NYD08

National Youth Day 2008 – 13/7/08, Cheam, Surrey

National Youth Day 2008 took place on a sunny sports field in Surrey on a Sunday.  Vikings entered a team in Under 16 category, and had hoped to have one in the U11s as well, but a lack of numbers forced us to withdraw that team.

We met at 7am outside Ely College, and the 16-seater bus was full as we headed down the road.  We got there in good time and bagsied a good spot to camp for the day.

Our U16 team consisted of Jamie Cranwell, who was captain for the day, Alex Seabright, Olly Watts, Jordan Martin, Georgina Radford and Jasmine Radford, and we were joined on the day by Hannah and Beth from Lions, Rebecca from Tigers and also Thomas Northfield.  Also there from Vikings were Alyssia, who played for Lions U13s, Jacob who played with an U9s team, and Josh who just watched.  Coaches from each of the other teams told me that Alyssia and Jacob had played well and enjoyed themselves.

The morning pool didn’t go too well for our U16s.  Despite some good performances and being in the lead a couple of times, we lost all five games and finished bottom of the pool.  However it is fair to say that we never got thrashed in any of the games and that we were playing against some vastly more experienced teams, including Bearstead U19s.

However there was a marked improvement as the day went on, and in the afternoon we beat Mitcham U16s.  An impressive feat, especially as that team are coached by England U16 coach Pete Teague.  We ran out 3-1 winners of that game.  Which was followed by an impressive draw against Tornadoes 2 – a team who had beaten us in the morning – which was proof of our improvement.  Although we lost to Trojans, for the second time, we won the last game of the day by default against an illegal Kingfisher team, to round off a good day’s playing.  Thanks to the players who helped us out, and well done to everyone who put in good performances for Vikings.

Top goalscorer of the day for us was Olly, who scored 5, although he did also give away two penalties…  Jamie, who captainned well all day, and Thomas each scored three times, with Alex getting 2 and Georgina, Jordan and Beth scoring one each.

The presentation took ages, while they totted up the scores and drew the raffle, so it was almost 6 by the time we left, meaning we didn’t get back to Ely til after 8.  However it was definately a worthwhile adventure and great experience for all the players.  Big thanks go to Jerram for driving the bus!