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Football and other sports for kids. - Susie (29th Apr 2013 - 09:29:55) I am looking for new sport ideas for my 7 year old. He currently plays football on a Thursday but myself and 3/4 others have been told that our children are not welcome after September unless we can find ourselves another coach which we aren't going to manage to do for just 4 kids. It's important to me that my son is involved with in a team sport and is active so I wondered if anyone could recommend somewhere we WOULD be welcome, even if they aren't brilliant. What they lack in talent thay make up for in enthusiasm.

Re: Football and other sports for kids. - Barry Gooden (29th Apr 2013 - 10:22:36) Hi , My son plays at Beacon Hill Junior Football Club , he is U7 and it is play for fun and he thouroughly enjoys it , they practise on a Saturday morning at 10am and also on a Thursday evening at 6pm at Beacon Hill playing fields. Contact Damon Culley who is the chairman for more details on 07974226736. Also you can look at their website below for more details. www.bhjfc.com

Re: Football and other sports for kids. - Jeremy (29th Apr 2013 - 13:12:53) Susie, It's not a case that they are not welcome,it's a case of the coach not being able to coach that amount of children. Liphook FC welcomes all children, but when there are too many, parents need to step forward and run a team, male or female! The coach running the Liphook Huskies does a fantastic job, so rather than say the children are not wanted, please feel free to encourage one of the parents who sit there and watch, to step forward and run another team, I'm sure l saw a father there Thursday evening, perhaps he would like to have a go!

Re: Football and other sports for kids. - Susie (29th Apr 2013 - 13:44:51) I've already tried to find another coach but work commitments mean that everyone I've asked can't always be there or they feel unqualified to help and as it's only for 4 children nobody can form a second team. If there is someone who can help we'd love to hear from you. You are right he does do a fantastic job of training (although my son played a full season last year but was the only one not given a medal at the end) but as we can't find someone to help us we do feel unwanted and unwelcome. Find a coach or leave we were told.

Re: Football and other sports for kids. - Jay W (29th Apr 2013 - 19:23:30) Hi Susie When Liphook were unable to continue running a football team for the u.12s (about 4 years ago) the boys all split up and went to other clubs. We tried out Liss and Headley and settled for Headley because we were made to feel very welcome - and we're still there with no regrets. Others went to Petersfield and some to Haslemere. I think you should just make contact with the local clubs and go and try them out, you may find that your boys are happier. My younger son played for Liss for a couple of seasons and has found that he is now with those boys at Bohunt so its a great way to mix with other people in the area. Have you also thought about paying for a coach? Again, the Liss team did this and used Aspire because none of the parents were qualified. We just used to pay an extra couple of pounds each training session. Good luck!

Re: Football and other sports for kids. - john (29th Apr 2013 - 20:29:01) My son goes to football training every thursday without fail! Firstly let me compliment both the coaches on a fantastic job they have done, the lads are in the top tier of under 7\'s football, my main concern is that certain boys who recently joined and rejoined have disrupted training ! When I see boys who would rather smack each others backsides or roll around on the floor this makes it very hard for the coaches to do WHAT THEY GIVE UP THIER OWN FREE TIME FOR............TO TEACH THE BOYS FOOTBALL. Maybe if the parents of the boys concerned, were to watch thier boys play football (or smack each others backsides) Rather than gossip about Mrs smiths new lover or Mr jones dress sense, the coaches job would be easier. Thursday night training is about training it is not a baby sitting service. If my son misbehaves whilst training I tell him off. But certain parents dont even watch the training ! Andrew and johnny let me say again WHAT A FANTASTIC JOB YOUR ARE DOING MY BOY HAS COME ON LEAPS AND BOUNDS THANKS TO YOU BOTH. Prehaps its time for one of the parents whos son is not a regular player to step up and help with training or even start another team. An email naming names of children and parents who I believe are using this as an hours baby sitting, and also the children who in my opinon disrupting the training will be sent to both coaches and liphook fc itself. AND REMEMBER PARENTS THESE COACHES ARE DOING THIS IN THIER OWN TIME FREE OF CHARGE Last thing they want is whining parents. John

Re: Football and other sports for kids. - d (29th Apr 2013 - 20:35:04) Hi Susie, My son\'s team had a similar situation, with too many players for one coach to cope with. Rather than complaining about their kids not getting to play, the parents decided to be proactive and do something to help their kids (and the community) by getting together and supporting each other, read up about the game (there is so much stuff on the internet, you\'ll be amazed) and taking control of the second team. The club (Liphook United) was incredibly supportive and helped the parents. The parents did a flyer to the Infant school to get a few more players (so they had enough for the start of the new season). You will find that if you and the other parents are prepared to invest a little time (as other parents do in various age groups) and effort, you will feel so rewarded, as will your kids. Our manager for the coming season is a lady. She doesn\'t have a footballing back ground. What she does have is the support of the other parents (who all muck in), passion to see her child play and prepared to learn. The club embraced this as they are just parents as well and completely understand. So why not give it ago? Are you and the other parents willing to give a little commitment and joy to your kids? The next club meeting is on 13th May. Why not contact the chairman (chairman@liphook-united.org) and come along. His name is Steve and he\'s great guy and he also runs one of the teams.

Re: Football and other sports for kids. - Susie (29th Apr 2013 - 20:55:00) I wish to apologise for my earlier rant. I should not have blamed the coach as he has been a very good coach and although I took it personaly I hope it wasn't. I apologise to him and any of the other parents who felt I was being unreasonable. I'm very sorry.

Re: Football and other sports for kids. - Mel (29th Apr 2013 - 21:08:10) As a mum of one of the boys that play for the liphook u7 I think it is very unfair for some parents to be saying that their children are not welcome at training. No one has ever said that they are not welcome. Parents need to understand that it is not an easy job to teach a bunch of 6 and 7 year old boys a sport whilst encouraging fair play and discipline. All that the coaches have said is that for the newer boys to be able to enjoy the full degree of playing football they need to establish their own team so that next season they can enter to play matches on the weekends. As for being awarded medals and such - every boy who played in the tournaments last year received a medal. They also received a medal from liphook united football club at the end of season awards in June last year. Every other team that plays for liphook united were also there. Every parent was sent an email or text in the same way they had for every other tournament or friendly play. It\'s not fair to blame the coaches for the failure of missed dates and not knowing arrangements when nearly all of the boys go to school together and someone could have been asked in the school playground. Andrew and Jonny do an absolutely amazing job wind rain or shine week after week after week and show true commitment for free.

Re: Football and other sports for kids. - Steve (29th Apr 2013 - 22:15:41) Just a note to add to this Headley are looking for players for the Under 7\'s team next season. Must be under 6 on August the 31st. We run under 6\'s training on Saturday mornings at 10pm although there is only a couple of weeks left but as of next season it\'s onto proper 5 aside matches. Headley have fantastic facilities for all ages and are a Standard Charter club so are required to have a number of qualified coaches.

Re: Football and other sports for kids. - Susie (30th Apr 2013 - 07:26:28) Mel, you should work in PR. Maybe if it had been explained that way misconceptions wouldn't arrise but it wasn't and my original post stands for what was said. As for the email stuff, have you checked your facts? The first I knew about it was in the summer holidays when I saw it in the paper. How could I ask about something I didn't know about? I will also say again that yes the coaches do a fabulous job and I haven't said anything different there but our 4 children remain without a place to play football with their friends. 7 year olds don't understand that.

Re: Football and other sports for kids. - Steve Davis (2nd May 2013 - 22:01:44) I thought it prudent to try and draw a line under this thread from Liphook United's point of view. The club is run by volunteers from the community for the community to provide football to boys, girls, men and women from all ages and ability. In order to ensure children are protected when in our care, we pay for our Managers to go through a number of checks and to attain a Level 1 coaching certificate, plus if they are interested in being part of the club they sign registration forms. These forms include information regarding allergies, emergency contacts etc, and mean they are covered by insurance while attending training and matches. It is our duty as a club to provide all this and give the children attention to improve their game. As a manager myself it is not always easy to control a large number of excited players and it is easy for training sessions to be disrupted. When moving from Under 6s to Under 7s they start to play matches and I remember the 20 odd kids we had then needed to be split between the 3 coaching staff. We were to play 7 a side so two teams of 10 were determined, and I as an interested parent, became manager of one of them. This thread is particular to the Under 7 group, where the Manager Andy has 10 players and plays 5 a side, but during this season a number of new players have come along to training for many reasons, including just playing with their friends. We would love to take them all on and add to the 300+ local players we currently have at the club, but it is physically impossible to do so unless new volunteers step forward, go through the coaching programme and commit to it as Andy has so readily done. It is sad now that parents have taken to talkback and of course become aligned to one camp or another as opinions tend to do. As stated in a previous comment we have had teams disband before because replacements for managers can't be found, very disappointing but true. I apologise to those who are missing out at their local club, but there is always a tipping point for one manager to manage a certain number of kids. One more budding manager stepping forward could have made the situation avoidable, but we understand it is a huge commitment - U6 or U7 to U16 is a long time and whilst I understand you and your children are upset, please have some thoughts for these guys who after all are just parents too. Please feel free to contact myself or any of the committee members if you wish to discuss things further - details on our website http://www.liphook-united.org/home/ Thank for your understanding Steve Steve Davis Chairman Liphook United FC

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