Larkhall Athletic Youth FC

Club Website - UPDATE

richard.stone — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:59:57 +0000

Thank you for visiting the current web page for Larkhall Athletic Youth.

We are currently updating our website so we apologise if the place looks a little ‘out of date’! We hope to have a refurbished site operating by the start of the new season - 2010/11.

In the meantime, if you would like to know more about the club, or you would like to join one of our youth teams - boys or girls - please call me on 01225 444794 and we can talk about what you’re looking for.

Our club is continuing to grow and so we’re always on the look out for people with ideas and a little spare time to help. You don’t even need to be an expert in football - just willing to lend an occasional helping hand. In these busy times, we appreciate most folk don’t have a lot of free time, but if you can spare a little of that time (even on a part time basis), that could make a big difference to a voluntary club like ours. There is always lots to do! So if you’d like to ‘give something back’ and help a youth organisation develop even further, please call for a chat.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards

Richard Stone (Co-chairman, Larkhall Athletic Youth)

Website Update

richard.stone — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:57:19 +0000

News to follow…

DISBANDMENT OF THE UNDER 15s TEAM

Tony Day — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:09:05 +0000

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.

Should you want to contact Richard, he can be contacted via rich@teleios.co.uk.

Best wishes,

Tony Day

THE POSITION WITH THE UNDER 15 TEAM

Tony Day — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:17:11 +0000

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)

Club Welfare arrangements

Tony Day — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:39:38 +0000

The new ISA arrangements

Last month, I posted an item about the proposed new Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) arrangements. My post explained that I was hoping to gain further clarification from the County Welfare Officer. That has not so far emerged. As soon as I have further information about how the ISA arrangements will affect volunteer coaches and officials at the club, I will pass this on.

Volunteer(s) urgently sought to assist with club Welfare Officer duties

So that I can scale down my volunteer commitments at the club and have more time to spend on my family and work commitments, I plan to step down as club welfare officer in mid December. I am therefore urgently trying to identify one or more volunteer (s) to take over from me as CWO. I believe that Richard Stone knows someone who may be interested, but the role is probably best shared, so if anyone else is interested in helping out with this role, please get in touch with me ASAP (tony@day1426.freeserve.co.uk). Further information about what’s involved can be found here.

Many thanks.

Tony

Tony Day

BBC Breakfast News item on the new ISA arrangements

Tony Day — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:24:29 +0000

BBC Breakfast News today broadcast an item about the new arrangements - being progressively implemented over the next few years - for people working with children needing to register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).

The news item spoke, rather alarmingly, of parents-carers involved in giving children lifts to training or football matches being liable to fines of £5,000 if they were not registered with the ISA.

My understanding - which I am seeking to confirm with the County FA Welfare Officer - is that it has been agreed that the FA will not implement the new ISA arrangements until next year and that, in the meantime, the current arrangements for seeking CRB (Criminal Record Bureau checks) for relevant adults involved in children’s and youth football will continue.

I also understand that informal arrangements for lift sharing (i.e. agreed directly between parents-carers, rather than formally through a club official) would not be covered by the ISA arrangements (and so not raise any issues of anyone being fined!).

With the new season now upon us, I am arranging - with the help year group leaders - to update my list of adults who have agreed to volunteer to help coach or referee matches, etc so that I can arrange for any new or updated CRB checks to be done.

As soon as I receive a reply from the County FA Welfare Officer (hopefully early next week) I will publish it here on the website.

Tony

Tony Day
Club Welfare Officer

URGENT - parent-carer volunteers needed to enable boys to play next season

Tony Day — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 17:44:40 +0000

Dear U15 players (for season 09-10) and their parents-carers,

Please click here to read a newsletter about arrangements for next season.

May I please emphasise that, unless several parents-carers of next season’s under 15s are prepared to volunteer their help to assist with running the team, it will not be possible for the team to continue and the boys will have to be withdrawn from the Midsomer Norton League.

To avoid this happening - which no-one wants - please read the attached and then get in touch with me by this coming Wednesday, 26 August 2009, to volunteer your help.

Thank you.

Tony

Tony Day
(07833133031, tony@day1426.freeserve.co.uk)

U13 Girls do well at Lavington tournament

Tony Day — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:56:39 +0000

Well done to the girls again!
The weather was fantastic at this year’s Lavington tournament and, with 11 teams competing, it was going to be a long hot day. We drew with Bath City in the first match, Trowbridge in the second and beat Lavington and Derry Hill to qualify for the semi finals.
We were drawn against Melksham in the semi finals who had won all four of their matches previously. The game was very tight and we went a goal behind. We then equalised to take it to extra time. With minutes to go Ellie Lyne picked up the ball, dribbled around every Melksham player and slotted the ball into the corner to win it for us! Pure Genius!
All of the girls played extremely well and gave 110% and that "Larkhall Girls" sprit was back and that was one of the games of the season for me!
We then met Swindon in the final and the first half ended 0-0. The game again was again end to end but unfortunately we went a goal behind and lost the game 1-0.
Another succesful tournament and the girls have shown this season that we consistently play well and I have no doubt we will do even better next season. May I yet again thank all of the parents who travelled to Lavington and supported the girls.

Regards

Chris Lowe, U13 Girls’ Coach

U13 Girls win FC Chippenham tournament!

Tony Day — Thu, 28 May 2009 09:59:44 +0000

Hot on the heels of their recent success as Wiltshire County Cup Champions, Larkhall Athletic U13 Girls football team notched up another impressive win at last weekend’s Chippenham FC tournament.

In terrible conditions, the girls showed great endurance and team spirit beating Trowbridge Wanderers 1-0 in their semi final and Portishead in the final.

Larkhall went ahead early through a well worked goal, Portishead equalised and the match went into golden goal extra time and as deadlock ensued a penalty shoot out. Good penalties from Ellie Lyne, Becky Sartin and Freya Howard were matched by Portishead. Sudden death penalties saw a fantastic save tipped over the bar by Emilie Noad give Larkhall the advantage and the pressure was on Romany Lowe who stepped up and slotted the ball into the bottom left hand corner to win the tournament for Larkhall!

Well done girls and many thanks to all those parents and carers who supported the girls in the terrible weather!

Best wishes,

Martin Lyne and Chris Lowe, Coaches Larkhall U13 Girls

Larkhalls DOUBLE SUCCESS!

richard.stone — Sun, 03 May 2009 16:57:34 +0000

In a fantastic week for Larkhall Athletic Youth, both the U15’s BOYS and the U13’s GIRLS have won their respective Cup Finals against tough opposition.

Under 15 boys

The U15 boys beat Chilcompton Sports in a pulsating final at Bath City Stadium on Wednesday evening. A Larks corner led to the first goal of the night in the first half when Bradley Norris chipped the ball back into the area after it had been initially cleared. Ginny Davies rose with a flicked header, and Ally Stone came round the back and chipped the keeper to put Larkhall 1 nil up. However, Chilcompton, already the league champions this season, levelled in the second half through a controversial free kick, and with both sides deadlocked, the game went into extra time. The stalemate continued for two extra periods and with both sides suffering cramp and injuries, the game finally went into a tense penalty shoot-out. Larkhall Athletic keeper Eddie Ilic became the goal keeping hero after saving two penalties to help the Larks win the shoot out 5-4. Everyone worked really hard throughout a long and tough match and in recognition of the work at both ends of the pitch, the Man of the Match award went to centre back Alex Battrick and striker ‘Ginny’ Davies. This was the first major league trophy the boys had won since their great 2004/5 double winning season - so well done to the lads and to Lindsay Jacobs and his team of coaches - Nigel ‘Batty’ Battrick, Paul Salmon and Richard Stone.

Under 13 girls

The U13 girls beat Bath City in a very tight and even game at Chippenham Town Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The girls took the lead early in the second half from a corner delivered by Ellie Lyne. Romany Lowe and Beckie Sarten challenged for the ball in the penalty area, and Beckie managed to stab the ball into the corner of the net to put the Larks 1 nil up. Larkhall continued to work the ball well against the previously unbeaten league winners, but clear cut chances were few and far between in a very even contest. The girls however, had to weather strong pressure in the last 10 minutes and survived a couple of late scares but hung on to deservedly earn their first ever cup victory! Well done to the girls and to their managers Martin Lyne and Chris Lowe.

Here’s some film of the game, including the all-important goal!! (Thanks to Pete Dowling for providing this).

Great Supporters!

We’d also like to say a special THANK YOU to all the supporters of both teams. The crowd at Chippenham Town seemed to be mostly Larkhall which was great to see, and the crowd at Bath City Stadium was counted at around 250 - 280, many of whom came to support Larkhall Athletic, which is outstanding support for a local club like ours. We hope to continue to gain more success together as you all … follow The Blues.

Rich Stone & Tony Day, Co-chairmen LAFC Youth