Story added: 8th November 2024
October 2024 Half Term Recap
For a lot of people, half term means it’s time to cast aside any schoolwork and to forget about busy inboxes for a week, but at the Foundation it only means one thing – all hands on deck.
Keep reading to find out what the October 2024 half term has looked like at the Community Sports Foundation!
FOOTBALL
MONDAY
Before the half term had even officially begun, members of our football development set-ups had already kickstarted their week of action, boarding a flight on the Sunday evening to Arnhem in the Netherlands for a football tour. During their four-day stay, our teams – the Boy’s Advanced Development Centre U13 and U14’s and Girl’s Advanced Development Programme U14 and U16’s played fixtures against local sides, as well as having a stadium tour of Eredivisie side PSV Eindhoven. The teams spent the four day excursion training at the Vitesse Arnham Training Ground, coached by professional academy coaches.
Also on the Monday, travelling teams from both our Boys Advanced Development Centre and Development Centre made the trips to Brentford and Swindon for their respective away fixtures.
Whilst the boys were hitting the road, our girls’ development groups played on familiar turf, welcoming Sunderland and Cambridge to The Nest for fixtures in both the Advanced Development Centre and Advanced Development Pathway groups.
TUESDAY
A busy Monday of fixtures was followed up by yet another day of football, with some of our representative Girls’ teams travelling to Northampton for their away fixtures.
Boys in our Development Centre in the U13 and U16 age groups also participated in a two-day Personal Development workshop, which saw them gain a further insight into the world of coaching, delivered by the Foundation’s very own Shaun Howes.
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday saw our young goalkeepers take centre stage, with the GK Development Centre heading to Brundall Sports Hub for a day of specialist goalkeeper coaching.
The Girls’ Development Centre were also in action once again, taking on Essex’s ‘She Can Play’ Football Academy in a game at The Nest.
This wasn’t the only Wednesday fixture at The Nest though – the boys U7 – U12 DC squads played a series of internal fixtures, ensuring match sharpness remained high during the half-term break.
THURSDAY
Thursday marked the return of the Girls’ Canary Cup at The Nest, with our fellow CCOs from across the country arriving at our Community Hub ready to compete for the silverware. Results from the day can be read about here.
Whilst Canary Cup tournament football ensured the Nest remained a hive of activity throughout Thursday, there was more action further afield, with the Boys’ Development Centre teams from U8 through to U16 making the long journey to Milton Keynes for a competitive fixture.
FRIDAY
The final footballing outing of the week saw teams from our Boy’s Advanced Development Centre and Development Centre make the short trip to Colchester for an away game.
PREMIER LEAGUE KICKS
There was a bit of crossover between our Premier League Kicks programme and Soccer Schools programmes this half-term, with a team of Kicks volunteers heading to The Nest to assist with coaching the children attending Soccer Schools.
The Kicks team benefitted from further coaching training from some of our community coaches, whilst also ensuring the young footballers on the day had the best time they could have.
SOCCER SCHOOLS
Our ever-popular Soccer Schools returned for the school holidays, this time welcoming 369 participants to our venues across Norfolk.
Interested in signing up for our upcoming Winter Soccer Schools? Click here.