Key points:
Start date is Monday 5th October
Cost per session is held at £3.00
Limit of 28 players per session (+ coaching/refereeing staff)
The Committee met on 8th September 2020 at the Westleigh, with the following details becoming clear:
Our scheduled start date will be Monday 5th October.
Sessions will be held on Mondays and Fridays from 10.00am to 11.30am, and on Wednesday evenings from 7.00pm to 8.00pm. All sessions will be held on the brand new 3G pitch at West Leigh Park. After the daytime sessions, tea/coffee and biscuits will be available in the Westleigh, and anyone taking advantage of this facility should contribute an additional £1.00 per session.
The Wednesday evening sessions will be subject to disruption should the Hawks First Team be in home midweek action. We have been advised that this season sessions on 11th November, 2nd December, and 14th April 2021 will be affected; if possible we will rearrange those sessions for 5.00pm to 6.00pm, immediately before the first team game. Similarly, Monday and Friday sessions will as ever be subject to cancellation on Bank Holidays.
Due to current (9/9/20) Covid19 guidance from both the Government and the FA, as an “organised sport” we are restricted to a maximum of 30 people on the pitch at any one time. This includes coaching/refereeing staff. As a result we are limiting the per-session attendance to 28 players, until we are advised otherwise. We have explored online and telephone booking options, and have concluded that neither are suitable for our membership. Therefore participation will, for now, have to be run on a “first come first served” basis.
Players are advised to arrive ten to fifteen minutes before the session is due to start. You should come ready changed, and prepared for the weather. You will not be allowed onto the pitch in trainers or stipple/pimple-soled boots; you need to wear “standard” football boots, with either nylon or rubber studs. These can be purchased reasonably cheaply online or by shopping around. We have heard of prices ranging from £12 to £90, so take your pick! Players should also know that they will not be allowed to participate unless they are wearing shin pads, and once again these can be bought at a range of prices from a range of sources. You will be pleased to know that in case of inclement weather changing facilities will be available after each daytime session.
On arrival, players will be greeted by either Ross or one of his colleagues. Your forehead temperature will be taken (if you don’t feel well, or if you have a temperature of 37c or higher, you will be sent home), you will be relieved of your £3.00, and your attendance will be noted on the register (Track & Trace, as well as our FA stats).
We are changing the structure of the sessions to ensure that each one begins with a warm-up session, followed by a simple ball skills session. These will last about 25-30 minutes on the daytime sessions, and about 15 minutes in the evenings. We are aware that many of you will be possibly very rusty, and of course the media has talked about “Lockdown Pounds” having been put on; therefore the warm-up and skills sessions will be gentle and you will only be encouraged to do what you can, you definitely won’t be expected to complete everything at record pace!
While the warm-ups are taking place, Ross will be organising up to four (depending on numbers) evenly balanced sides to take part in round robin games for the remainder of the session. The target is that each team will be made up of players of a mixture of skill and fitness levels, so that we can all enjoy fair and enjoyable games.
Festivals, Tournaments and Leagues: We will continue to organise our well-regarded Festivals, but from now on they will be held at West Leigh Park rather than on schools pitches. For our own Festivals, we will enter two sides, a competitive one, and an inclusive one; that way everyone gets the chance to play for the badge against other sides on the hallowed turf of WLP. John Morgan has already confirmed the first Festival date for us, 15th November! For away matches, we will try to ensure that the squad selected is appropriate to the likely standard that we will encounter.
Ross (and his staff) will make every effort to attend Festivals and Tournaments that we participate in. Hawks in the Community no longer exists, having been replaced by Hawks Foundation. Therefore we fall under the Hawks banner in a slightly different way, in that the Foundation is a Charitable Organisation; we remain affiliated to, and insured through, Hampshire FA. Ross has agreed to act as effectively “manager” of the sides that we enter in competitions, and will be in overall charge of trying to select a balanced squad.
Some rules have changed over the past six months. Even the WFA have seen the wisdom of playing 3-touch in these strange days, so we will continue to apply that in training and in our home Festivals and Hants FA organised events. Also, in line with most other clubs and organisations we are making the penalty areas goalkeeper-only at all times.
Several of the Monday night players from when we were at Warblington had bought “season tickets”. These were quickly invalidated by Lockdown. We are delighted to tell you that we will credit the unused part of those against those players’ attendance at future sessions.
We intend to hold a full Annual General Meeting at some point before the 5th October so that we can clarify any questions that you may have, and hand out information packs/sheets about the use of West Leigh Park. The AGM will also be an opportunity for people to elect officials for the next season.
Finally, and I apologise for the length of this message, if possible would members please respond to James’ email address to indicate which of the sessions (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) you expect to be attending? You can of course opt for all three! This will give us some idea of potential numbers, and if we find that one is likely to be over-subscribed, and another under-subscribed, we can try to encourage a few people to change their minds.
