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!

The Jamie Smith Interview

 In June, Jamie Smith, one of Vikings’ juniors, went to London to take part in trials for the England U16 squad.  Jamie played for Vikings U13 team in the 2006/07 season, and will be playing in the senior league next season.  The trials went well and Jamie, 13, was selected for the squad.  I spoke to him to get his views on the trials and to ask what happens next.

 How did you find the trials?

“The trials were quite tough, but fun.  There were 15 boys there trialling.  The best part was a bounce/catch exercise, where the coach would be about a metre away from you, he’d drop a little bouncy ball, it would bounce once and you had to catch it before it bounced the second time.”

 How did you think the trials had gone?

“I thought I’d done OK, but I wasn’t sure if I’d get in or not.”

 How did you feel when you found out that you had been selected?

“I was shocked.  Shocked but happy, of course.  It means a lot to me beacuse it’s something I’ve wanted for a long time.  But it also means that now I have a reputation to keep up – the coaches know who you are.”

 What happens now?

“I’m going to have to work even harder and learn more.  Training with the england squad will be once a month in London, and I might have 1-on-1’s with Pete Teague (one of the England Coaches) every two weeks or so.”

N.Y.D.

Sunday July 1st – National Youth Day 2007

Location: Longstanton, near Cambridge

 Vikings entered two teams in National Youth Day - an Under 13 team and an Under 11 team.  However we were a bit short of players, so some of our Under 13s were actually under 11, and some of our Under 11s were actually Under 9s!

 I was in charge of the U13 team.  I had a few different division plans to try out and it was interesting to see how different players played together, but by the afternoon we had a good set-up that didn’t need much altering.

 We had some tough games in the morning against some of the best U13 teams in the country, and although we only won one game, all of the matches were close and we never got thrashed by anyone.  Some of the morning highlight’s included a wonderful free pass from Ant which resulted in his first ever goal in a proper match.  Jamie Cranwell got a chance to show off his new goal celebration (the chicken walk?) when he scored twice.  And we beat Nomads 2 – a team who had beaten us at the EKA U13 Championships.

 Meanwhile the U11s were in a tough group too.  With a mixture of young and inexperienced players, they were without a win, but playing well as a team, especially in defense, having some fun and hopefully learning a lot about the game.

 We had a bit of a shooting competition during the lunch break.  The rules were simple – pairs of people had to score as many goals as they could in two minutes.  Courtney and Rory set a good early standard with 22 goals!  This went unbeaten for a long time until Alex and Jamie Smith scored 24 and won the competition.

 After lunch, Vikings U13s had some more tough games against the likes of Norwich City, Chalkstone and Kweik.  Unfortunately some people had to go home at lunch time, so both teams were two players down for the afternoon.  The U13s borrowed players from Scorpions and later from Wildcats, although it turned out that by doing this we had to forfeit the matches.  So for the last two matches we decided to play two players down.  It would be tough, but at least the results would count.  We beat Nomads again with help from two Wildcat girls in a void match, but then in the last match of the day, we managed to beat Chalkstone, even though they had two more players than us!  It was a great performance with good attacking moves and everyone working hard in defense.  A Jamie Smith hat-trick and one from Alex (his fourth goal of the day) giving us a 4-2 victory.  Definitely our performance of the day.

 Special mention goes to Robyn who was voted girl of the match twice by the referee.  She played really well all day, getting good feeds and showing lots of aggression, even when she was playing one against two in two games in the afternoon.  She also scored a goal for the U11s and was very unlucky not to score for the U13s.  Her performance was even more impressive because she was playing for the U13 team, even though she only turned 10 last week!

 The Under 11s scored some goals in the afternoon as well.  Tom scored a lovely goal and followed it up with a rolling celebration.  And Ellie, with only seconds to go in the last match, scored a goal as the team captain.  She was delighted.

 Well done to everyone who played – even those who could only play in the morning – and to all the parents, brothers, sisters and dogs who came along to support us.  The rain stayed off and hopefully everyone enjoyed themselves.

Vikings Juniors in the BKA Championship

Last weekend saw Vikings juniors enter the BKA U13 Championship in London.

 The team, along with Mo, Lee and myself left Ely in the school mini bus at 7am.  Yes, that’s right, AM!  Not easy for a saturday.  But we arrived at the Whitgift school ready to play aginst the best U13 teams in the country.  The Whitgift school.  That was where I played for Scotland, you know, in the Commonwealth championships, in 2006.

 Anyway, back to the story.  We were in the morning pool, which apparently had the best teams in it.  It was going to be a tough day of matches, but you learn a lot playing against top quality opposition.  However we weren’t helped by Ant cracking his head wide open on a bench before the first match had even started.  When I say cracked open, I mean cracked open.  If he’d had a brain, it would have been oozing out.  No, not really.  It was a bit of a gash, but he put some ice on it and said he felt ok to play on.  After a discussion with the school officials, and Ant’s parents on the phone, we felt he could play, and get his head checked out later.  (Apparently he got the cut glued later on).  Incidently, I was down meeting the officials at the time, so I missed the incident.

 We then played some games.  The first two games weren’t the best korfball I’ve seen these guys play, but bearing in mind the opposition, and the pressure of the event, they were doing ok.  Jamie S was the captain for the first game, which saw Jamie C score his first ever goal in a real game.  He was obviously delighted, and it was perhaps my favourite moment of the whole day, even though the game was already lost by then.

 Game 2 saw Alex as captain, and Charlotte scoring our only goal as again we lost to a very good team.  To be fair, the other teams were playing really well, and the score did not really reflect how well we were playing.

 By Game 3 we were starting to play good korfball.  Charlotte was the captain.  The defence was working well, which resulted in the other team only scoring two goals against us.  However we only scored one, by Jamie S, and couldn’t quite hold on for a draw.  The boys in this game were doing some great intercepting, but perhaps the size of the court didn’t help as there were still too many loose passes.  Still, it was a performance to be pleased about.

 The last game of the day was against Wildcats, who won without us troubling the scoreboard.  Amy was our captain for this game.  Again we played well, but just couldn’t get the ball in the basket.

 Finally the day was over and it was time for the bus journey home.  Try poking yourself in the eye with a stick for three hours – you’ll have more fun than this bus journey was for me.  We stopped at McDonalds, for food, I thought, but some people seemed to think it was to stock up on things to throw.  Chips, pine cones, scrunched up paper – anything they could lay their hands on.  I’m not scared to name names – Ant, Jamie Smith, Ollie… I will have my revenge.

 And I hope I never hear that song again – Cascada, Every Time We Touch.  Everyone seemed to have it on their phone, and they were all playing it at once!

 During the day, I took loads of great photos – group pictures and action shots.  Look out for them on the website.

 After we came home, Mo phoned me with some news.  Jamie Smith had been voted male MVP of the tournament by a panel of judges, including some of the best junior coaches in the UK.  That means he is one of the best U13 boys in korfball in Britain.  An impressive achievement, but well deserved on his performance throughout the day.  He never stopped trying, even when the game was effectively lost (to be fair, none of the team ever gave up), was a great team player, and scored a good goal.  Well done Jamie.

 My highlights of the day;

Jamie C’s goal.

Jamie S getting MVP.

 My lowlights of the day;

Getting chips thrown at me.

Cascada – Every Time We Touch on repeat.

 Ant bashing his head?  Not sure which catagory to put that in…