Great day at the Newcastle Festival

aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhhhhhh its 05.30 and the alarm clock has just gone off.
06.30 and we’re at the Club
06.45 and we’re on our way to Newcastle, to take part in their U10 Festival.

We had 23 players with us today, the vast majority who had never taken part in a Festival and none of them who had ever represented Kendal Hornets in a Festival.
We teams were in different groups (but thankfully on adjacent pitches !) and we got to play against Northern, Middlesborough, Whitley Bay Rockliff, Morpeth, Percy Park, Novocastrians and Hartlepool – every single team being ‘new to us’.

The sun shone, the pitches were grassy, the parents were in full voice and the players were ready.

We collectively had a great time. The spirit and sportsmanship in every game was excellent and we could see aspects of our game changing and improving against every team that we played. One thing that was particularly satisfying was seeing how the players would pick up on good aspects of the oppositions game and then try to introduce it into our game.
When you consider that the teams that we are playing against have been together for possibly 5 years and we played our first fixture 5 months ago, the players did exceptionally well. I bet that everyone slept well on Sunday night.

After the Festival had finished, I asked as many players as I could
a) do you feel that your skills have improved after playing today and the answer was always yes.
b) do you feel more confident after playing today and the answer was always yes and the the biggie
c) have you enjoyed yourself today and that was always yes – usually accompanied with a big smile

From a coaches and club perspective, that is the best result that we could ever ask for.

Finally, thank you to all of the parents for your support on Sunday. It was an early start, followed by a long day and without you being directly involved, it could never have happened. The players generated a huge amount of goodwill, with their sportsmanship, good attitude, commitment and skills – several times during the festival I was told “no way that you guys have just been going since September. Surely you’ve had these players together for years” ? Which is one heck of a compliment.

Another huge positive leap forwards for the Kendal Hornet U10’s

Paul

Congratulations to Charlie 'The Viper', who was awarded Player of the Week by your teammates. You were a great example to everyone today, with your postive attitude and you led by example