Cholsey Bluebirds Under 13s 2020/21
Almost done
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DEVELOPMENT & TROPHY GAMES AT THIS AGE Fixtures arranged by Oxford Youth Football League (OYFL) For FIXTURES & TABLE - click on LOGO below. 
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Manager/Coach
Assistants Tel no U13s AGE INFORMATION Date of Birth Team size Squad size maximum Number so far registered MATCHES PLAYED ON WHICH GROUP TRAINING INFORMATION Resuming on SUNDAYS at Cholsey Rec at 10 - 11 am after Easter 2021. (No further League matches) FIXTURES Teams have been streamed using the results from last season for Divisions A to F. New divisions will be drawn up in November to ensure teams are streamed according to ability in the 2nd half of the season. The KO Cup will be streamed into 3 competitions and will begin in November. For the latest fixture scheduled for the next weekend, please visit the FIXTURES PAGE. |
TOM BARKER
RICH MAY GARRY CLARKE tombarker123@hotmail.com 07557 970008 Over 12 but Under 13 1 Sept 2007 to 31 Aug 2009 Academic YEAR 8 11 aside 16 Probably 16 SUNDAYS with KO at 10:30am OYFL U13s : Autumn League DIVISION C (10 teams) Cholsey Bluebirds St Edmunds Reading United Kidlington Youth Falcons Benson United Yellow Wantage Town Donnington Red Garsington FC White Didcot Town Youth White Crowmarsh Youth SPONSOR RESPONSE website : click on logo |
Summary 2020/21 Season as U13s
We began the autumn season in C league and after a few tricky matches ended up mid-table ahead of the Christmas break. We decided not to enter the post-lockdown Spring league, choosing instead to invest in training to the squad match-fit and have now finished our 2020/21 season completely, ready to start again where we left off from the Autumn 2021/22 season.
Thanks as always go to my right-hand man Rich, to Club Chairman Mark, all the club officers, and the parents who've help set up, take down, run the lines and bring us the occasional cup of tea.
Tom Barker
We began the autumn season in C league and after a few tricky matches ended up mid-table ahead of the Christmas break. We decided not to enter the post-lockdown Spring league, choosing instead to invest in training to the squad match-fit and have now finished our 2020/21 season completely, ready to start again where we left off from the Autumn 2021/22 season.
Thanks as always go to my right-hand man Rich, to Club Chairman Mark, all the club officers, and the parents who've help set up, take down, run the lines and bring us the occasional cup of tea.
Tom Barker
Summary 2019/20 Season as U12s
Season 19/20 saw a fairly consistent picture, avoiding previous yo-yo-ing between B & C leagues, with a steady run in the C league across both autumn and spring periods. This is no bad thing as the OMYFL C has grown a steady reputation (amongst the various opposition managers I’ve spoken to) as one of the fairest and personable divisions they’ve come across – the high number of drawn games and lack of opposition grumpy parents / players / coaches have also made it a rather more pleasurable experience for Rich and me.
The squad itself remains united, with a few new faces joining us for training in advance of moving up to 11-a-side for the start of the 20/21 U12s season. It’s also heartening to see so many of the squad are still the players that joined us as Rising Stars many years ago…
Tom Barker, Rich May & Garry Clarke
Season 19/20 saw a fairly consistent picture, avoiding previous yo-yo-ing between B & C leagues, with a steady run in the C league across both autumn and spring periods. This is no bad thing as the OMYFL C has grown a steady reputation (amongst the various opposition managers I’ve spoken to) as one of the fairest and personable divisions they’ve come across – the high number of drawn games and lack of opposition grumpy parents / players / coaches have also made it a rather more pleasurable experience for Rich and me.
The squad itself remains united, with a few new faces joining us for training in advance of moving up to 11-a-side for the start of the 20/21 U12s season. It’s also heartening to see so many of the squad are still the players that joined us as Rising Stars many years ago…
Tom Barker, Rich May & Garry Clarke
Summary 2018/19 Season as U11s
Another season yo-yoing between the B and C Leagues cemented our position as the Bluebirds' own West Bromwich Albion. However, that reputation is now being threatened by several tournaments where we've been eliminated on penalties in the semi-finals (so perhaps more like the Bluebirds own England national team?).
Either way, form towards the end of the full season may just see us nudging promotion again, so the tradition looks like continuing . . .
Some highlights for the season were welcoming three more players into the squad which has also helped us transition into the bigger and more complicated 9-a-side format. An extra licenced coach as Garry gained his FA accreditation alongside Rich & Tom. And finally, our triumphant performance in November when we won the Autumn Trophy - lovely smiles, medals and a trophy to take home with us just in time for Christmas.
Tom Barker, Rich May & Garry Clarke
Another season yo-yoing between the B and C Leagues cemented our position as the Bluebirds' own West Bromwich Albion. However, that reputation is now being threatened by several tournaments where we've been eliminated on penalties in the semi-finals (so perhaps more like the Bluebirds own England national team?).
Either way, form towards the end of the full season may just see us nudging promotion again, so the tradition looks like continuing . . .
Some highlights for the season were welcoming three more players into the squad which has also helped us transition into the bigger and more complicated 9-a-side format. An extra licenced coach as Garry gained his FA accreditation alongside Rich & Tom. And finally, our triumphant performance in November when we won the Autumn Trophy - lovely smiles, medals and a trophy to take home with us just in time for Christmas.
Tom Barker, Rich May & Garry Clarke
Summary 2017/18 Season as U10s
Another year under the belt for 10 of the 12 squad players who have been with us since Rising Stars.
A challenging first half of the full season, being narrowly relegated from Division B. However, the boys have rallied in the second half of the season, and a win in the final game of the league season against our old rivals from the Crowmarsh first team may just have allowed us to clinch a promotion straight back up again. We’ll just have to wait until next season’s allocations have been made until we know for sure.
Some notable highlights from the last 9 months include scoring within the first 7 seconds from kick-off, notching up a 5-0 win in an 8 minute tournament game, scoring a thunderbolt from inside our own half and being the highest-finishing Cholsey Bluebirds team (ahem) in our own annual tournament having made it all the way to the semi-final – only beaten by a team that then went on to win.
We’ll be welcoming another FA Licensed Coach to the squad as we start next season, with Garry now sitting his Level 1 at evening classes. Given his day job as a PE teacher this’ll make him the most qualified coach in the squad, so Tom’s already ready for bibs & cone responsibilities and Rich’ll be doing the tea runs (white, no sugar please).
See you all again in September when we’ll be welcoming a couple of new players in readiness for 9-a-side. Have a fantastic summer.
Tom Barker, Rich & Garry
Another year under the belt for 10 of the 12 squad players who have been with us since Rising Stars.
A challenging first half of the full season, being narrowly relegated from Division B. However, the boys have rallied in the second half of the season, and a win in the final game of the league season against our old rivals from the Crowmarsh first team may just have allowed us to clinch a promotion straight back up again. We’ll just have to wait until next season’s allocations have been made until we know for sure.
Some notable highlights from the last 9 months include scoring within the first 7 seconds from kick-off, notching up a 5-0 win in an 8 minute tournament game, scoring a thunderbolt from inside our own half and being the highest-finishing Cholsey Bluebirds team (ahem) in our own annual tournament having made it all the way to the semi-final – only beaten by a team that then went on to win.
We’ll be welcoming another FA Licensed Coach to the squad as we start next season, with Garry now sitting his Level 1 at evening classes. Given his day job as a PE teacher this’ll make him the most qualified coach in the squad, so Tom’s already ready for bibs & cone responsibilities and Rich’ll be doing the tea runs (white, no sugar please).
See you all again in September when we’ll be welcoming a couple of new players in readiness for 9-a-side. Have a fantastic summer.
Tom Barker, Rich & Garry
Summary 2016/17 Season as Under 9s
The Under 9s we're promoted to the B League in the first half of the season and managed to hold their own at this higher level. Despite being a squad of 13, the boys come from 6 different local schools - so a group which wouldn't know each other without Cholsey Bluebirds continue as firm friends and loyal teammates.
Tom Barker
The Under 9s we're promoted to the B League in the first half of the season and managed to hold their own at this higher level. Despite being a squad of 13, the boys come from 6 different local schools - so a group which wouldn't know each other without Cholsey Bluebirds continue as firm friends and loyal teammates.
Tom Barker
Summary 2015/16 Season as Under 8s
Another great season for a great bunch of boys. In fairness we always struggled in the league games as the FA stipulated 5-a-side structure doesn’t seem to fit with a squad who are clearly mature beyond their years and so always seemed to win the friendlies played as 7-a-side instead.
The squad has remained almost unchanged since its formation nearly two years ago, with only two drop-outs during that time. For the boys who have remained it’s been brilliant to see them grow in confidence and performance – not just their skills on the pitch but their social skills too. It’s a point I’ve said often but it’s well worth repeating; we have a group of 12 boys who attend (at last count) 6 different schools and so ordinarily wouldn’t know each other. However, to see them out together every Saturday morning you’d assume that they were all classmates as the connection between them seems to have grown so strongly.
It’s also been encouraging to see other parents looking to get formally involved in the running of their son’s team, with Rich May, Garry Clark and Jamie Baskeyfield all looking to commit to the 4 days learning required to get their FA Level 1 coaching licences. Ideally we’d like to use this additional support to extend the squad into 2 streamed teams, however we’ve struggled to find new players to recruit, and so all indications point towards us staying with the existing set-up next season.
Either way, it may mean that we’re able to offer additional coaching sessions beyond the usual Saturday morning matches, so we’ll keep you posted.
In terms of other plans for next season I’m sure the boys are looking forward to getting their new kits, as their current ones are starting to look distinctly ‘snug’ as the boys shoot up in height. We’ve also been promised the continued kit sponsorship of Response Homecare – although John McLaughlin was manning the BBQ (and volunteers’ beer supply) when he kindly agreed to this, so this is hopefully not a sobering commitment…
Finally, a word to the brilliant performance by the two squad teams at the annual Cholsey Bluebirds Tournament. Both groups unbeaten in qualifying rounds and generally as good an individual and team performance from every single player as we’ve ever seen – hopefully this is a good sign for season 16/17.
Thanks then to my co-coach Rich for keeping me sane, the regular ‘goal dads’ (we all know who you are), the Tuck Shop staffers, our regular referees (again, we all know who you are) almost every other manager we’ve played against this season (as they’ve all shared our own Club’s commitment to keeping the best sport in the world a friendly and fun activity for the next generation) to Glenn for sticking out another year as chairman and finally the fabulous Karen Silkstone who is the unsung hero of Cholsey Bluebirds FC and keeps us all on track.
See you again in September,
TOM BARKER
Another great season for a great bunch of boys. In fairness we always struggled in the league games as the FA stipulated 5-a-side structure doesn’t seem to fit with a squad who are clearly mature beyond their years and so always seemed to win the friendlies played as 7-a-side instead.
The squad has remained almost unchanged since its formation nearly two years ago, with only two drop-outs during that time. For the boys who have remained it’s been brilliant to see them grow in confidence and performance – not just their skills on the pitch but their social skills too. It’s a point I’ve said often but it’s well worth repeating; we have a group of 12 boys who attend (at last count) 6 different schools and so ordinarily wouldn’t know each other. However, to see them out together every Saturday morning you’d assume that they were all classmates as the connection between them seems to have grown so strongly.
It’s also been encouraging to see other parents looking to get formally involved in the running of their son’s team, with Rich May, Garry Clark and Jamie Baskeyfield all looking to commit to the 4 days learning required to get their FA Level 1 coaching licences. Ideally we’d like to use this additional support to extend the squad into 2 streamed teams, however we’ve struggled to find new players to recruit, and so all indications point towards us staying with the existing set-up next season.
Either way, it may mean that we’re able to offer additional coaching sessions beyond the usual Saturday morning matches, so we’ll keep you posted.
In terms of other plans for next season I’m sure the boys are looking forward to getting their new kits, as their current ones are starting to look distinctly ‘snug’ as the boys shoot up in height. We’ve also been promised the continued kit sponsorship of Response Homecare – although John McLaughlin was manning the BBQ (and volunteers’ beer supply) when he kindly agreed to this, so this is hopefully not a sobering commitment…
Finally, a word to the brilliant performance by the two squad teams at the annual Cholsey Bluebirds Tournament. Both groups unbeaten in qualifying rounds and generally as good an individual and team performance from every single player as we’ve ever seen – hopefully this is a good sign for season 16/17.
Thanks then to my co-coach Rich for keeping me sane, the regular ‘goal dads’ (we all know who you are), the Tuck Shop staffers, our regular referees (again, we all know who you are) almost every other manager we’ve played against this season (as they’ve all shared our own Club’s commitment to keeping the best sport in the world a friendly and fun activity for the next generation) to Glenn for sticking out another year as chairman and finally the fabulous Karen Silkstone who is the unsung hero of Cholsey Bluebirds FC and keeps us all on track.
See you again in September,
TOM BARKER
Summary of the 2014-15 Season
What a great first full season for the boys. We've had a maximum squad of 14 from the off, a waiting list of others wanting to join, and no drop-outs over the course of 9 months - meaning we hope to start our second season with the same squad that started the first.
Results in the first half of the season were mixed, with a rough split of wins, draws and losses. However, when the divisions were redrawn after Christmas we went on a fantastic run, with a 100% win rate which would have clearly put us top of the league (though official results aren't published for this age group).
We've been keen to keep a friendly, cooperative spirit in the team, meaning that we actively rotate positions and try to substitute evenly. The boys come from at least 4 different schools and it's been great to see them grow into a more cohesive unit - especially as they wouldn't ordinarily know each other.
TOM BARKER (Manager)
Results in the first half of the season were mixed, with a rough split of wins, draws and losses. However, when the divisions were redrawn after Christmas we went on a fantastic run, with a 100% win rate which would have clearly put us top of the league (though official results aren't published for this age group).
We've been keen to keep a friendly, cooperative spirit in the team, meaning that we actively rotate positions and try to substitute evenly. The boys come from at least 4 different schools and it's been great to see them grow into a more cohesive unit - especially as they wouldn't ordinarily know each other.
TOM BARKER (Manager)