Stanway Mini Football Festival 2014

Today was the much anticipated Stanway Mini Football Festival over in Colchester. Me and Joshua have been getting pretty excited about this as he has been training at Forest Glade for nearly 2 years and this was the Under 6's first ever football tournament and my first tournament as a coach. The weather was stunning and the boys all got to wear their new "Kwik Fit" away kits which looked absolutely stunning. The event was very well organised and the Forest Glade reds payed 4 matches between 1:30 and 5:30, so it was a very long and tiring day for all. Joshua played a bit in defence, a bit in attack and also had one game as goal keeper (where he managed to keep a clean sheet). He scored 1 goal in the second match and overall our team had a mixed bag of results with 1 win, 2 losses and 1 draw. The most important thing is that all the kids seemed to enjoy themselves and they were all awarded a medal at the end of the tournament as well.

 

Joshua wears his new "Kwik Fit" sponsored away kit for the first time.

The Forest Glade Reds : Back Row - Owen, Darcy, Alfie, Alex. Front row - Ethan, Max, Joshua and Ryan.

Brandon had trained earlier in the morning and took to Holly's buggy with a chocolate bar to sit back and watch the action.

Joshua out on the pitch getting ready to defend.

Number 10 surrounded by 3 of Forest Glade.

Joshua in the home blue shirt having a bot of shoulder rubbing with the opposition.

Joshua ready to dive on a ball as he keeps a clean sheet in goal.

A goal kick from Joshua nicely out to his friend Ethan on the wing.

All the boys showing off their medals at the end f the tournament.

And all the Forest Glade Reds with the coaches.

Joshua shows off his first tournament medal.

As the tournament finished so late and we had to drive back from Colchester we decided to stop off and treat the boys to a pizza hut. Whilst the boys were tucking into their salad bowl I started to let Holly gum a bread stick. She absolutely loved it and was softening the end up nicely and then breaking off chunks. In fact after a while she even pulled it away from me and started feeding herself (at just 5 months old!!!). 

Holly eat her first bread stick and feeding herself for the first time.

She loved gumming the bread stick and ended up eating about half of it.

The tournament ended up costing me quite a bit of money in the end. Firstly there was a pro photographer there who took some great pictures of all the kids. As it was Joshua's first ever tournament we really wanted to get him a picture frame for his bedroom wall. Then there was another stall there selling personalised footballs and of course both boys wanted one of these as well. 

Brandon showing off his very own personalised football.

This is the framed picture that Joshua has now got proudly on display in his bedroom.

Joshua with his souvenir picture.

A great day today and a lot of lessons learned from our first tournament. The timing was perfect as we now know exactly what to work on for the Forest Glade FG5 tournament next month. Bring it on.