YOUTH CHAIR NEWSLETTER

I have to start this newsletter with the saddest news. As many of you will know, the club recently lost our U14 lead coach, Perry Kingsland, who died suddenly following a heart attack. Perry was a huge part of the youth section of the club and many of the coaches have told me about the support he has given them over the years. Our thoughts go to all Perry’s family and loved ones, and the youth teams have been observing minutes’ silences and wearing black armbands at matches as a mark of our respect for him.

We know the best tribute we can pay to Perry is to get as many of our young people in the town playing football. To that end, the league season is starting for all our teams over the next weekends, in the Sunday Sussex and Mid Sussex leagues for the boys/mixed teams and the Sussex Women and Girls League for our girls’ teams. Matches for our All Inclusive teams start a little later, but it was great to see all our AI players back in training when I went down to the Crouch a few Saturdays ago. I was so impressed by the standard of play and the way in which the teams played together and supported each other.

We know our families will be feeling the strain from the cost of living crisis. Despite inflation, we have frozen the youth subs at £20 per month, retaining discounts for siblings. This is only possible because of the generous support of our sponsors. The youth section has lots of costs which are not obvious, for example we currently have a large bill to pay for our rental of the Lower School fields for matches and training. Unlike some other clubs, all our coaches (except one specialist AI coach) are unpaid volunteers, as are our administrators, office holders and committee members. Later this year we will provide a detailed breakdown of where your subs are spent – for now, I want to thank everyone who continues to pay them and helps keep our young people playing football.

Our commitment to ‘football for all’ means that no child or young person should ever have to stop playing with the club for financial reasons. If any family is finding it difficult to carry on paying subs, please talk to your team’s lead coach or speak directly to me – I’m on 07879 638 102 and steve.broach@seafordtownfc.com. The club can provide discounted and free places where families cannot afford to pay.

A highlight of this summer was of course England’s triumph at the Womens’ Euros. We are
committed to continuing to grow the girls’ section of the club and would love to see more girls joining us at every age group. We are particularly keen to get girls aged 11-13 involved, as we are close to having enough players for a team at that age group. Parents of any girl who may want to play with us can contact me (07879 638 102), or Sarah Scott who leads on women and girls football for the club.

You all hopefully know that the club’s historic home is the Crouch, where we have our main pitch as well as the mini pitch for the youngest youth teams. The clubhouse refurbishment is well underway and we have a huge number of adult games on the main pitch throughout September. Admission to all adult games is free for children, and also free for games where adults normally pay admission if they are accompanying a youth player in STFC gear. Please come down and enjoy some refreshments and support one of the adult teams – U18s, U23s, senior men and women and veterans games are all happening in September. Our own U17s also made their debut at the Crouch for their first league match last Sunday, getting an excellent win in the process.

There are opportunities for youth teams to be mascots at every home game for the senior men and women’s teams. The mascots get to do training games on the main pitch before kick off, and then come out with the players pre match. There are usually some treats at the clubhouse for them too! If your child is interested in being a mascot and you haven’t had an invite yet, please ask your team’s coach to get a match slot booked.

We are looking to recruit more of our youngest players into the fantastic Seal Pups section, which gives 4-6 year olds the best possible start in football. A flyer has gone out on social media and will be going into all the local schools encouraging more Pups to sign up, in particular the 4 year olds who are just starting school. Please do spread the word to any families with younger children – word of mouth is always the best recommendation. The Seal Pups lead coach is Wes, who can be contacted on 07740 290304. Like most of the younger players now, the Seal Pups are at Bowden House School on Firle Road on Saturday mornings.

To secure our future as a club, it is vital that we are able to fence in the main pitch, in particular to protect the playing surface from dog waste. All our local rivals in community football have at least this basic facility. Sadly, our proposal to erect a modest 6 foot fence has proved controversial with some in the local community. We would be grateful if any local residents could sign our petition in support of the proposal. More information and a link to the petition is on our website:
https://www.seafordtownfc.com/news/protect-the-crouch-2716515.html

We are hoping that the adult teams will increasingly be full of former youth players, who will benefit from our work to improve the facilities at the Crouch. More immediately, we are pleased to be able to provide every registered youth player with a new training top, which is theirs to keep (match kits are of course to be returned if the player leaves the club). We would ask that only training tops are worn to training, match tops to be reserved for matches and special events as they need to last two seasons. Training tops can also be worn generally, we love to see the town full of red shirts at the weekend and after school!

We are holding a series of parents evenings at the clubhouse for most of the youth teams this month. It is really important that parents attend these if at all possible. It is one of the main ways that we can communicate about the club and the team, and also hear your feedback and see what we can be doing better. We would also ask parents to ensure that their young person has read and agreed to the Youth Code of Conduct for the club, which is attached again to this newsletter. It is vital that all our players understand the basic expectations that come with being a player for STFC.

Some of the key themes coming up in parents evening that I would want to emphasise are:

• It is essential that parents do not try to coach their kids from the sidelines at matches. The
only voices the kids should hear giving instructions in games are their coaches (and even
then, not too often – we want our kids to figure things out for themselves). Parents and
others offering positive support and encouragement on the sidelines are of course very
welcome.

• Most of the teams use the Spond app to organise matches, trainings and meetings. It is so
helpful to the coaches when parents respond promptly to invites on Spond. Please try to
prioritise this – we know people are busy, but it only takes a second to accept or decline an
invite on the app and it wastes coaches’ time having to chase.

• Arriving promptly for matches and training is also really important. If a meet time is given on Spond, please try to meet at that time – not just in time for kick off or the session to start.
This means coaches can start sessions and matches promptly and avoid kids hanging around waiting.

• We need help from parents with every match – from building and putting down goals for the younger teams, to running the line for older teams. Please try to offer help if you can. We know not everyone’s circumstances allow, but we are a community football club and we
need our whole community to support us. If you are able to help more than you do
presently, please ask your team’s coaches what else you might be able to do that will let
them focus on coaching the kids.

I want to end by wishing all our players the best for the start of the season. I’m looking forward to seeing as many of the youth teams in action as possible over the coming weeks. Huge thanks to all our fantastic and dedicated youth coaches who make the training and matches happen, as well as everyone involved in the youth set up behind the scenes and all the parents for your support. The work all these adults put in means that 20 youth teams from age 6-17 get to play football every week, with the number of children and young people involved growing all the time. I couldn’t be prouder to be Youth Chair of this fantastic club and I wish all the teams every success this season.

Steve Broach
Youth Chair
E: steve.broach@seafordtownfc.com