The work goes on through the summer.
Well the SCEFL season for 2018/19 is complete, many at the beginning wondered whether we would complete the season, some were betting on how few points the Crows would amass but Muggsie and the Management Team achieved the seasons target with games to spare. The Crows, however, is a Club with many teams ranging from the U6’s through to the First Team. Our most successful side this year has been our U13’s Wolves Team who won their league, many congratulations to the Coaching Team and Players of that side. Football Clubs are not all about Targets or Success, it is about developing players, helping individuals to achieve to their optimum level and we have a whole host of coaches working with players across all age groups, helping them to be the very best that they can. The First Team should be the aim for all players at the Crows but if that isn’t within their grasp, then we must ensure that football is still available to all.
So as one chapter closes another opens and now we plan and prepare for the 2019/20 season and beyond. We have to work hard to ensure that the facilities that we have are the best that they can be. The Alderbrook Recreation Ground and MOD sites both need work drainage wise to ensure that we can play our matches on pitches that do not mirror facilities from a by gone era. 3G pitches offer fantastic playing conditions and allow players to develop skills on a consistent surface. The long term aspiration of the Club continues to be to provide such a facility but this objective must not deflect from the other goals that the Club wishes to achieve. The gap between Junior/Youth and First Team football can be huge for some, not just because of skill but physically some nineteen year old players are not strong enough to make the leap from Junior/Youth to our current First Team level of Step 5 within the FA’s National League Pyramid. The introduction of an U21/Reserve Team will help us to bridge this gap. The Club also needs to build on the excellent work already being done with girls football. We need to develop a road map that will help us to build on what we have, the aspiration being to have a ladies first eleven in the future. These goals will only be achieved if the excellent work at Junior/Youth levels is continued and built upon.
To achieve our ambitions on the pitch we must have a clear plan off of it to ensure that our ambitions are turned to reality. To my mind this is achieved by people, people engaged with the plan for the Club. People that are flexible in their thinking, people who know that all Roads lead to Rome. Our Club motto is “Together We Achieve” and I do not think that any words can better capture this than the picture published with this article. The picture shows a Club we can all be proud of, the First Team celebrating victory in front of our magnificent supporters, joined by the youngsters from our Junior/Youth sides. It also captures a volunteer, ball under arm, collecting the corner flags!
The season may have ended but the journey begins here to turn aspiration into reality.
Come on You Crows.
Clive Maynard, Chairman, Crowborough Athletic FC.