Under 8's

Thank you for taking the time to visit the Allenwood Celtic U8's page.  Whether your child is already part of the team or you are considering joining we hope you find this page helpful and informative.  

There is however only so much that can be fitted into a page so if you still have questions or feel we have left something out you can contact us on the phone numbers listed below or submit a comment and/or query in the form at the bottom of the page.

This page will be updated as the season continues so please drop back anytime.

What's new

Allenwood Celtic Newsletter - Spring 2014

Please click here to download the Spring 2014 Edition of the Allenwood Celtic Newsletter.  We will be handing out a copy of these after the training session for the next couple of weeks.  The club would appreciate if you can take a few minutes to read through it as there are some important pieces of information, relating to summer holidays, training returning to the pitch and fund raising events amongst other general updates.

Our New Hoodies

As you are all aware we operate a fair play policy whereby we ensure that every player gets at least two quarters of football every game regardless of ability.  And although this is fair it does mean that all the kids spend time on and off the pitch.   On cold mornings it can be difficult to keep the kids warm under these circumstances and the answer to this was to organise some branded hoodies.

So thanks to Neil Whelan and Woodcraft Ireland we were able to organise the tops for all of the kids on the panel.  Hope you all like your new hoodies.    

Christmas Holidays

Just to let everyone know that the U8's last match before the Christmas break will be on the 7th of December and the last training session will be on the following Wednesday the 11th of December.

Training will start back on Wednesday 8th of January 2014!!

The 2013/14 Season

Website, Money & Training

Website

We forgot to let you know when the site is updated which would be helpful!

We receive the fixtures on a Tuesday evening and we will update the website with the fixture and any other bits of news we may have every Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning.  So please check the website every Wednesday onwards for updates and fixtures for the weekend.

Money

We are on a tight budget and we do realise that everyone has less money these days but unfortunately we have to collect €2.00 per child on a Wednesday at Training and on a Saturday morning at the match.  The money collected goes towards paying the referee, renting the community centre each week for the winter and the up-keep of the training equipment for the team.

Winter Training

As you all know it is starting to get dark earlier these nights and the weather will be getting wet and cold so we can't continue to train on the pitch over the winter. However we feel that it's really important for the kids to continue training with us and each other. 

Thanks in no small part to Nikki (who totally hates being mentioned) and her hard work we will continue to offer training throughout the winter in Coill Dubh Community Centre only 5 minutes drive from Allenwood Cross.  Training will still be on a Wednesday at the new time of 18:45 - 19:45 starting the 2nd of October. Remember no football boots, only runners for indoor training.  The rest of the gear is the same as normal including shin guards.

For those of you who don't know where the centre is the directions are as follows:

• From Allenwood take ‘Left’ at Brockagh Cross (no longer marked so it is the first set of Crossroads when you leave Allenwood Village)
• Follow road around until next junction then take a ‘Left’.
• Take first ‘Left’ into housing estate and you will see a sign for ‘Community Centre’.  Take first ‘Right’.  Follow little road around and Community Centre in front of you .

The Coaches

This years U8 coaches are Greg Byrne and Dave Moore and their contact details are below.  Both coaches have completed the FAI "KickStart 1" coaching education programme and hope to complete "KickStart 2" at some point throughout the year. 

A word from the coaches

"Hi, this is Greg and Dave.  We are delighted to be coaching the U8s soccer team for Allenwood Celtic FC this year.  Our goal, with your help and participation, is to develop and nurture the skills of the game of soccer in a FUN, Safe and Inclusive environment for all the kids on our team this year.  We both love the game of soccer and have played it all our lives and we feel it is our turn to 'light the fire' for the next generation of kids. We are looking forward to the season ahead because win, lose or draw we hope that everyone involved will have FUN and that all the kids will have improved their soccer skills without even realising. Please take the time to read the rest of the page, we have put some time into writing this up and we hope you find it beneficial."

Developing the FUNdamental Player

At U8 level the following are the windows of opportunity to develop and the areas that we will concentrate on during training:

• Multi-Directional Movement
• Agility | Balance | Co-ordination | Speed
• Ball Mastery
• Spatial Awareness (Own)
• Confidence | Enjoyment | FUN

All training sessions will aim to maintain and improve these specific windows with games specifically designed for this purpose and which both coaches are trained to implement.

Training Sessions

Training sessions will vary in relation to the activities and the times but the structure of each training session will remain the same:

Training starts at 6:45pm on a Wednesday night and it is important that you make it on time.   We only have an hour, to fit in as much FUN as we can in that time.  We will always finish at exactly 7:45pm as we appreciate that it is not pleasant for parents to be standing around waiting on kids to finish and that these kids have school the next morning and need their sleep. 

Match Days

The teams matches will take place every Saturday morning at 10:30am.  For home games we will meet at Allenwood Celtic Soccer Grounds and for away games we will meet at Allenwood Church at a pre-determined time based on the distance that we have to travel.

Each player should be fully kitted arriving at all matches wearing:

• Boots
• Shin Guards
• Allenwood Celtic FC Socks and Shorts
• Allenwood Celtic Jerseys
• Allenwood Celtic Training Top or Tracksuit Top (needed when not playing)

During the week we will send out a text confirming the match, the opposition and the time.  It is important that you text back "Y" or "N" as early as possible.  We use this  information to plan out each kids time on the pitch as we endeavour to make sure that each player gets the same amount of match time regardless of talent or skill level.

We look forward to meeting you all as the season progresses.