It surely couldn't happen again? After the 2012-2013 season being decimated by waterlogged pitches, this season has been just the same! This is so disappointing for everyone involved - the boys (this season we have no girls playing for us), the parents and the coaches. It also often involves last minute changes!
Take last Saturday for example - Friday lunchtime the pitches were reported as being perfect! All the normal work by coaches and parents to make sure everyone would be in the right place at the right time come Saturday morning. I even tweeted to say "for the first time since November looking forward to a weekend with an under 11s match" - same for the u14s and the u18s. However after that text the rain came back and boy did it rain! So as I leave my house on Saturday morning I have a message to say that the u14s and u18s games were postponed due to waterlogged pitches. Somehow the u11 game survived. Played on a mud bath, the u11 boys put in one of the best performance I have ever seen by a Lionhearts team.
And this sums it up - running a football club involves a lot of phone calls, emails and planning! Even on the morning of the game a player dropped out because lifts where not available for him. Yet thankfully there are many games when it is all worth it!
This is my last season as a coach and I will look back on my time with Lionhearts FC with great satisfaction. I have loved seeing players develop, improve and become better men as a result of working hard and learning to play for the team. Also it has been a delight to work with some fantastic people, coaches that have allowed us to have 6 teams in 2012-2013 & 4 teams in 2013-2014. There have been key moments, winning the first cup competition for the u11s with my son saving a penalty whilst keeping goal during a dramatic semi-final win. And taking our first ever u14 team through a difficult first season but getting a draw, our first point of the season in the last game of the season. The season after we won the league!
I will miss being directly involved in Lionhearts FC but I will definitely not miss the hazards of trying to help a football club negotiate another wet winter of frustrations!
