Newsletter (8) Term 2
When ever I turn around towards the Mini Mongo kids at training, what I see is a group of kids having fun. It is so great to see! The idea behind its design was to see young people take part in a variety of activities to help with their physical literacy and introduce them to basic technical aspects of the game while having fun enjoying unstructured play. A couple of months later, what we see is a group of young kids leaving the field each Monday with a sense of belonging. To go through the process of learning themselves encourages them to explore what they can do with a football and be more creative.
Playing sport, interacting with others, and being part of a team enable young people to develop numerous skills. These skills are essential skills that are important throughout our lives. Almost all children take part in sports, or physical activities while growing up. Whether at school or during their leisure time, playing sport is something that most children enjoy, and many will eagerly wait all week for. It’s important to remember that life skills are developed and gradually adopted rather than simply taught and learnt.
Training this week gave us the opportunity to continue to insist on the technical level of our players. Individually we are making a lot of progress with some outstanding individual performances. From a collective point of view, we have a lot of work to do. The fact that so many players have school commitments clashing with their training does not make things easy given the way we like to play football. The positive here is that players have kept a very high level of motivation pushing themselves at every training session and treating every game as a learning opportunity. There is no doubt all the hard work being put in will pay off in the years to come as players get more opportunities to play in tournaments and competitions in and outside the district.
Wishing all out teams, parents and supporters a fun weekend out at their various games.
TD
Thomas Tuchel’s masterclass leaves Pep Guardiola in despair
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel was at pains to stress this Champions League final was about so much more than his tactical and personal battle with Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola – and yet the story of this showpiece will have both cast as its central characters.
Tuchel, a loser with Paris St-Germain against Bayern Munich in last season’s final, made no mistake with his second chance as he prepared and plotted to perfection to produce a finely tuned, intensely committed Chelsea side fully deserving the victory that saw them crowned champions of Europe for a second time.
In contrast, Guardiola chose to select a starting 11 he had never picked before in his time as City manager, gambling on an array of attacking talent to compensate for his decision not to use either of his outstanding midfield anchors Fernandinho or Rodri.