31st May Camping - Message from the Penney's

Dear Parents & Family of U13 Girls,

Just to remind you, you are all invited to our fields in Westcott, Dorking on Saturday 31^st May 2014. The address is Westlees Farm, Logmore Lane, Westcott, RH4 3JN . It’s about a 35/40 minute drive from Teddington. Let me know if you need a printed map and I can email it over.

Rough Itinerary for Saturday 31^st May/Sunday 1^st June

Saturday

12:30/1:00 –        Arrive at Penney Fields & those of you staying need to put up your tents.

2:00+                     Afternoon of team games, tractor ride and of course a  football match.

5:00ish –               BBQ (Christelle & I are organising food for evening & breakfast which we will split between families). Could each person bring a pudding or salad & obviously drink if you so wish.

Evening –            Bonfire & marshmallows.

Sunday

Communal breakfast of bacon sandwiches cooked over the fire.

Probably leaving between 1/2pm.

If it’s OK with everyone, could one member of each family let me know by email how many adults & children are coming & if you have any special food requirements,  so that Christelle and i can organise food for the BBQ & breakfast.

Don’t forget your wellies (incase of bad weather) & get the kids to wear old clothes that you don’t mind getting muddy & definitely a change of clothes for them too! It can get cold in the evening so bring some warm clothing.

We would really like you all to come and stay if you wish. If you are not a camper we would still love you to come as camping is not compulsory.

We will arrange a port-a-loo for the weekend and there is a barn should the weather turn bad but unfortunately it’s not big enough to sleep in. Really looking forward to it, hope you can all come.

Kind regards

Stewart & Julie Penney

Teddington U13G Blogger of the year awardee strikes again :-) last masterpiece of the season

Awards Night

Carlos the “heckle” in balloon-bursting drama

Oh what a fantastic season. Top three and a great tour. The great and the good of TAFC Girls Under 13’s gathered at the Bushy Park Big Top on Friday for the Annual Awards ceremony. After their triumphant European campaign, the girls were in celebratory mood, though the planned open top bus parade had to be cancelled because the park gates closed at 20.15. We entered the tent to the strains of “We love you Teddington, we do” much to the chagrin of the boys teams who had earlier endured much more sedate ceremonies. Christelle took to the floor and delivered an impassioned speech to much applause. It has been a great season, it could have been better and next year it will be if we keep our concentration and get fitter in body and in mind (and that is just the parents).

The awards then followed with :

• Players Player of the Year going to Lola;
• Coaches Player of the Year to Sophia; 
• Managers Player of the Year to Charlotje.

All three thoroughly deserved their awards. The whole squad then received their own trophies, which on closer inspection seemed to have the bottom half of a man and the top half of a woman (or maybe just a homage to Andy Carroll). Time to thank Christelle, Ed and Mairead for all of their efforts and once more a song before leaving the marquee. Carlos caught up in the emotion of the moment then encouraged our team to take the balloons home, not realizing that they were needed for a similar, albeit quieter, ceremony planned for the following day. After being chastised by ‘someone important’, the balloons were hastily put back, all except one deflated one - our bubble had at last been burst, but it took a Brazilian to do it. 

Have a great summer 

Tournament 17th May confirmed

Thatcham Town Ladies and Girls F. C.    Six-a-Side Tournament

To be held at Thatcham Town F.C. Waterside Park, Crookham Road,

Thatcham, Berkshire, RG19 4PA

Saturday 17^th May 2014

Meet at 1pm for those that have been asked to attend (you will receive an email to that effect today) - as we can only take 8 players 

There is another tournament for the 14th of June so those not attending the 17th may will attend the 14th of june

some pictures from holland.............and a video link from our Houlten's friends https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-G_BfFhhR0

Awards night - details

The awards will start at 6.30pm and each team will have a 30 minute slot, meaning we will complete the awards by 9pm. The U13 are scheduled for 8.30pm

The BBQ will  be serving food from 7.00-9.00pm.(open to all)

See you all there!

“When its spring again we’ll sing again, we won in Amsterdam”

Keith Maple's great attempt at summarizing a wonderful, eventful, memorable, fun and sporty bank holiday week end in Holland  for the "Girls do it better" football tour.

Our first foray into Europe and so much to say. From the funny to the suspicious and the skillful to the downright bizarre this is my take on the events that transpired in some corner of a foreign field. 

The Prologue

Long coach journey, chirpy driver, “glad we flew”, Duingalows, flumes & swimming, roller coasters, early night, early start, back on the coach, drive to the tournament, pictures with the flags “which pitch” “who are we playing? “Are we awake?”

The Tournament

Freezing cold, boiling hot, flags a flying, the Group of Death, Sadie’s goals (2), 4 clean sheets, Lola scores, Elin scores, making friends with Delta girls, the Macarena on the pitch, yellows, blues and black and whites, chips and toasties, gravy scotch eggs, good 5 minutes, poor 10 minutes, wilting in the heat, great goal by Hannah R, Kathryn’s save when 0-0, 3 wins, fifth place play off, penalty shoot out, Net makes a save, Teddington girls out.

The Next day

Proper ground, up in the stand, dressing rooms, national anthems, superb play, Lola’s Cruyff turn, Sadie goal, Sophia at the back, Elin’s miss, Elin’s wonder goal, error at the back, Elin scores again, hurricane winds, win 3-1, photos of the teams, drinks with the ref, Champions of Holland.

The Scandals

Chip gate               Slowing down the food queue so our chips arrived late

Pizza gate              Poisoning Robert with a Dutch pizza

Revenge gate       Diesel jumping out of the coach all over the driver

Penalty gate          The net keeping out our winning goal

The Referees

The Good – the one who shared a beer with us after Sunday’s game

The Bad – the one who believed a net could defy the laws of physics

The Ugly – the one who stopped the game on the other pitch because a coach told him what he thought.

The Lessons

Find out what rules we are playing before we kick off

-Short corners, easier goal kicks, and no back pass rule

Its penalties not a cross bar challenge

Dutch goal nets are made of steel

Chips two minutes before a game may not be the best way forward

When Keith shouts “don’t shoot” always do – Great goal Hannah

When those corners come across run towards them not away

The Memorable

The warmth of the hosts

Mikes luminous tracksuit

Spreading the word that we were Tottenham Hotspur

Ed challenging the girls to try to hit the cross bar (they failed)

The Macarena with the girls from Delta

Sundays “Battle of the near to airports” Heathrow 3 Rotterdam 1

The stadium with our flags flying and parents proud

The girls lining up for the National Anthem

The Dutch girls running across with massive smiles after seeing their grandparents on the sidelines

The girls playing football at the ferry port
The Team Anthem sing-along "we love you teddington we do...."

Winning four, drawing two and only losing one game.

4 clean sheets, 8 scored 5 conceded (3 due to chips)

Above all we had a fantastic time, the locals could not have been friendlier and seeing the girls line up for the national anthem brought a lump to the throat (even to those Irish amongst us). The girls played brilliantly and the way they embraced the whole experience was exemplary.

Ed and Christelle should be both pleased and congratulated.  Without them none of this would have been possible. Third in the League  this year and Champions of Holland.

The motto of the trip

The only chips in football should be those over the goalkeeper

Polish your clogs.. Water your tulips.. We're coming to get ya

Artfully stylish headphones, pristine sportswear and chuckling banter are nothing new on a football coach travelling to face opponents on their patch. What's different on this coach - a modern double-decker replete with onboard "facilities" (no number twos please) - is that the players are 11, 12 and 13-year-old girls. Teddington Athletic's two well-regarded female teams are headed for the continent, and the continent had better beware.

The midnight meet in a swimming pool car park was a nervous affair. Would everyone turn up? Was there the requisite paperwork? And where was the coach? Turned out it was marooned outside, but players, staff and family trooped on and set off for Europe.

Nobody knows how well the girls will do. But they are fine players and just as importantly fine people. This will be a learning experience, and a bonding one. Good luck to all concerned: the girls comparing smartphones, the parents pooling lagers, the coaches plotting victory on foreign fields.  May they all do Teddington proud.