On Sunday, Bootham Futsal Club were delighted to have three York Futsal players visit the younger group’s training session. Daniel Pedras, Fabinho Almeida and Roly Donoso came along to help with the training. To say the girls were a bit star stuck, would be a huge understatement, they completely lost their voices! After a warm up of bib pinching, in which the visiting players were the chasers, they then swapped to be chased by all 15 girls.

We split the girls into four teams and these were captained by Daniel, Fabinho and Roly, with the last one being captained by Coaches Chris and Suzy. Obviously there was lots of cheating going on, mainly by Coach Chris, but the girls loved playing with the ‘big players’ as they called them! There were lots of oohs and aahs from the parents on the sideline admiring the skills on display from the York players, simply brilliant to watch.

We finished with all the girls against the coaches and their guests, not that put off Daniel and Fabinho, they still managed to keep the ball! Awesome fun and smiles all round from everyone.

Click here to see the images from this week’s sessions

The older group worked on three small sided games. The first was a two touch game on the whole court, looking at their movement off the ball. Could they support the player on the ball in all areas of the court.

The second game was one of Coach Chris’ favourites – when in possession you can’t score unless all your team, including the goalkeeper, are in the opposition’s half. We worked on the girls pressing high and quickly to win the ball back in the opposition’s half.

The last game was a normal game but with only a one touch finish allowed to score. We are looking at supporting the player in possession, especially at and beyond the far post. All the games had some brilliant futsal with star billing going to Ruby, Lily C and Ellie, but all the girls showed how far they have come this season.A

We have a two week’s break now over the half term holidays and the moms and dads get a lie in on a Sunday morning. We have seen so many players improve in their futsal skills and knowledge over the last 5 week, it is brilliant to be involved. Suzy, Alan, Simone and Chris are extremely proud to work with such amazing young ladies, and a special thank you to the parents for their amazing comments and support. Have a good break everyone and see you next month!