Forest Glade Under 7's: July 2014

So the 2013/14 season draws to an end and now we can all sit back, watch the World Cup and enjoy the 4 week summer break before getting into some pre-season training. Personally I think the Forest Glade Under 6's have taken a massive step forward this season and the level of progression has surpassed our expectations. I think all the coaches and kids deserve a huge pat on the back for their massive efforts during the season. The parents also deserve a big thank you for sticking with us and enduring some of those cold, wet, blustery mornings standing on the side lines just so your child can kick a ball!

There have been lots of exciting times and highlights to reflect on and also a few low points which we have learnt from. What excites me the most is that despite most of the team being together for around 2 years already, our journey is really only just beginning as we are about to enter our first ever season in the Mini Soccer League. Again the coaches thank you all for your support and encourage any feedback / ideas that you might have as we move forward to the 2014/15 season.

Anyway thanks to Nikola Webb I can share with you some pictures from our last training session of the 2013/14 season. It was one of our fun sessions which started off with one of Jason's sadistic obstacle courses. How the kids managed to run the course without appearing to be out of breath and wanting to go again is beyond me, the parents and coaches were blowing out of their backsides after 1 just lap! But it was good to see the team of coaches take revenge from the "parents vs coaches 5-a-side defeat" a few weeks back and storm to victory around the obstacle course in a time of 29 secs (no cheating what so ever!!!!).

At the end of the session the kids had some fun with another giant inflatable football (which remarkably didn't get burst this time). Then thanks to Coach Steve we had the goal radar system to measure ball striking speed. Some of the kids were striking the ball at over 50mph which is very impressive. However I think the parents/coaches were far more competitive and desperate to have the glory of hitting the top speed. I think the winning parent kick was in excess of 70mph in the end. Like a golf swing there is no right or wrong way of really striking a ball and it is interesting to look at the pictures and see the many different techniques in how the kids all kick a ball.