CHARTER STANDARD

Eccleshill United JFC
 
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW TO GET CHARTERED quick, clean and clever then ask Eccleshill United
 
Just over a year ago the Eccleshill Committee of Keith Firth, Alwin Waterhouse, Lesley Graves and Mick Couzens set out a club development plan, part of which was to achieve Charter Standard status as soon as possible, and on Sat 11 Feb the club arrived at Bradford City's Valley Parade ground to be formally presented with their Charter Standard award by the West Riding County FA's Child Protection Officer, Carol Dent, pictured above with Alwin Waterhouse and members of the under 10's.
 
As part of the development plan the Club set up Soccer Schools to go alongside their existing teams aged Under 12 to Under 17.   5,000 leaflets were distributed around local Schools and as a result, 80 children took part in training sessions at the clubs ground on Kingsway on Saturday mornings.
 
To attain Charter Standard all team managers must be Level 1 qualified coaches and to complete Eccleshill's set of seventeen , Karen Hall, Janine Wilkinson and Pete Davey, Damian Towriss, Andrew Halstead and Carl Busfield passed their coaching badges and took up their positions with their respective teams.
 
With the help of funding from the local sponsors and the Football Foundation the club has recently provided 84 tracksuits and kit for the teams
 
All the clubs teams now play in the Keybury League. They haven’t won many games so far but Head Coach, Couzens said “I’ve stressed to the boys and girls that the results do not matter, it’s all about taking part in the great game of football and enjoying themselves
“We have squads of 12 players in each team and use a rota system of taking only nine or ten players to the Sunday matches. This is based upon their behaviour and attitude on a Saturday morning at the training sessions. So far, we haven’t had much trouble from these young players”  Added an enthusiastic Couzens
 
The Junior Club have organised many fund raising efforts throughout the year including bag packing at local supermarkets, a Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock charity dinner, day trips to look round Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United Football Clubs, a penalty shoot out tournament for a children’s cancer charity and some school holiday Soccer Schools.
 
As a result of receiving the Charter Standard Award, the Club received 100 free tickets from the West Riding County FA to watch England Under 21’s at Elland Road and meet Sir Geoff Hurst.
 
The Club have linked up again with Pete Kelly in Galway, Ireland and the Junior Club plan to visit the West Coast at least four times this year to play in Tournaments and friendlies.
 
Indoor Soccer Schools are due to be held in March as follows:
4, 5 year olds: Saturday 1-2pm and Monday 5-6pm
6, 7, 8 year olds: Saturday 11am-12noon and Tuesday 4.30-5.30pm
9, 10, 11 year olds: Saturday 12noon-1pm and Thursday 4.30-5.30pm
Under 16 Girls: Monday 6-7pm
 
12 years old and over: contact the Club to see if there is a demand for these age groups.  For more information regarding these Soccer Schools or how to go about joining this ambitious  Club, contact...

Joanne Stones on

01274 496996