GLINTON & NORTHBOROUGH FOOTBALL CLUB Touchlines November 2016 Kick off I can t believe that it is November already! The football season is in full swing, the clocks have changed so we are training in the dark thank you floodlights and the days are getting colder as we enter the realm of boggy pitches and called off games. My least favourite period of the football season! The exec team has worked really hard to get all the bookings, fixtures, registrations, sponsors, kit and equipment in place for the season and with only a few minor hiccups things have fallen into place. We now have 366 players signed on ranging from 5 year-olds in the newly started Minis to age 64 in the Walkers. As you all know, we are in a period of growth and working hard to obtain and develop our own football facility. This is becoming quite a tough task and the reason for that is the fact that our committee is often too busy working in the football club to work on the football club and we all have our own careers too outside of football. We have 8 committee members and currently 6 of us are actively coaching. This has increased in the last two years as the club has grown and we ve all become further involved. It is my belief that GNFC will only truly achieve its goals if the people responsible for the running of the club are not involved in the running of teams. So at the risk of sounding like a broken record again (kids, that s what we had long before Spotify!), I m making another appeal for help. If you are a parent or supporter who would like to get into coaching please let us know. If you have 4-6 hours a month free time to help the committee that would be very much appreciated too. Maybe you re a grandparent who is retired and could devote a bit more time than that? Maybe you have skills in your own business that we could apply to the football club? We have 366 players so that s at least 732 parents/carers, probably closer to 1000 and more with close family. On this basis, having eight of us running the club is nowhere near enough. I hope to hear from you soon at gnfcchairman@gmail.com #spartans Stuart Craig
Specialist goalkeeper coaching and kit provision Coaching The club is now running weekly Goalkeeper specific coaching sessions with two FA qualified Goalkeeper coaches. These sessions run on Wednesdays from 7-8 pm on the astro turf pitch at AMVC. Currently this session is open to all GNFC signed goalkeepers and is split into age groupings of up to U11 and U12 plus. If you are a goalkeeper and not currently attending, please come along. The sessions are fun and will help build your confidence and skills. Any changes, including communication of any cancelled sessions are posted via the club s twitter and facebook feeds. Goalkeeping Kit We, as a club, look to supply each team with gloves and appropriate clothing for their main goalkeeper to use in training and matches. If your team / first choice goalkeeper has not received any allocation this year, please contact us with size requirements. We may also choose to supply other goalkeepers signed to the club with equipment if they regularly attend coaching sessions and play in goal during weekend matches. Should you have any queries with regards to coaching or equipment please contact gnfcdevelopment.goalkeepers@gmail.com or get in touch via out twitter / facebook pages. Respect update Firstly, I would like to thank all those parents and children who attended the recent Respect evening and hope they found it useful. We will be looking to change the way we run our 2017 Respect meetings so that all parents and children get the opportunity to better understand the club ethos, the roles of coaches, parents and players and what the club and the FA expects from us. Over recent months we have had several incidents which have involved inappropriate use of social media. I would like to remind all parents and coaches that junior football (up to and including U11) is non competitive and information on matches or photo's should not be posted under any circumstances. We have our own social media accounts, so please discuss anything you would like to share with Tom, our Marketing Manager gnfcweb@gmail.com I am also increasingly conscious that some of our hard working coaches are becoming disillusioned with football, often as the result of parent discontent. Please can I ask that everyone shows their coach a good degree of patience and respect. Each one is an unpaid volunteer who gives up huge amount of time to ensure our children get the chance to play the game they love in a safe and supportive environment. I appreciate that they may not always make decisions with which you agree, but they are trying to do their best for all concerned. If however you have a genuine concern that cannot be resolved directly with your coach, then please get in touch. gnfcwelfare@gmail.com
Meet the committee Stuart Craig, Chairman and temporary men s first team head coach Stuart is a very well known and respected figure in the local football community, and as chairman, is the glue that keeps the club together and moving forward. gnfcchairman@gmail.com Carl Garner, Vice Chairman and head of the project 2020 committee Carl is predominantly responsible for facilities development, including our search for a permanent home. He also deputises for Stuart in his absence. gnfcvicechairman@gmail.com Andy Mason, Club Secretary Andy handles, amongst other things, all fixture and training bookings, transfers and player registration. His workload is huge, and he needs some help ASAP! gnfcsecretary@gmail.com Rob Hammond, Treasurer and U15 Blue coach Rob handles all of the club and team accounts, including ensuring we receive all due income and paying all suppliers. Like Andy, his workload is huge. gnfctreasurer@gmail.com Tony McShane, Head of Welfare Tony heads the team responsible for all player welfare issues and for implementing the club s RESPECT programme and initiatives. gnfcwelfare@gmail.com Lee Barker, Head of Development Lee and his team are responsible for player and coach development, including the recruitment and induction of all new coaches. gnfcdevelopment@gmail.com James Wright, Commercial Manager and U12 Blue coach James is responsible for all commercial activity, including sourcing sponsors and donations. He also manages our kit requirements and writes our club newsletter. gnfccommercial@gmail.com Tom Neaverson, Marketing Manager and goalkeeping coach Tom is responsible for all our marketing activity, including our website and social media presence, as well as poster development and PR. gnfcweb@gmail.com Carla Ragless, Events Co-ordinator Carla co-ordinates all events, including the annual family day, Christmas party and fundraising events (such as Race Nights). gnfcevents@gmail.com
Special mentions New coaches The club is pleased to welcome Kayleigh Pilbeam and Max Carter who have just passed the FA level 1 coaching course and will be taking over the coaching of our U10 Blue team, which was formed at the start of the 2016/17 season. This will release Dave Ribakovs to focus on his development team responsibilities. Congratulations We would like to say a big well done to Jess and Shelly Broadway from our U13 Black team on being selected to play for Cambridgeshire at county football level. This is a fantastic achievement for one player in any family, but two players (in this case twins) at the same time is exceptional. Update on Brodie Jones In the last newsletter we mentioned Brodie Jones and the double break he received to one of his legs in August. We can confirm that Brodie is making very good progress, but he will require lots of physio and strength conditioning before he can return to playing football. Your club needs you! Stuart made an impassioned plea in kick-off on page 1 for new committee members, so now is the time for action. Without the fantastic efforts of all of our current committee members, we wouldn t have been able to create what is widely recognised as the best community club, not only in Peterborough, but right across the area that is the remit of Northants FA. However, as we continue to grow, the workload seems to increase disproportionality and, in simple terms, we are heading for an untenable position. Therefore, please can we ask again for you to seriously consider whether you can give up just a few hours every month to help. If you can, and we do need at least 4 new people to step forward (especially someone to fulfil the role of Assistant Club Secretary), please get in contact. gnfcchairman@gmail.com in Proposed club minibus The club is considering purchasing a minibus for use by our teams to travel to the further away games and tournaments. Due to available funds, this will need to be a good reliable second hand vehicle. Therefore, if anyone has contacts in the trade, or good mechanical skills and can assess a vehicle for us, please let us know. gnfccommercial@gmail.com
Team visits to the POSH a great afternoon out As part of their community development activities, Peterborough Utd welcome junior football teams at matches and select one each week to be flag bearers. The flag bearing team get to go onto the pitch before the match to create a corridor of flags through which the players enter the pitch just before kick-off. Being a flag bearer is a very special and memorable opportunity, especially for our younger teams, so if you would like to arrange for your team to attend a match, please see www.theposh.com/tickets/groupbookings.aspx There is a small charge for tickets and parents can also attend and sit in the same area (they just don t get out on the pitch sorry ) Children s Christmas party Following on from the success of our 2015 children s Christmas party (for up to U11), we are planning an even bigger and better event for 2016. Full details are being finalised, but we will be organising two age group specific parties for; minis to U10 (3-4.30pm) and U11 to U13 (4.30-6pm) on Saturday 10th December at Maxey Village Hall. More details to follow shortly.. As I am sure you will all appreciate, the club is run on an entirely voluntary basis and we rely on sponsors and the subs paid by our players and parents/carers to fund all that we do. In most years, this just covers our costs, with very little left over. However, to meet our long term growth plans, including the development of dedicated facility that we can call home, we need to start generating more income. Based on the success we have witnessed elsewhere, it is our plan to launch a club wide lottery which will be called spartacash. The exact details are just being finalised, but the intention will be that, for a small fee, ticket holders will be entered into a monthly prize draw. There will be three significant cash prizes each month that will total to 60% of the income for that month. The remaining 40% will be retained by the club to help fund our continuing development. We hope that you would like to enter. The more entrants, the bigger the prizes!
New sponsors thank you, your support is appreciated We would like to introduce two of our newest sponsors. The Golden Pheasant, Etton. This lovely country pub is now providing post match catering for the men s first and reserve teams. Why not pop in for a drink or a meal? (GNFC club members and supporters will enjoy a 5% discount on main menu food items excluding festive menus). GKL Group. This Peterborough and London based civil engineering and construction business enjoys UK wide relationships with major blue chip organisations. GKL Director, James Brackenbury, is committed to giving some back to the local community and supports a number of local organisations, that now includes our U9 ambers.. Development corner GNFC minis is now in full flow for 4-6 year old boys and girls with sessions being run every week at AMVC on Wednesday night in the sports hall from 6-7pm. If you have a child in this age group who is looking to take up a sport we would like to give them a chance to come and fall in love with football in a warm, fun and safe environment. All sessions run by qualified coaches. Christmas at The Golden Pheasant Bookings now being taken for our restaurant festive menus and group marquee party nights. GNFC discount available for large groups Please call to book or for more details t: 01733 252387 The Golden Pheasant, 1 Main Rd, Etton, Peterborough PE6 7DA www.thegoldenpheasantetton.co.uk We are also now running an open invite girls only session (age 9 and above) on a Friday night 5.30-6.30pm. Sessions are run by a highly qualified coach who also works for Northamptonshire FA at the advanced coaching centre for girls and during the season we will also have coaches come from Peterborough Utd ladies to take sessions. The team recently held the club s first team building workshop with players and parents from our U10 Blue team. We would like to thank them for taking part and for the positive and encouraging feedback provided. This initiative will be rolled out to all our junior teams and is designed as a fun games based workshop to demonstrate how we all have a part to play in football at GNFC.
Our club is generously supported by the following businesses: FREE MONEY NO CATCH Your club needs you! www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/glintonnorthboroughfc