As the Soccer Sevens have been re-named, future news about the Soccer school will be carried in this thread.

The Young Reds are pleased to announce that they have been successful with their application to the Royal Mail Sports Foundation for assistance in purchasing strips. As a result, the Young Reds will soon receive a full set of strips as part of the build up to entering the Forth Valley Development Association League.

The Young Reds would like to thank the Royal Mail Sports Foundation for their generous support.

Well done Ian. The website would still like to help so please let me know details of kit you need and when.

Will do James. We're looking for at least another set of strips but a final decision on what we need will be taken soon. I'll let you know in due course.

No worries, thanks Ian.

The Under 12's are playing a friendly against Dunblane tonight while the Under 11's will have a training session.

The under 12's had a very useful friendly against Dunblane. The game was played in 3 x 20 minute periods to allow us to use the 17 players we had at our disposal.

It is pleasing to note the progress the kids have made over the last few weeks.

Next week is the last week of training and we hope to arrange friendlies for both the under 12's and under 11's.

Both the under 12's and under 11's will be playing friendlies at the Kings Park tonight.

How did it go, saw the games but was busy taking photos of training.

The under 12's played 3 x 20 minute matches against a strong Carse side. I don't know the exact scores in each of the matches, but all 14 players who turned up were given a good run out.
The under 11's played 2 x 20 minute halves against Dunblane and struggled a bit. However, it must be taken into account that both teams were playing against long established teams who have been playing in this type of competition for 2 or 3 years.
Both Young Reds squads have a nucleus of promising players and, hopefully, by playing in the FVFDA they will progress.

Finally, the conditions at the Kings Park are less than conducive for good football with the grass being far too long. Stewart Taylor commented on this at the under 14's trial.

And the training area for the first team.

Maybe the council could get round to sending a tractor up to cut the grass at least.

The council was contacted yesterday and said that the grass would be cut. However, it transipred that there was no machine to pick up the grass cuttings from behind the tractor, so they decided to leave it long.

The sooner the astroturf at Forthbank is finished, the better.
Thank goodness the FVFDA are looking at playing all matches on astroturf.

Any truth in the story that Cramby is supposed to have exchanged some banter with some of the watching Young Reds?

He might have but I didn't hear anything. I did see him leading the pack, with Mcnally, as they ran round the park.

Members are reminded that the Soccer School re-starts this Tuesday at 6-00p.m. at the Kings Park. If anyone wants to take part, they must return the registration form before Tuesday.
The children who are taking part in the FVFDA League must also register with the Soccer School.

There will be no Soccer School this coming Tuesday (9th October). The School will resume on 16th October at St Modans High School.

The Soccer School on 6th November will be at St Modan's. The new synthetic pitches at Forthbank should be ready the following week.

The Soccer School is definitely returning to Forthbank on 13th November. However, the 11 a side pitch isn't quite ready, so we have booked 3 more 5 a side pitches, making 5 in total. This will ensure that each group and each FVFDA team, will have a pitch each.
Once the 11 a side pitch is available, the younger children will use the 2 5 a side pitches we have booked, while the rest of the school will use the big pitch.

It was good to be back "home". The new 5 a side pitches are ideal for small groups of children and the full sized pitch is looking good so we are looking forward to getting the use of it, hopefully, next week.

First night using the full sized pitch and it is fanatstic. So much room to do everything.
The Soccer School will continue meeting every Tuesday with the obvious exception of Christmas Day and New Years Day. Previously, we had a break in December and January but we will now continue through these months.

My wee boy really enjoyed his first night and I was impressed with how many kids there is at this- well done to all involved

Glad he enjoyed it. It has really been a team effort since the Soccer School was re-launced in March. The large team of coaches are very enthusiastic and most of them have gone on to get further qualifications. They are supported by an admin team and, even there, they have attended workshops to ensure that the club is run as efficiently as possible.

The new facilities must be among the best in the country and Active Stirling are to be congratulated on delivering these to the community.

Finally, the parents have been very supportive and, without their encouragement, the school would not have been successful as it has been.

I agree. The new facilities are abolsutely excellent and the kids that I take (I have something of a car-ful from Grampian Road being dropped off weekly) are very impressed with the whole thing.

As always, many thanks.

Was anything further said about the possibility of a Young Reds vs. Dads game before Christmas? Obviously, we'd need a few goals of a start, but it could be fun and could be used as a YR fundraiser.

The game is still in the planning stage but will definitely be played but probably later in the season, once the handicaps have been worked out.

Can coaches take part?

Also worth mentioning the under 11's got their second win on saturday as they played a round robin against Castleview and Milton.

They beat Caslteview 12-0 and narrowly lost to Milton 4-0 in a game that could have went either way.

Definately improving

I'm definitely hoping coaches can take part.

Didn't know the win was so emphatic in a 20 minute match and Milton are a long established team so signs are good.

Tonight's Soccer School had to be held on the 5 a side pitches as the full sized pitch was out of action. The floodlights weren't working due to a power surge.
The FVFDA squads also received a coaching session by Alex Cleland and Stephen Wright who both played for Rangers at one point. It was a very well delivered session and, hopefully, the boys will benefit from this.

The number of children registered for the Soccer School has broken the 100 barrier for the first time. Everyone at the Young Reds is delighted with this achievement.
We currently have 12 coaches over the various age groups but, ideally, we would like more. If anyone over the age of 16 is interested in becoming a coach, please contact myself or Steven. All coaches will be given appropriate training and will be subject to Disclosure Scotland checks.
Next Tuesday, Scott Kinross and Andy Gilchrist, SFA Officers for the area, will be visiting the Soccer School to see the progress being made towards our application for the SFA Quality Mark.

Congrats on a fantastic milestone for the soccer school.

On a personal note, my wee boy will be back on Tuesday night.

We have a draft plan for a game involving the parents, put together by three like minded Young Reds parents. I'll write this up and put in to Stephen and yourself for comment. We are looking at April time.

Last night of the Soccer School. Whilst the FVFDA teams had a night at the ten pin bowling, the rest of the school enjoyed a festival in less than summer like conditions.
Next season looks like being even bigger as I have 16 new members interested in joining.

A big thanks to all the coaches who have helped since August and to the kids for coming along each week.

Enjoy the summer break and hopefully we'll see you all back on 19th August.

The Soccer School re-started last night and, thankfully, the rain stayed away.

The first night indicates that this season should be another good one with over 80 children enrolled so far. We have 42 training with the FVFDA teams with almost another 50 attending the general Soccer School. With the number of new children coming along last night, we would expect the total number enrolled to break the 100 mark.

There are still places available and anyone wanting more information should contact myself.