WTFC YOUTH NEWS

“If you build it, they will come”

"I have a Son and Daughter who both play football for Wimborne Town Youth FC. I have been involved with coaching at the club for the last 5 years now. There were limited options locally for my 8 year old son, at the time, to play regular football. I was helping with a local first school football team keen to move form playing the odd Saturday school to regular training and matches at weekends.

I approached Wimborne Town with the request to provide a potential club / platform for us to set a team up and they were unbelievably helpful in setting up what was then Wimborne Town U8's and we have been here ever since.

Last year we started an Under 8 girls team, and again the Youth Section were a great help with helping provide sponsorship, kits etc and the girls team has gone from strength to strength and see's more and more girls coming along on a regular basis to training and matches.

Since my time here I have seen the Youth Section go from strength to strength and in terms of numbers of teams, I think it has grown from 5 teams to 20 teams which now includes 2 all girl teams and continues to expand.

There has always been a great connection between the Youth Section, the First Team and Club as a whole, which creates a great club / family atmosphere, with youth teams being match day mascots, flag bearers and always being welcomed to First Team games along with parents.

One of the biggest assets to the club is the fact that it is inclusive and not selective. It values the real spirit of Grassroots football giving lots of local (and not so local) children the chance to enjoy the game they love at an affordable price at facilities that are available all year round. Its been quite a journey from the days of training in the mud on the "slope" to now training under the lights on a FIFA Approved 3G pitch !!! 

The Youth Section continues to grow, and with increasing numbers showing interest we are always looking to start new teams to give more people the chance to play, if you build it, they will come.

Final message from Mark:

This Blog is about my background as a Coach, but Grassroots football / our team isn't about the coaches or parents; its all about the children enjoying the game they love.

As Coaches we will aim to provide a safe, fun, engaging and positive environment to allow children to flourish as footballers, but also to learn lots of life / social skills that will hopefully stand them in good stead as young adults. Its a bit preachy, but sometimes it's good to just take a step back and remember this sometimes. As a coach and a parent, I know this can be tricky sometimes but ultimately its all about your child enjoying and continuing to enjoy playing football for years to come, at whatever level that may be."

Mark White