. Mid way through the half Larks almost took the lead with an excellent long range shot from Alice Lyne that hit the cross bar and bounced out with Lynsey unlucky not to follow up.
Chippenham occasionally looked dangerous on the break but the Larkhall defence held firm with Leanne making some great tackles and Debs making an important covering interception.
Jess and Beth came off the subs bench to make an impact and a hatful of half chances were created but Larkhall did not convert them and despite all the pressure Half Time was reached at 0-0.
The Girls did not need to be told that their shooting needed to improve after the break!
The Second half commenced with Chippenham initially in the ascendency creating a couple of chances that Kim comfortably dealt with in goal.
But after 10 minutes Larkhall came right back into the game with the Alice’s playing well in midfield and Jess, having her best game for the Larks on the right, making some great runs. Chances were created for Hattie, Lynsey and Beth…with at one point the ball rolling along the goal line, in need of a touch..!
Perseverance told with Chippenham conceding a free kick 20 yards from goal. Alice Lyne placed the ball and, after the referee had asked Chippenham to move back 5 yards, set her sites. The ball was hammered over the wall and into the top right corner of the net…Beckham would have been proud!
Chippenham pushed hard for an equaliser but the Larks stood firm with Pippi and Josie having excellent games in defence.
Further chances were created with Larkhall fully on top and after more great passing play….Alice Lyne dribbled passed two Chippenham defenders and blasted the ball home to win the match for Larkhall.
We have been improving game by game and learning quickly how to compete in the league. Today was a complete team performance and every player should be rightly proud of the part they played in this victory.
A Big thanks to Chris Lowe for refereeing and all the parents who turned out in atrocious weather to cheer the Girls on….brilliant!
Next Match
Our next league match is away to Wootten Bassett next Saturday December 5th at 1030am….meet in Alice Park to leave by 915am.
Please confirm your availability to me as soon as possible.
Training
U16 training is as usual with Laura at St Marks on Wednesday at 7.00pm.
Thanks
Martin Lyne
Larkhall Athletic Girls Club Secretary
07970 148975
martinandsara.lyne@tesco.net
Posted: November 29th, 2009 under U16s Girls News.
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Saturday 28th November
Larkhall U14 Girls 12 Trowbridge B 0
The Girls started the game with composure and soon started to hold onto the ball and pass it around the pitch to each other. After a very good display of dribbling Ellie Lyne put us ahead after 3 minutes with a calmly finished goal. Soon after Ellie crossed in a perfect corner for Becky Roper to volley home her first league goal. Jess playing her first game played very well in defence and marked thier striker very tightly. In only her third league game Eva also showed some good skill on the ball taking on thier defence to cross the ball into the goal area for Becky. With a great display of passing we came off at half time 6-0 up.
The second half started as the first and and Ellie Marden came up the pitch from defence to score a well worked goal with some good touch and go passing from Becca Jacobs. Ellie then went on to score another from a free kick and was perfectly placed into the bottom corner. Ellie Lyne and Becca Jacobs passed he ball very well to each other and also switched the ball to the right wing for Becky Roper to take on players and supply Eva with some good chances. Eva went on to score 2 goals and 1 of them was a very good volley from the edge of the box.
Final Score: Larkhall 12 Trowbridge 0. E Lyne 6, E Smyth 2, B Roper 1, B Jacobs 1, E Marden 2
Girl of the Match Jess
We dont have a game next weekend but have a match on Saturday 12th of December away to Marlborough. Can you please let Martin know if you can play please.
Regards
Chris
Posted: November 29th, 2009 under U14s Girls News.
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Bath City Youth 3 HAWKS 2
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An exciting game between these closely matched sides
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The HAWKS showed great effort and determination throughout this hard fought match.
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Once we scored to make it 3-2, we put on a lot of pressure in the last 5 minutes and were very unlucky not to snatch an equaliser.
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I was very proud of you all!
Mat (Coach)
Photos: Mark
Posted: November 19th, 2009 under Under 10s News.
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9 – 1 and Proud!
Its not often that you see a headline like this but I thought yesterday’s performance v Trowbridge showed the progress we are making.
In patches of the game you put into practice all the hard work you have been doing with Laura in training and played as a team……the first 20 minutes were excellent with our defence outstanding.
I think we know we need to translate this into a consistent performance during the whole match and I know you have the character to do this in the coming games.
Our goaI was the best of the whole game and just showed with determination and skill we can be as good as anybody!
Well done Girls!
Next Match
We have our next league match away to Derry Hill this coming Saturday November 21st at 11.00am. I will confirm travel arrangements by mid week.
Please confirm your availability to me as soon as possible…I want a full squad turn out!
Training
Training with Laura is again at St Marks from 7.00 to 8.30pm as it will be now for the rest of the season.
Thanks
Martin Lyne
Larkhall Athletic Girls Club Secretary
07970 148975
martinandsara.lyne@tesco.net
Posted: November 17th, 2009 under U16s Girls News.
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Larkhall 8 Derry Hill 1
The midfield trio of Becca, Ellie and Becky Sarten played a great passing game today, holding onto the ball and passing the ball across the width of the pitch. Romany held the ball up well and distributed good passes into the path of the advancing midfielders to score several good goals before half time. Stacey didnt have much to do in the first half with strong defending from Ellie and Izzy. Freya came on after 20 mins and also made some good tackles and advancing runs into midfield. We went in at half time ahead 4-0. The second half started with a good tempo and Eva produced some good attacking runs down the right wing with Stacey equally matching her pace on the left. With good ball retention and the midfielders pressing forward more goals were scored in the second half. Becky Kersey made it very difficult for Derry Hill to move into the 18 yard box and again with some good tight marking we finished the game 8-1 winners. A very pleasing victory!
B Sarten 4, E Lyne 3 and R Lowe 1. Girl of the match - E Smyth
We do not have a game next week but our next match is on Saturday 28th of Novemeber against Trowbridge B. Please meet at Alice Park at 12.45
Regards
Chris and Martin
Posted: November 16th, 2009 under U14s Girls News.
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Larkhall Athletic Youth Football Club fully supports the FA Respect programme. Could I ask all parents to spend some time on the FA Respect webpage to ensure we are familiar with the code of conduct. Please click on the link to the webpage.
http://thefa.com/Respect
Regards
Chris Lowe
Posted: November 14th, 2009 under U14s Girls News.
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Posted: November 14th, 2009 under U14s Girls News.
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Our next match is against Derry Hill on Sunday 15th of Novemeber at 11.00. Please meet at the Royal High School at 10.15.
Regards
Chris Lowe
Posted: November 14th, 2009 under U14s Girls News.
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