There is always movement at the club, in all different categories. We all want to move forward and over time we do. Development comes in waves where the general trend is upwards. As Christchurch United, we are doing our utmost best to influence that trend as positive as possible in many ways.
For the U10-12 the July holidays are coming up which means there will be a possibility for players to show themselves in the Christchurch International Cup (CIC). The players and coaches have been training hard to improve their skills on the regular trainings and some players also have been taking their development to another level by doing the Technification training.
Development is important in all age groups, but also our coaches have been doing their best to gain extra knowledge.
This year Todd Astle started to help us with the mental skills that are necessary to develop as players, athletes and people. For our coaches it has been a great experience so far learning how we can help our players better in this aspect of the game. Besides the coaches Todd is working with the senior team and the oldest age groups of the youth academy.
Halfway term 2 the leagues are helping us develop as well, opponents from all around town are coming to the Christchurch Football Centre and our teams are visiting clubs to play on different surfaces weekly. From the youngest to the oldest teams we face different challenges during these times which we have to learn from to become better football players over time.
The U13 to U17 who play in the Canterbury Development Leagues have shown what they are training which makes it enjoyable to watch. The players have been learning of each other in the morning sessions which has been very productive for all academy players.
We are in the middle of winter and the upcoming time football will keep us warm before the weather starts to improve again. I’m looking forward to the CIC for U10-14 in July where multiple teams from the north island will make their appearance, let’s see what we can learn from that football experience!