TRAINING UPDATE
It’s been wonderful training at Haggerston this past month. We’re happy to report that on-the-day dropouts are down, especially in the Advanced group. Unfortunately, due to covid we have seen demand for places increase and have had to reduce the number of spots that are available. We have also had an increase in the number of members signing up for the ‘Advanced’ group at training, currently making up 70% of signups for training.
Based on conversations with members, we’ve come up with an adjustment to training groups that will maximise the number of goals that can train each week. We will trial this new system during October & there will be a whole club vote at the end of the month to decide if we stick with it.
We propose that on ‘Week A’ we will have 2 x 1hour sessions on one side of the pitch. This will allow an extra 29 goals to train, creating 58 extra spots per month. These shorter sessions will be high intensity & include drills & games as usual. Week B (with keeper training) will continue as normal.
Week A [7th/21st OCT]
Bubble 2 will operate as usual, Bubble 1 will have 2 x 1 hour sessions. For this week the first hour (7-8) it will be Academy & Intermediate players, for the second hour (8-9) it will be Advanced players. The sign ups will clearly state if they are for a 2 hour session or 1 hour session. If you have a spot for one session, you cannot be on the waitlist for any other session (we will remove you from any waitlists if you have a spot):
Week B [14th/28th NOV]
Full 2 hour sessions as normal:
For goals looking for extra footie - please make sure you sign up to leagues as soon as possible! They’re all restarting (except Tuesday 7s) and we’ve got everything from a relaxed Saturday 11s league (once a month, anyone can join, friendlies & derbies) to Sunday 7s (intermediate & Experienced with our favourite refs in London). We also have Thursday League Specific Training starting up (see below). For members who are joining a Thursday League training session, we ask that you do not sign up to that week’s Wednesday training until 8:30pm on Monday. This will allow training to be shared as fairly as possible.
A KIT OF OUR OWN…
Would you like to be involved in the design of GDFC’s new bespoke playing kit? We want to make sure our kit is designed by the members, for the members so we’d love to have you be a part of the process. No experience necessary!
Send Gaia a message on TeamApp or emailmembership@goaldiggersfootballclub.com.
SIGN UP FOR SUNDAY 7S: IN STORE NOW
Great news! Sunday 7s is back!
So head to the store NOW to grab your league membership.
We are entering 3 teams into the Experienced League and 2 teams into the Intermediate League.
The Intermediate League will be EXTRA exciting this season as we are treating it as a development league. This means each team will have either the one and only Coach Liv or the sensational Coach Josh managing them each week to ensure they not only enjoy every minute of the game but also gain the most from their match time. #OneTeamOneDream
Please remember that the way we label leagues is to add clairity behind the level of opposition we are facing - every goal still has the agency to play at whatever level they desire.
eg the intermediate 7s league is labelled this way because the opposition is of an intermediate standard but if you're new to football and wanting a challenge OR experienced at football and wanting a league with coach presence - then PLEASE sign up ⚽👑
The league is 7 weeks long and teams will play 2 x 30 minute matches each week.
The Experienced and Intermediate Leagues will be playing on alternate weekends with Experienced starting on 11th October and Intermediate starting on 1st November (with a bonus match on Oct 18th to finish the old league)
See fixtures here:
Experienced League (Oct 11th - Jan 24th)
3 x GDFC teams
Intermediate League (Nov 11th - Feb 7th)
2 X GDFC Teams
THURSDAY SESSIONS
Thursday Sessions are officially BACK and at a wonderful new location! Due to Covid-19 Holloway School isn’t opening for the foreseeable future BUT don’t fear, we have found a BEAUTIFUL new pitch - it’s a lovely pitch, very central and based in a stunning community garden.
Here is an image taken from our first 40+ session here:
Pitch details
Calthorpe Community Pitch
Size: 6-A-Side
Surface: Flat AstroTurf (no moulds)
Time: 830-930pm
Location: 258-274 Grays Inn Rd, London WC1X 8LH
Thursday Sessions
We are offering three different footballing options: 40+ Football, Non-Members FootbALL Sessions and League Specific Sessions
Non Member FootbALL Sessions (monthly)
40+ Sessions (monthly)
League Specific Training Sessions* (twice a month)
Non-Members FootbALL
The aim of our Thursday FootbALL sessions are:
To show that football is for everyone by focusing on fun.
To provide a monthly football for non-members
To help grow the womxn’s footballing community by pointing our attendees in the direction of clubs who are actively looking for more members.
Please share this sign up link with anyone who could be interested: www.goaldiggersfootballclub.com/join-us
40+ Football
This has been one of the best things GDFC has ever offered, thank you 40+ Founder Emma Magnus. So we are adding monthly Thursday sessions to our calendar of football in order to give 40+ women and non binary people more opportunities to play the beautiful game.
Please share this sign up link with anyone who could be interested, the next session is 5th Nov: www.goaldiggersfootballclub.com/join-us
League Specific Training
We are so excited about the birth of league specific training sessions. These sessions mean players will have access to Thursday training sessions specifically suited to the league they are paid members for. Sign up will be through the app as usual. Sign up is on Friday lunchtime the week before at 13:30 (so it will be this week for those interested in training on the 15th of October Academy/ Intermediate 5s). If you get a spot for Thursday training we ask that you don’t sign up to Wednesday training that week for the first hour.
These sessions will result in:
Team continuity
Coach continuity with each team
Growth in league specific tactics and understanding
Exciting times!
Get the below dates in your diary for our first two months:
GAIA EVERYONE!
A huge shout out to our Membership Sec Gaia who RAN from Hackney to Holloway School at 8am on Friday morning in order to collect all of our merchandise and equipment from the storage room. Gaia everyone!!
MERCH LOVE
Merch of the week has to be our black Nike short-sleeved training tops - they’re perfect for our current training sessions!
We have a limited number of shirts left in a UK size 8 & UK size 10 equivalent. They’re only £10 and bound to sell out quickly, Just buy one in the Store on TeamApp and pick it up at training. There’s a couple of other great merch deals on the Store so check them out too.
FIXTURES + TRAINING SESSIONS
PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Sunday La Liga Captain Katherine Yesilirmak and Kim Stallard
Wednesday Training Advanced Coach Ciara and Jess Keating
CWSFL 11s Very Experienced Captain Flo Pollock and Sacha Hilhorst
CWSFL 11s Very Experienced Coach Josh and K8 Allinson
COMMUNITY CORNER
Goal Anastasia Kuchta, designer behind GDFC and The Festival of Football is looking for Graphic Design clients big and small. If you, your company, your mum, you neighbour – whoever needs any design work, please contact or recommend Anastasia. This can be done through her website, www.ahkltd.com.
Thanks Goals xx
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