Junior Kickers Festival, Burgess Hill
18th March 2007

Dynamo’s end season on a high

Squad: Amy, Chloe, Ellen, Ellie, Hannah, Katie, Leonie, Tegan

With the late winter chill starting to settle in, we were up at Burgess Hill in the warm for our last Junior Kickers festival of the season.

No time to hang around as we were in the first game of the day against Adur, and a flying start it was with Amy getting our first goal in the fist few minutes, Adur then came back at us & Ellie was fully occupied in defense, however the girls continued to push forward & Katie soon got our second. Adur then got a goal back before Amy got her second of the game giving us a 3-1 win.

Our second game was against Patcham, and was a really tight game but some great determined play by Hannah & Leonie in midfield helped us to stay slightly on top. Ellie went on a dazzling run from the middle to score the only goal of the game.

Our next opponents were Newhaven, Some good passing in this game enabled Chloe to score early on & despite some good attacking moves from Newhaven the girls stuck to the cause fighting for each ball & Katie found the goal twice to earn us a well deserved 3- 0 win.

The final game was against Eastbourne & we were determined to end the day & season on a high. From the kick off the girls pushed forward & remembered what we had been talking about in training & used that well kept secret of moving in to space to full effect with some good moves. It was by no means one way traffic & good defending by Ellie & Hannah kept us in the game, however the girls passing paid dividends & we ended the game 3-0 winners with Katie getting a well deserved hat-trick.

Looking back I think that overall this was our best performance this season, whether it was lethal shooting from Katie, great defending & attacking runs from Ellie, solid defending by Tegan, good forward runs from Leonie & Hannah, Chloe showed some determined runs at goal, not forgetting the confusing positional play by Ellen which kept our opponents guessing and finally Amy who showed some great positional awareness combined with good defensive & attacking plays which earned the Dynamo’s player of the tournament.

Well done girls!

Junior Kickers Festival, Burgess Hill
25th February 2007

Dynamo’s undefeated

Squad: Katie, Chloe, Hannah, Tegan, Amy, Charlie, Ellen, Leonie

Missing the rain & mud the U10’s took to “field” again in this month’s Junior Kickers Festival. After last months tussle with the older girls we were back playing with teams of similar ages.

This time we had 5 games of 6 mins duration, hardly time to catch our breaths but never the less we played some good football with some excellent passing, shooting & defending, & it was really good to see the girls use the whole pitch.

Our first game was against Pevensey and was a tough opener which required some tough defending and Leonie pulling out all the stops in goal. Katie scored an excellent goal getting us get off to a 1- 0 victory.

We then played Patcham and the girls really turned on the style with goals from Katie, Chloe, Hannah & 2 from Charlie and they were complemented some strong defending by Amy with Tegan coming so close to keeping a clean sheet in goal, all ending in a 5 -1 win.

The next two games were much tougher & resulted in a 1 -1 draw with Eastbourne with Chloe getting our goal and a 0-0 draw against Adur in which I think is only the second or third game this season we have failed to score in.

Our final game was against Newhaven & the Hannah scored her second goal of the day in the 1st minute, she was then quickly joined on the score sheet by Chloe. Ellen was up to her usual tricks of confusing the opposition & Ellie made some strong runs from midfield. Charlie then found the net for the 3rd goal & the final score was 3 -0.

As always it was a pleasure taking the girls & they all worked really hard, aside from the goals, I was really pleased with the passing & looking for space which is something we have been working on in training.

Our player of the festival was Leonie for her goalkeeping & strong defending and Chloe also finished of the day with the overall award for player of the festival. Well done to you all.

Junior Kickers Festival, Burgess Hill
21st January 2007

Dynamo’s meet the challenge

Squad: Amy, Ellen, Tegan, Chloe, Katie, Ellie, Hannah, Leonie, Charly

Sunday saw another chance for the u10’s to show what they can do in match situations with our first visit of the year to the Junior Kickers festival at the Triangle in Burgess Hill. Over the past few months there have been a greater number of teams taking part and the festival is now divided into what are predominately u9 teams & u10 teams. This month we were placed in the section of predominately u10 teams, which despite all our girls being aged 9 or younger is great testament to their ability, team spirit and all round attitude.

Like last month we started the day off with a hard fought draw against Eastbourne which tested the girls from the start. Eastbourne scored with about 3 mins togo but some strong passing enabled Katie to score the end the game 1-1. The next game we played a very well organized Patcham side who came out 4-1 winners with Amy getting our goal. Despite having this defeat the girls completely turned the table in the following game against Lindfield and a combination of excellent defend slick passing and determination to win a game saw them gain a 5 – 3 victory with all 5 of the Dynamos goals coming from Chloe. The final game of the day was against Pevensey and we narrowly lost out 2-1 but by this stage I think playing against mostly older & bigger girls was taking it’s toll.

As always the girls showed an amazingly positive attitude with them playing in a variety of different positions in each game they played in but always giving 100%. Chloe was top scorer with 5 goals, the other goals coming from Ellie, Katie & Amy. A big thank to those who took their turn in goal, Leonie, Katie, Charlie, Hannah & Chloe & those who weren’t so quick to raise their hand will get their chance next month! Some solid defending by Tegan & special effort by Ellen (I’m sure I saw go through someone’s legs) all helped to another superb day.

Our player of the tournament went to Chloe not only for the 5 goals in one game but for her all round performance in which ever position she played.

I’m looking forward to the next one already.

Junior Kickers Festival, Burgess Hill
10th December 2006

Dynamos lift the winter chill

The rain may have been lashing down outside and matches cancelled across the county but the U10 Junior Kicker Festival was the bright spark of the weekend. As usual the girls were an absolute pleasure to be with – their positive and cheerful attitude is a measure of how much enjoyment they are getting from their football and one of the reasons why they are so successful. Despite being a couple of players short and as usual fielding probably the youngest squad in the competition the girls competed on equal terms in all their matches and the matches they lost were only because the opposition was twice their size!!
The day started with a tight nil all draw against our friendly rivals Eastbourne. This was followed by a comprehensive 4 – 0 win over Patcham 1 (the first of two hat tricks for Katie) before the first loss against a much improved Pevensey. Patcham 2 also beat us but the girls were back on track winning 3-0 against Lindfield, and 3-0 against Adur.

All of the girls contributed with most of the players taking a turn in goal. Leone scored her first goal for the club with Katie top scoring with 6, Ellie scoring 2 and charlotte 1. Hannah and Tegan played an important part and our secret weapon Ellen was also almost on the score sheet. A superb day capped by Ellie not only winning the Dynamo player of the tournament but also the overall player of the tournament award. Best comment of the day was from the competition organiser “Out of all the teams who have played in this tournament this season, Dynamo GFC is the most well rounded with all the players contributing.” How true.

Junior Kickers Festival, Burgess Hill
19th November 2006

Squad: Katie, Charlie, Amy, Hannah, Ellie, Leonie, Tegan, Chloe

The U10's took part in their second festival of the season at the increasingly popular Junior Kickers festival at the Triangle Centre, Burgess Hill and played games against Newhaven, Patcham, Eastbourne & Pevensey.

The first game was against Newhaven and after a tough start requiring some good saves from Charlie, Katie opened the scoring for the Dynamos. The girls continued to look for another goal & were rewarded with another goal from Katie and two from Chloe, ending in a 4- 0 win.

The next game was against Pevensey & was a much closer game with Pevensey taking the lead after a few minutes but some good defending by Amy & Tegan kept Dynamos in the game & Charlie found the net to bring things level. Despite being the smallest player at the tournament Ellen made some good tackles & passes which helped the girls get back on top & Amy scored late in the game to give us a 2-1 victory.

The third game was against Eastbourne with Hannah making some good saves & some excellent distribution, Ellie found her scoring boots & got a hat trick and was joined by Amy who scored twice leaving Dynamos 5- 0 winners.

Our final game was against Patcham all the girls played some excellent football passing the ball round & creating space for each other. Ellie picked the ball up in defence & ran the length of the pitch to score an excellent goal. Chloe & Charlie also scored for Dynamos with some really determined runs & good finishes. Patcham pulled a goal back but Amy then scored our final goal with a half volley from the halfway line putting a goal kick back over the goalkeepers head into the net. Leonie made some good saves and an excellent performance by all players gave us a 4-1 win.

All the team should be very proud with the with the way they played, a well done to Charlie who was Dynamo player of the day, but also to all the girls who were awarded the Team of the Festival for their excellent all-round performance.

Junior Kickers Festival, Burgess Hill
1st October 2006

Squad: Katie, Ellie, Ellen, Amy, Hannah and Leonie.

This was the first time this season that the u10's have played together and for two of the girls, Ellen & Leonie was the first time that they have played in a competitive match and what an excellent day it was. In all there were 5 other teams, 2 from Patcham, 2 from Eastbourne Borough and one from Adur Athletic.
Our first game was against Adur & the girls got off to a flying start winning 6-0 with five goals from Katie & one from Ellie.

The next game was against Patcham B and again the girls put in an excellent performance coming out winners 5-2 with another four goals from Katie & one from Hannah.

The third game was a much tougher challenge against Eastbourne B & we just lost out at the last minute 3-4 with Amy netting three. We then faced Eastbourne A & although the girls were now getting tired they put in a great performance winning 4 -1 with Katie finding the net another four times to bring here total for the day to an amazing 13 goals!

Our final game was against Patcham A & was a really close with both teams attacking & defending well but Ellie managed to get the ball passed the keeper twice to enable Dynamos to finish the day with a 2 -0 win.

All the team should be very proud with the with the way they played, Katie, Amy & Ellie their prolific goal scoring, 19 goals between them in five games, Leonie & Ellen making great contributions in both defence & attack and finally Hannah for some superb defending & outstanding goalkeeping for which was awarded Dynamo's Player of the Tournament.

To say the girls were shattered at the end was an understatement but it really was a fantastic effort by all the girls & I hope they are looking forward to the next one as much as I am.