Chairman Chat MAY

A bit of a delay on my monthly update, it has just been a really busy time trying to fit everything into each day to be honest...but better late than never.

April was a massive month for the club on the pitch with more team successes in our competitive age groups... but more on this later, however, this did on a personal level allow me to reflect just what has been created here in the eight years since we were formed. It has been a privilege for myself to have been involved and watch it grow first hand, firstly as a coach, then combining this with a welfare officer role and now all three since also becoming Chairman.

I reluctantly had to go to what felt like every supermarket in North Bristol with my wife and bumped into many of our superstars throughout the day. There wasn't any matches or training that day but alot of them were proudly wearing our purple and flow green kits, club hoodies or ¾ zip jackets. It was during half term and I too was in club attire and seeing their faces light up, noticing I was involved at their club gave me a sense of pride.

As always I gave a bit of banter, they engaged and I spoke with the parents who were all very complementary with how Port of Bristol YFC has had a positive impact to the family. It was great having these interactions with you and shows the impact football clubs like ours have by creating  friendships, conversations but also getting me out of going up and down endless aisles with Miranda...so thank you.

We now have more girls than ever playing football at the club and we have took a massive progressive step in being able to provide girl only sessions.

Bank Holiday Monday saw a newly formed U10-U12 session start with 10 girls attending and every Wednesday will now see our new Soccer Tots Girl session take place.

In those two sessions alone we welcomed 12 new girls to football.

Our U12s play their U13 League Cup Final against Ashley Down next week, Thursday 12th May, 19.30 kick off.

The game is to be played under the lights at the GFA Headquarters Oakland Park Stadium in Almondsbury and it would be great to get as many of our members there to watch.

The boys finished the season as Division 2 Runners Up, having to wait a week for a game to be played after they completed their campaign a week earlier. This is a great achievement for this group of players and coaches as they have managed to come through the leagues and will see them move into Division 1 next year.

After winning their division in April, unfortunately the team couldn't do the double by winning the cup at Oakland Park last week, eventually losing to Portishead 4-0.

Everyone at the club is so proud of you and look forward to watching you at U18 next season.

Well done.

The team mathematically need just 1 point from their three reminding games to win the league. In a fantastic season the squad have put themselves in an excellent position to win their 2nd league title as a group after winning the AYL U14 League in 2018-19.

We have two lads who have recently been injured and I hope you join me in wishing them a speedy recovery.

• Alby from our Under 8s section recently broke his wrist at training.
• Under 11 purple player CJ has broke his ankle.

The PBA Sports & Social Club have now put in place a GLASS ZONE where glasses and glass bottles can't go beyond.

We are all glad being back at the club, in the sun and with that comes responsibility to look after and help maintain the site. Can parents please ensure you help us by clearing up your rubbish and that of your children if they are playing on the field.

Lets make sure we help make this an easier job in future please.

Our tournament is just one week away and the highlight of our season. So much planning has gone into it and I would just like to thank Jason Lock and Van Papantoniou for being leads, in what we anticipate being our most successful tournament to date.

Most age groups would of seen our volunteering app so please click the link if you can help us over the weekend.

https://www.volunteersignup.org/3BBBR

If you can't do any of the slots but want to lend a hand for a shorter time frame then feel free to come to the control tent on the day and we will gratefully find something for you to assist us with.
 
We would love parents to come and support our teams on both days to make it a special day for all the players involved.