WHAT WE DO

The committee spends much time thinking about and discussing ways to improve the club for everyone. Sometimes these improvement are driven by maintenance and regular events like bills, and things that need fixing or new thnigs are needed to allow us to offer new services or meet new rules defined by The FA.

The committee provide management and operational supervision for all club activities and facilities. This includes utilisation of pitches, ordering stock, supplying kits, organising maintenance, facilitating between FA, Leagues and Teams, working with partners and neighbours, and keeping the club functioning for the season.

The club committee provides administrative support for players and teams playing various leagues. We manage all the required relationships, communications and activities with Bedfordshire FA and every League Organisation that impacts our teams. We also deal with disciplinary issues, officials and other coordination functions.

Safeguarding and welfare is an intrinsic part of our committee's responsibility. We work with safeguarding teams from Bedfordshire FA and The FA to ensure that our players, coaches and parents are kept safe at all times and work to resolve any identified issues and implement best practices required by The FA, NSPCC and Childline.

Since we have our own dedicated football centre, we invest a considerable amount of time, effort and money to keep the facilities in good condition and safe for all of our visitors. We sometimes find opportunities to make improvements, such as our new concrete and slab outdoor patio area and new furniture for our tea room.

Nothing comes close to the feeling of playing on natural grass. We are lucky to have several grass pitches of our own and ensure that we keep them in top condition. A large portion of the annual site cost relates to the maintenance of our pitches. We maintain our pitches to GMA and FA standards with regular re-seeding, cutting and rolling.

How many footballs get "lost" or damaged beyond repair every year is incredible. We regularly purchase hundreds of footballs at the beginning of every season, along with a wide range of other coaching, medical and safeguarding equipment, to ensure that our teams get the best training available. This includes goals and goal nets.

Our site at Tilsworth is over thirty years old, and our building is over fifteen years old. Both require a routine of constant assessment, remediation and updates to ensure that they remain safe to the standards expected by The FA and Football Foundation. We have a dedicated facilities manager responsible for the site.

Teams, players and coaches require clothing, and we work to ensure that our teams get the best. Each player receives a numbered match kit and older teams will also get a training kit if desired (normally covered by sponsors). Teams also have the ability to source kit bags, caps, jackets, waterproofs, tracksuits and even water bottles.

Our clubhouse has a newly refurbished and re-furnished tea room which offers a range of hot and cold drinks, hot food and general snacks suitable for young footballers. This facility is managed by committee members and volunteers from our parent group for the benefit of all visitors. On the colder winter days, a hot drink can be a big bonus!

In addition to supporting and promoting PDP courses offered by The FA and Bedfordshire FA, our senior coaching team will also aim to provide training and coaching guidance to continuously develop our team of coaches' experience, skills and capabilities. Our commitment to improving coaching standards is well recognised in the region.

In support of our strategy of regular inward investment, we support our coaches to gain their coaching and other badges. This isn't just for adults. We will often sponsor our older players (16+) into their coaching and refereeing qualifications. This benefits the club as we gain access to a growing pool of FA-qualified people to support our club.

Of course, we are a youth football club so at the heart of what we do - indeed, everything else we do leads to this - is the high level of professional coaching which is provided to players and teams. We encourage all of our coaches to continue their learning and development in practical ways and offer our junior coaches support from senior coaches..

Last but not least, our facility regularly plays host to numerous external events on an annual basis, including charity and local school sports events. This is in addition to the internal events that we organise for our players, teams and families to socialise and enjoy various football-related events. We also use the site for external training.