Sep 20, 20205 min read

GDFC News 20 September

TRAINING GOALS

Please see signing up for training in the same way you do signing up to a match, only sign up if you are going to turn up. If you absolutely have to drop out please do so before Wednesday so Gaia isn’t spending her Wednesdays creating and recreating the bubbles multiple times for contact tracing purposes. This also helps our coaches have a clear idea of who is attending training at the earliest possible time AND gives members who are on the training waiting list enough notice to make training.

Training sign up steps

Sign-up is first come first served and due to Covid-19 rules it is capped at 60 players (including coaches). Once we reach the limit in each group, if you RSVP you’ll automatically be added to a waitlist. To check if you’re on the waitlist, click on your ‘Yes’ RSVP and it will show you a full list of who is in and who is on the waitlist. Please be kind to your fellow goals and only sign up if you really think you can come.

If you can’t make it anymore please follow these three simple steps:

Let us know ASAP
Change your RSVP and
Leave a comment.

(Fyi: If you change your RSVP to no then back to yes you will go to the back of the queue).

Quick reminder: please don’t bring +1s. Technically, the app allows you to say that you’re bringing someone with you. Please don’t use this feature! Training is members only. We’ll be organising monthly open training sessions on Thursdays starting next month, See below!

COMMITTEE ROLES

We have found ourselves a wonderful treasurer to help Alex out with the financial running of Goal Diggers, but we are still on the lookout for a Grant Officer to help us raise the funds that we so need to continue to run as an accessible club.

View the Grant Officer role here.

THURSDAY SESSIONS

Thursday Sessions are 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 very central, based in a community garden AND has a stunning wall next to it.

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+, 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 have been:

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. Sign up here.

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. Sign up here.

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.

This 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:

Thursday calendar

TEAMAPP ISSUES

We’ve been getting some reports of issues with TeamApp this week. This is likely because they’re rolling out some pretty big updates. We’re hoping most of them have been resolved but if you do have any outstanding issues, please see below. This will help us understand how widespread the issue is.

If you are having problems with the app:

On your app settings go down to the bottom and select the ‘Email us’ option to explain your issue to TeamApp directly
Send an email to membership@goaldiggersfootballclub explaining the issue
Use the website version for event sign ups in the meantime
If events are not showing up, sometimes viewing as 'list view' rather than calendar view helps

FYI you can remove ads from the Team App: https://support.teamapp.com/en/docs/81-can-i-remove-ads-from-my-app

HAGGERSTON TRAINING KEY WORKER SPOTS

Any key workers who are working during the post time (Monday 7:30 pm) can save a spot at training by getting in touch with Ciara Robinson this week rather than Gaia x

THANK YOUS

A huge HUGE thank you to the following committee members for working oh so hard to ensure training at our new home goes as smoothly as possible.

Anastasia Kuchta

Thanks to Ana for creating a beautiful GDFC training banner. This is to prevent others from entering the pitch from 7-9pm and to spread the word about GDFC to any onlookers.

Ellen Robertson and Ciara Robinson

Thanks to Ellen and Ciara for ensuring everyone is hand sanitised etc on entry to training AND for acting us our training bouncers and spending a lot of time and energy convincing members of the public to leave the pitch.

Please remember to thank all the committee members when you see them working their (footie) socks off. All the time they give to the club is voluntary and without them GDFC would not exist.

NEW LEAGUES IN STORE

Super 5s (Experienced + Academy) - Sept - Dec - £20 regular, £15 subsidised
Relaxed Saturday 11s - Sept - Dec - £10 regular, £6 subsidised (a lovely mix of beginner level friendlies and GDFC derbies - monthly in Clapham)

UPCOMING FIXTURES

TRAINING/FIXTURE POSTS

MERCH LOVE

#MerchSense: The sooner you buy, the longer you’ll have it for

Buy now: https://www.goaldiggersfootballclub.com/store

GDFC ART FUNDRAISER

Throughout the month of September, we will be selling A4 Art Prints to raise money for our club. Due to MOZF fundraising events being cancelled for the foreseeable future and the increased price of Haggerston pitch, we need to raise money! All the prints are made by very talented goals in our club. All proceeds will go back to GDFC. Buy one, or buy them all!