Vol.1, Issue 4 - The 'Off-Season'
The season is over, but there is a lot of work to do over the summer.
With the Under 15 victory over Dover Rangers on Sunday, we concluded the 2020-2021 football season.
Our focus now shifts to the off-season and all of the preparation required for the next chapter of the Barham FC story. The introduction of Open-Age (adult) teams to the club have meant that we needed to make changes to the club structure. The first and most obvious was the change of name. Then we became a C.A.S.C. (Community Amateur Sports Club), enabling tax relief and gift aid donations. The FA Charter Standard accreditation is also changing to reflect the amendments mentioned.
As always, at this time of the year, we begin registering players and volunteers with the FA. First, all of our members must be signed up with the FA and issued with a FAN number. Details about how to do this are available in previous emails or by clicking here.
Barham FC is now using the FA Match Day app. The app will list fixtures and allow players to show their availability for matches and training sessions. Details about using the app were in our last email, but here’s a link to that issue if you missed it. We ask that you download the app from your app store and familiarise yourself with it over the next few weeks.
VOLUNTEERS
As always, we’re on the lookout for volunteers to help run the club. We all have busy lives, and finding the time to help out with a community project like ours isn’t easy. We want to recruit volunteer coaches, first aiders, team helpers, grounds maintenance assistants and administrative assistants. Full training is provided, either in-house or via Kent FA. Even if you can spare a couple of hours per week, it would help the club immensely, so please, get in touch if you can help.
PLAYERS WANTED
Tony is hunting for players to bolster the Under 15 team as they move up into the Under 16 age group next season. The boys & girls will be playing at a very high level with possible promotion into the first division of the East Kent Youth League Under 16s.
Next season will be a stepping stone into Open Age football. As soon as our players turn 16, they will be allowed to play in adult matches across our leagues.
FRIENDLY MATCHES THIS WEEKEND
Our fabulous Under 8 and Under 10 teams will be playing their first friendlies this weekend. The boys and girls will be taking on Tyler Hill Youth FC as they begin their preparations for their first season in the Faversham & District Youth League.
The matches kick off on Saturday the 19th of June at 10 AM and 11 AM, respectively, at the Bear Trap. Why not pop down and cheer on our youngsters?
That about wraps up this week’s newsletter. Next week we will explain our plans for next season in more detail, but until then, have a great weekend!