Norristhorpe Stars
Under 7’s Newsletter – Number 2 (Nov ’07)

As usual I would like to open with how very grateful I am for all your continuing support for both myself and more importantly all of the team. I’m sure that everyone will have noticed that my substitution policy has now changed, and although I will always endeavour to ensure that each player is involved in every game, some players will play for more of a match than others. I hope you can understand this way of thinking & so far it would appear to be paying dividends.
The theory is of course that the team will always have a decent chance of winning the game and that the players on the sidelines, will up their own game, to push their way into the side more & more. This is obviously the reason for the “most improved player” award & that this will encourage all of the “fringe” players to improve even more.
My personal opinion is that this seems to be happening with two or three players in particular & I can see me having “selection problems” in the weeks to come. A position, I imagine that many, more qualified manager’s, would love to have.

At the time of writing this, we are still unbeaten, a trend which I hope we can upkeep for some time to come, let’s face it, Arsene Wenger managed a full season unbeaten with Arsenal, so why shouldn’t we give it a go. The team spirit is good enough & so is the support & encouragement from all of you parents & friends, a situation which seems to be increasing week by week.

Honours
The captain’s armband would appear to have been accepted by the boy’s and looks to be quite highly coveted. The trophies looked to be a great success also, thank you for your support & help with this, I think that it is very important that it is you guys that vote for the “most improved player” award & as such I shall be asking for your text votes w/c 19/11/07 with the presentation at the end of training on 24/11/2007. Could the current trophy holders ensure that the awards are returned on 24/11/2007 in readiness please?
Please ensure that you think long & hard about your vote & make sure that it is you & not the player who is voting, as this defines a true & fair vote & not just a vote for a “friend”.
I believe that this award is the most important one of the month & will give the winner an enormous amount of confidence & self belief.

Volunteers
Thanks to Patrick as usual for his refereeing prowess at our home games, his help & unbiased opinions have helped us as a club, far more than you could imagine & good luck to him in his new additional role as coach to the under 10’s girls.
Many thanks to Peter (Elliot’s dad), Steve (Alex J G’s dad) & Graham (Alex Mac’s dad) who have all stepped forward as volunteers for the team. Over time your help will prove to be invaluable & will enable me the chance to work with specific players, on specific topics, prior to a game, whilst you guys look after the boys & maybe put them through the warm up.
Phil, (The Mighty Bradders dad) has also stepped forward as a possible volunteer & although we now appear to be “fully stocked” with “on field” helpers, I’m still looking for a web site co-ordinator, to upkeep our home page on the Norristhorpe site. Please have a look at HYPERLINK "http://www.norristhorpe-soccer.net" www.norristhorpe-soccer.net & you’ll see that it’s not rocket science & will probably only take a few minutes every week to upkeep. All it needs is the match reports, newsletters etc. which I will provide and any points of interest including pictures & things posting up there for all to see.
Please, please, please let me know who fancies giving it a go.

On the same subject, could you please let me have your e-mail address? For obvious reasons I think that most of us spend an ever increasing amount of time on the internet and it does make communication far simpler for letting you have maps etc. for away games and such. The easiest way is for you to send an e-mail to me – HYPERLINK "mailto:a.ashpool@sky.com" a.ashpool@sky.com & I’ll save your address that way.

Cont/

Christmas Party
You should by now have all received information regarding the party & we will be issuing tickets as soon as they are ready & you part with your “hard earned” cash.

Please don’t forget that there is a club fundraiser in the form of a race night at The Rising Sun in Norristhorpe on Saturday 24/11/07. Everybody is welcome, including the kids. It usually proves to be a very good night. It would be good to see you, even if it’s only for a drink, I think that the social elements of the team are very important & if we can all be friends away from the pitch, it can only benefit the team and in the longer term, what happens on the pitch.

I’m currently undertaking my Level 1 - F. A. coaching course which is why you will not see me at training for a few weeks. I’m doing this, not just because it is a prerequisite of a “Charter Standard” club, but because I want to be the best that I can be for both myself and all the boys. We can only benefit from this but I will, I hasten to add, be happy when I’ve finished it, it’s blooming hard work & the amount of homework is horrendous.

Patrick has come up with a money making scheme, which is always good in my book. This entails a raffle at every home game, the idea being that as a squad of 2 teams, the parents would take it in turns to buy a prize. This prize is entirely up to you guys, be it a bottle of wine, a tin of biscuits or an appointment at Specsavers for the ref, you know the score. As Patrick has come up with the concept, let’s let him run with it & so if you guys can talk about it & arrange a rota I’m happy to go with the flow.

Onwards & upwards.

Thanks once again for all your support &
COME ON YOU STARS!

Cheers
Adrian

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