Block 4 beings this coming Saturday morning for both Saturday Football Club at Wimbledon Park and Future Dons at Kings College London Sports Ground, 10:00am – 11:30am.  The cost is £6 per session, or you can book the whole block of 6 sessions for £30, giving you the equivalent of one session in the block completely free! There is no need to pre-book – you can simply just turn up on the morning.

For more information about both of these sessions, please click on the relevant tabs at the top of this page. We look forward to welcoming you to either Wimbledon Park or Kings College London Sports Ground during Block 4!

February Half Term Holiday Course

Venue:
Wimbledon Park
Revelstoke Road, London, SW18 5NN

Dates:
Monday 13 February – Friday 17 February 2012

Times:
Full Day: 9.30 am – 3.00 pm
Half Day: 9.30 am – 12.00 noon

Prices:
£70 Full Week of Full Days
£50 Full Week of Half Days
£17.50 Individual Full Day
£12.50 Individual Half Day

Booking a full week gives you the equivalent of one day completely free! Alternatively, if you cannot commit in advance, you can turn up and pay on any individual day. To download a booking form, please click HERE.

Both Saturday Football Club at Wimbledon Park and Future Dons at  Kings College London Sports Ground are OFF tomorrow morning. The snow on Thursday night & Friday morning, combined with a predicted overnight temperature of lower than -4C tonight means that the pitches are both currently unplayable and extremely unlikely to be in satisfactory condition tomorrow morning. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

There is set to be a rise in temperature over the weekend, and the half term course will be going ahead as planned. The course starts at 9:30am on Monday morning at Wimbledon Park next week and we hope to see you there!

Often get beaten by your son on football manager? Does your daughter get the football results on her phone before you?

Feel they know more about the internet than you? Think you know how to keep your family safe online?

AFC Wimbledon have teamed up with the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre, to teach families how to keep up with their children online and keep them safe.

The internet is central to all of our family’s lives, it is how we stay in touch, play and learn. But don’t forget, it’s a public place. Whilst it brings many benefits and opportunities, it can sometimes present challenges and as a parent feel a bit overwhelming.

Each year, CEOP celebrates an international day of action called Safer Internet Day (SID). It is used to highlight the importance of educating children and young people about their online safety and this year, AFC Wimbledon are supporting SID and encouraging as many parents, coaches and club Welfare Officers to get on board!

It is just as important to be involved in your children’s life online, as it is offline. Just as you would ask about their friends at school or the clubs they go to, we want parents and those responsible for children, to start asking about the people they meet online, the sites they visit and the things they enjoy.

To help get you started, the CEOP Centre are releasing the ‘Parents’ and Carers’ Guide to the Internet’ - a short, entertaining TV-style programme looking at what it’s like to bring up children in the online world. The programme will help you to:

• Stay up-to-date with the technology your children are using;
• Understand steps you can take to keep your children safe online; and
• Know what action to take and where to seek further support if things go wrong.

AFC Wimbledon and the CEOP Centre are encouraging parents to view The ‘Parents’ and Carers’ Guide to the Internet’ online, which will be available from Tuesday 7 February.

Visit www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents to watch the programme and access information on how to keep your family safe online.

February Half Term Holiday Course

Venue: 
Wimbledon Park
Revelstoke Road, London, SW18 5NN

Dates:
Monday 13 February – Friday 17 February 2012

Times:
Full Day: 9.30 am – 3.00 pm
Half Day: 9.30 am – 12.00 noon

Prices:
£70 Full Week of Full Days
£50 Full Week of Half Days
£17.50 Individual Full Day
£12.50 Individual Half Day

Booking a full week gives you the equivalent of one day completely free! Alternatively, if you cannot commit in advance, you can turn up and pay on any individual day. To download a booking form, please click HERE.

npower Football League  RESPECT Programme for Years 5 & 6

The AFC Wimbledon Community Football Scheme, in partnership with The Football League sponsor npower, is delivering its RESPECT programme in January & February 2012. The programme aims to use young people’s love of football to encourage good behaviour. Working together with all 72 clubs, npower and The Football League Trust are keen to help over 86,000 children in Years 5 & 6 learn about the importance of respectful behaviour in sport and their daily lives. 

We would like to invite Year 5 & 6 pupils from local schools to be involved in our engaging programme.  Our coaches, who are appropriately trained, have enhanced CRB checks and are child protection trained, will deliver a session of up to an hour in duration which will help children learn about respect and related important skills such as teamwork and citizenship to understand how these apply to football and other areas of life.

Details of the RESPECT programme:

Sessions: 1 hour sessions to your Year 5 & 6 class(es)

Cost: Free

Venue: Classroom

Support: One teacher will be required to be present and willing to participate in the sessions

The aims of the RESPECT programme are for children to:

- Identify unacceptable behaviour and its effect on others

- Develop an understanding of respect and how this can be implemented in daily life

- See situations from other people’s perspective

The learning outcomes of the RESPECT programme are:

- Children can understand the consequences of their conduct on others and know that certain types of behaviour are wrong

- Children can appreciate that their behaviour can affect not just themselves but others at school, at home and in the community

- Children can understand that certain behaviour can harm and hurt others

The RESPECT programme’s aims and learning outcomes follow the National Curriculum focussing on PSHE and Citizenship

We are also giving participating pupils the chance to win a set of four Football League tickets (two adults’ and two children’s tickets) to one of our 2012 Football League home games by entering our free prize draw and telling us how they have shown respectful behaviour in their community.  They simply need to complete our RESPECT Homework Activity and you need to send this back to us by 31 March 2012. 

We hope that the above gives you a real flavour of our RESPECT programme in partnership with npower. We think this is an amazing opportunity for schools to be involved in and it’s FREE!

If you know of a school that may be interested in taking part, or if you’d like more information or would like to book a session, please contact the Community Football Scheme office on 020 8974 5712 or by email at communityfootball@afcwimbledon.co.uk .

npower Football League  ‘What’s Your Goal?’ Work Experience Competition for Years 10 & 11

The AFC Wimbledon Community Football Scheme, in partnership with The Football League sponsor npower, will be launching our ‘What’s your Goal?’ competition in January 2012. The aim of the programme is to get students thinking about their personal attributes and qualities, and how these will relate to different careers.  With unemployment figures showing more than one in five young people out of work, we want to get students thinking about the variety of jobs in the football industry and help them to develop their employability skills.

Our coaches will deliver an interactive lesson of up to an hour in duration to pupils in years 10 & 11 in local schools which will help students assess their skills and personal qualities, and give them tips on how to complete a ‘job’ application form.  Participating students will then have the chance to apply for a ‘job’ with us – a 4 day work experience placement during the Easter holidays.  We have a range of exciting jobs for students to apply for including Community Football Scheme Manager & Coach, Centre of Excellence Manager, and Club Secretary.  

Details of our What’s Your Goal? Competition Lesson Plan

Sessions: 1 hour sessions to Year 10 or Year 11 (number of classes to be discussed)

When: During January/February

Cost: Free

Venue: Classroom

Support: One teacher will be required to be present and willing to participate

The learning outcomes are:

- To understand the range of jobs within the football industry

- To understand and identify the variety of skills, knowledge, experience, personal qualities, training and qualifications relating to jobs and those being offered in the competition

- To assess their own skills and personal qualities and appreciate how these would make them more ‘employable’

- To identify strengths and weaknesses in a job application form, so to improve their own application

The outcomes follow the National Curriculum focussing on PSHE: Economic Wellbeing & Financial Capability and OCR GCSE in Applied Business (Single Award) and OCR GCSE in Applied Business (Double Award). Further to this all our coaches are appropriately trained, have enhanced CRB checks and are child protection trained.

We hope the above gives you an insight into the npower What’s Your Goal? Competition.  Please do share this with your school’s Work Experience Co-ordinator.

If you’d like more information or would like to book your place, please contact the Community Football Scheme office on 020 8974 5712, or by email at communityfootball@afcwimbledon.co.uk .

We’d like to take this opportunity to welcome to today’s game all the players who played in the Girls Cup and Kids Cup competitions at Kingsmeadow Athletics Centre, and all those who won on the AFC Wimbledon inflatable shooting game in Wimbledon Town Centre during Winter Wonderland.

The last few weeks have flown by, and this is now our final home league match before Christmas. Since our previous home match against Swindon in mid November there has been plenty to report on! We recently hosted the nPower Girls Cup (Year 7 & 8 girls) and nPower Kids Cup (Year 5 & 6 boys) competions for schools on Monday 28th November and Thursday 1st December.

We were delighted to have 20 different teams from local girls’ high schools entering the Girls Cup, with schools from a total of 6 boroughs involved. The format saw four groups of five teams, with the group winner in each going through to the semi-final stage. All matches, 16 minutes long, were played in a great spirit, and the final saw Cheam High School take on Phoenix High School after 1-0 wins against Holy Cross and St Philomena’s respectively. A single goal for Phoenix midway through the first half proved to be enough in a very close encounter , and they will go on to represent AFC Wimbledon in the regional stage of the tournament that will be played at Selhurst Park in January.

The Kids Cup three days later proved to be another great occasion. There were 21 teams this time (four groups, three of five teams and one of six), and the standard of many of the teams was extremely impressive. The top two teams in each group qualified for the quarter finals, which then followed the traditional knock-out format, and there was drama in nearly every match. St John Fisher, so prolific in their group stage, netted a golden goal winner in the final minute of extra time to defeat Wimbledon Chase, whilst the match between St Peter’s and Wimbledon Park was settled via a penalty shootout, with Wimbledon Park prevailing in sudden death.

In the semi-final stage St Mary’s Carshalton secured their place in the final with a 2-0 victory over St John Fisher in an end to end game, whilst arguably the match of the tournament took place in the other semi-final. Collis School of Teddington netted a late equaliser in the final minute of the 16, courtesy of a superb free kick to level the scores at 2-2 against Wimbledon Park. Extra time failed to produce a winner, so once again penalties were needed. The scores still remained level into sudden death courtesy of a save and miss apiece by each team, but the victory was decided by Collis’ goalkeeper who scored the winning spot kick.

An end to end final, with both teams coming up to having played two hours of football across the day, was once again a great spectacle. Collis’ very neat football was countered by St Mary’s extremely effective play on the counter attack. 0-0 at full time, with both sides so close to snatching a winner on numerous occasions meant that once again extra time would be required, and possibly the lottery of penalties. This time though the match was settled in open play, a quick break from the back and a golden goal scored with two minutes remaining by St Mary’s Carshalton, who will represent AFC Wimbledon in the Kids Cup regional finals at Oxford United in the Spring.

Both tournaments have been very memorable and a big success for the club. There were so many highlights – one stand-out being the enthusiasm showed by St Peters’ teachers, who from the sidelines were as entertaining as instrumental in an amazing 3-2 victory over Collis in the group stages. Charging Jose Mourinho style up the sidelines after both the equalising and winning goals from being 2-0 down showed just how much passion was being shown on the occasion! Another highlight was the superb football played in every match by Collis School which was a pleasure to watch throughout.

Prior to the tournaments taking place, the AFC Wimbledon CFS helped to kick off the festive season in Wimbledon Town Centre. It was fantastic to be a part of Wimbledon’s Winter Wonderland once again this year and the whole event was a great success. The piazza was full of people from the local community enjoying the spectacle, and we were delighted to have so many people taking up the inflatable shooting challenge run by the Community Football Scheme team. A very entertaining mascot dance off on the Piazza got the event under way shortly after 5.00pm, featuring Haydon the Womble, Jimmy Spices’ mascot Chilli, Pudsy the Bear and others. It was justifiably won by our very own Haydon, who showed off an array of superb moves!

Once again, the club had the biggest presence by a long way in the parade, with the first team squad on a float kindly provided by Paul Strank Roofing and about two hundred representatives of the Centre of Excellence and the girls’ teams. The evening finished off with the get-together at Jimmy Spices, which turned into a birthday party for goalkeeper Seb Brown. About 150 Wimbledon fans, players and staff took advantage of the special offer and the restaurant even prepared a thirteen foot long birthday cake for Seb.

All in all a very busy time for the CFS in recent weeks, and so pleasing to look back on events when they have gone extremely well – many thanks to everyone who was involved. Enjoy today’s game, and have a great Christmas!

Both tournaments were played in a fantastic spirit at Kingsmeadow Athletics Centre, with 20 teams entering our Girls Cup and 21 teams in the Kids Cup. Phoenix won their final with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Cheam High School, whilst it took a golden goal in extra time to separate Kids Cup winners St Mary’s from the very impressive Collis School in another 1-0 scoreline. Many thanks to all the schools who took part on what were two very enjoyable days.

The Piazza was full of people from the local community enjoying the spectacle, and we were delighted to have so many people taking up the inflatable shooting challenge run by the Community Football Scheme team. A very entertaining mascot dance off on the Piazza got the event under way shortly after 5.00pm, featuring Haydon the Womble, Jimmy Spices’ mascot Chilli, Pudsy the Bear and others. It was justifiably won by our very own Haydon, who showed off an array of superb moves!

Once again, the club had the biggest presence by a long way in the parade with the first team squad on a float kindly provided by Paul Strank Roofing and about two hundred representatives of the Centre of Excellence and the girls’ teams.

The evening finished off with the get-together at Jimmy Spices, which turned into a birthday party for goalkeeper Seb Brown. About 150 Wimbledon fans, players and staff took advantage of the special offer and the restaurant even prepared a thirteen foot long birthday cake for Seb! The players particularly enjoyed kicking off the festive season with the fans in the heart of Wimbledon.

Thank you to everyone who attended Winter Wonderland 2011 – please see below for some photos from the evening.

We’d like to take the time in today’s programme article to let you know a little bit more about our ‘Future Dons’ football sessions. These take place every Saturday morning during school term time at Kings College London Sports Ground – home of the AFC Wimbledon Junior Academy and Centre of Excellence.

The sessions are age-appropriate for children of any ability in school years ‘Reception’ or ‘Year 1’ – these are the only ages of children that can participate. These age groups are under-5 and under-6, with Future Dons being the earliest feeder into the AFC Wimbledon Youth Development Programme at under-7 level.

Whilst having fun and developing confidence, youngsters who attend will develop their all-round ability with plenty of ball familiarisation. By taking place next to the Junior Academy and Centre of Excellence matches, players (and parents!) can see exactly what it would be like to be playing in the AFC Wimbledon set-up in the future if they have the talent that the club are looking for.

Future Dons gives youngsters the chance to have great fun playing football, but also gives our youth team coaches the opportunity to check out the next generation of possible Wimbledon players. Last season 4 players who attended Future Dons are now playing in this season’s under-7 team. The sessions are the first place Junior Academy coaches will look in order to put together next season’s youngest Wimbledon team.

Centre of Excellence manager Jeremy Sauer is very pleased with the set-up at KCL. “Future Dons has proved to be an excellent first step into our youth teams and last year provided a number of top standard under-7 players. The boys that have come through already possess good habits and the foundation of the skills and techniques that our coaching programme aims to deliver for all youth players”.

We would like to emphasise though that players of any ability are welcome to attend Future Dons. The sessions are all about fun and development – two aspects that go hand in hand for all AFC Wimbledon Community Football Scheme sessions. The two coaches – Richard Veares and Aisling O’Connor – have great experience with these young age groups, always delivering quality sessions that are enjoyed by all involved.

Today has seen the start of Block 2, the second half of the autumn term, after another very successful holiday course at Wimbledon Park. The mostly dry and mild weather was another bonus on a good week for all involved. That course has also concluded our holiday courses for 2011, and the next holiday course will take place during the February half term of 2012. That date may sound very futuristic, but it is only 3 months away!

Finally, we just want to make you aware of a slight change to the schedule on our Girls Cup (Year 8 / under-13 girls) and Kids Cup (Year 6 / under-11 boys) competitions – a change to the dates published in a previous matchday programme. They will now take place on Monday 28^th November and Thursday 1^st December respectively at Kingsmeadow Athletics Centre. If you would like your school’s team to get involved, please encourage the school to let us know as soon as possible – the closing date for entries is Wednesday 23^rd November and more information can be gained by contacting us at communityfootball@afcwimbledon.co.uk or by calling the CFS office on  020 8974 5712.  

Both competitions are free to enter with the national final being played on the pitch at Wembley Stadium! It’s a fantastic opportunity, so make sure your school enters a team!