We are back (well nearly!) We hope everyone has enjoyed their summer holidays and feels refreshed and ready for footballs return?

Quick recap of what’s happened over the summer

Some teams took part in summer leagues at the JMO sports park in Skelmersdale, Scott and Jay’s under 8’s had some great performances and results, Carl’s under 9’s team stepped up to the change in format to 7v7 and gave a great account of themselves. Paul’s under 11’s took part in a friendly summer league to help with the transition to 9v9 and managed to win it. Big thanks to Nick at Birkdale United for organising and sponsoring it through his company www.battlebus.co.uk go check them out for gaming parties. Lots of our teams played in tournaments over the summer, we had a good turn out at the Southport Hesketh tournament weekend with no fewer than seven of our teams taking part. The under 8’s under 10’s and under 12’s took part in a tournament organised by the No More Knives team, this is a great initiative to encourage youths not to carry or use knives, check the good work out here https://www.facebook.com/nomoreknive/ The under 10’s finished second in a couple of tournaments which is testament to the progress they have made over this last year, they also hosted a 5 a side tournament at Dunes on the weekend of the airshow to raise money for the Mayor of Seftons charity. Winners of the ‘champions league’ was Southport Trinity and the winners of the ‘Europa league’ was Southport Athletic Orange. The under 17’s ran a 6 a side competition to help raise money for the local NHS charity. Next summer we aim to run a couple of tournaments ourselves at Ferryside lane to raise some money towards an exciting project that helps secure the future of the club but more details on that at a later date………..

Safeguarding

Ahead of the new season you will see a big push on our Facebook page and in your football groups on how you as parents can help create a positive side line, we want to create the best possible environment for the children to play football, it’s the responsibility of parents, coaches and players to make sure unacceptable behaviour isn’t tolerated. We have to remember the game belongs to the children and not us as adults and we have to let them play and enjoy it. Below is a little preview of the social media post. The FA in conjunction with the NSPCC are having a big push on this and the weekend of the 17th and 18th September is designated at the Play Safe weekend and they have launched a new course for parents and carers to take https://thebootroom.thefa.com/learning/qualifications/safeguarding-awareness-for-parents-and-carers its a free course that only takes 25 minutes of your time but is worthwhile and we encourage everyone to check it out.

Payment of subs

To save our treasurer having to reconcile the payments every month and to aid clarity over payments we have decided to use a service that helps manage it for us. After looking at all the systems out there we have partnered up with Team Fee Pay, for the ones already signed up you have probably had the first email to remind you a payment is being taken on the 1st of September and they also send you a receipt when payment has been made which helps reduce any queries and provides clarity for both parents and the club. It helps produce accounts at the end of the season which again saves the volunteers lots of time. Any problems setting this up please email southportathleticjfc@gmail.com and we will do our best to help you. As always if anyone is worried about not being able to afford paying subs please come and speak to the club in confidence and we will see how we can help.

Winter Training

We are booked in at Greenbank from 10th October but it might be the week after for some times but once the slots have been confirmed with the coaches they will let you know.

New Season, New Teams, New Sponsors

This year we have welcomed two new under 7’s team who are both generously sponsored by www.hickorys.co.uk/venue/southport/ and will be ran by Phil and Paul. We have also welcomed a new under 12 team sponsored by www.facebook.com/jajonesflooring and www.facebook.com/excelflooringandcarpets and ran by Carl, there’s a new addition at under 8 too with the new white’s team sponsored by www.divintyhairsouthport.co.uk and led by Rob and supported by Scott.

New sponsors for existing teams

Under 11 Blacks www.specsavers.co.uk I can see a few jokes about this over the season!

Under 12 Reds www.lma.ac.uk

Under 13 Blacks www.photondale.co.uk

Under 13 Reds www.ribblecycles.co.uk and www.barclaypropertiesltd.co.uk

We cannot thank the sponsors enough, your generosity is amazing, especially with the cost of living squeeze we are currently facing.

New Season - August 22 Newsletter