West Cornwall U13's WIN AGAIN & now in Semi Final

[Kevin Lawrence]

The dream of playing in a National Cup Final is still alive for the West Cornwall SFA U13s...

The journey carries on for the West Cornwall SFA U13 squad as they have progressed into the last four (semi final) of the National U13s Inter Association Cup.

We beat Waltham Forest 6-4 in a very competitive quarter final match which i am pleased to announce that the semi final will be a HOME fixture. The Support at the game was over wealming and thanks to Simon Stevens (St.Ives School) for bringing a coach full of puplils to the game to support the boys. They created a fantastic positive atmosphere for the boys.

To reach the Last four of a National District Competition is an outstanding achievement and anybody viewing the game i am sure will comment and agree what a privilege it is to see the boys playing with so much passion and trying to play the right way.

The squad members and goal scorers on the day were as follows...

Squad
1. Louis Graham (St Ives)
2. Joshua Otto (Captain)-(St Ives)
3. Tobi Horsell (St Ives)
4. Jack Webber (Hayle)
5. Ryan Barnes (Camborne)
6. Oliver Pritchard (Richard Lander)
7. Oliver Walker (Richard Lander)
8. Adam Dower (Richard Lander)
9. Jacob Trudgeon (Mounts Bay)
10. Max Armstrong (Mounts Bay)
11. Theo Simpson (Mounts Bay)
12. Joel Allen (Penryn)
13. Luke Jephcott (Penryn)
14. Finn Robinson (Penryn)
15. Finn Cross (Penryn)
16. William Trew (Truro School)

Goal Scorers

Jacob Trudgeon x 3 (Mounts Bay Academy)
William Trew x 1 (Truro School)
Joel Allen x 1 (Penryn School)
Jack Webber x 1 (Hayle School)

Also, a MASSIVE shout out to HAYLE FC and JOHN RICHARDS who gave up their time to accommodate the game on a fantastic pitch, the facilities and kind hospitality received was very much appreciated by both associations.

I would also like to say that many bad things are chucked around the media about Football but there are many positive things occurring in our County. We have three Football Development Officers in West Cornwall including myself based at Mounts Bay Academy, Daniel Inch (Cornwall College Camborne) and Jake Ash (Penryn College) who all run Football Development Centres on behalf of Cornwall FA and in Partnership with Plymouth Argyle. The centres all run many programmes including Long Term Player Development Centres (LTPD), Mini Soccer Centre's and Holiday Soccer Camps which clubs can benefit from as their players will be receiving extra Football opportunities. The centres are Development Centres and are in place to Develop players further, we are not Football Clubs!

The Long Term Player Development Centres are in place throughout the County who have weekly training sessions and have regular termly festivals against each other. This particular programme is for players who have mastered the basic skills of the game from ages U8 - U12 and players must trial before being accepted on to the programme. Any player shining at the centres will be sent up to the Advanced Plymouth Argyle Centre based at Brannel School with the aim to progress into the Centre of Excellence set up at Ivybridge.

This pathway is consistently seeing players come through and progress to represent their District/County, it has been a generation process but things are definitely improving as there is an accessible centre now in place for all players across the County.

The level of coaching at club level is now great to see and all the Youth Football Festivals around the County that hosts many of our young players is fantastic. Many coaches are now doing their Youth Awards and many clubs I can see are creating a positive environment for the Youth Players to develop Socially, Psychologically and Physically.

Any parent or coach/manager wishing to find out more about the LTPD centres then please contact myself on the below details to find out more info (klawrence@mountsbay.org)

I will be in touch soon with details about the next West Cornwall game and it will be great to see lots of support for the boys in the Semi Final.

Many thanks as always.

Mr. Kevin Lawrence
West Cornwall SFA U13 Manager
Football Development Officer at Mounts Bay Academy

W: www.mbfdc.co.uk

E: klawrence@mountsbay.org