Bowood Sports Ground Closed

Bowood Sports Ground is now officially closed to all users. We are very keen to;-

• ensure all our players take a short rest from football
• ensure our coaches take a break from preparing and running sessions
• ensure the ground has some time to recover from it's constant use
• repair/resurface the entrance to the ground car-park

The ground remains unavailable for training through to week commencing August 14th.

The Club officially recommences it's activity on Saturday 2nd September at both Springfields and Bowood Sports Ground. Training times remain as per last season;-

• U11 - U14: BSG, Saturday 9:00am - 10:30am
• U7 - U10: BSG, Saturday 10:45am - 12:15pm
• Phoenix Squads: Springfields, 10:00am - 11:30am
  

All Coach and Secretary notices are posted to the Club Website and can be found at;-

• http://www.dhufc.org/casnews.html

We will be looking for a few volunteers from the parents of the 11 a-side squads to assist with the erection of the new 3/4 size goal posts. The date is not yet confirmed but very likely to be a Saturday morning. Myself or Pete Weston will send out confirmation of the actual date when we have it. Please encourage a couple of your parents support us with this activity - I reckon no longer than 2 hours for 10 people.

Also, for the 11 a-side squads (we now have 4 of them), the new season will see the provision of a pair of 3/4 size steel, portable goals. The purpose of these is to allow you to set-up training sessions away from the main pitch whilst maintaining the reality of a competition goal. More details on their use later.

For those going away on holiday, I hope you have a safe but exciting time, for those who remain home I wish a peaceful and restful summer. Have a great summer and I'm looking forward to seeing you all when we return to football, refreshed and raring to go in September.

Joga Bonita!

The Club recently took delivery of a new piece of fun training equipment - an inflatable football pitch.

Weighing in at 20kilos and measuring some 8m by 3.5m, the Subbuteo branded pitch takes 3 minutes to erect and inflates within 5 minutes offering players the perfect 1 v 1 environment in which to play the beautiful game.

Since purchasing in equipment in late June, the pitch has been used by several squads on a number of occasions and even made a hugely successful appearance at the Derry Hill Village Fete, where it quickly became the favourite attraction.

The pitch is available for use by all squads and is guaranteed to make a few more outings during evening training before teams move away from Bowood Sports Ground to seek winter training under floodlight.

Any coaches wishing to access the pitch for training contact Alan for a quick health & safety briefing prior to use.

Girls Football Fun Day

Derry Hill United's Girls Football Fun Day held on Saturday 1st July was a great success with many new girls attending the event.

Despite the heat, all the girls enjoyed their chance to emulate their England and Premiership heros at the Club's Bowood Sports Ground venue. The budding footballers took part in a skills session, finishing with a number of high scoring, fast moving, small sided games. Many of the Club's coaches were on hand to offer encouragement, guidance and support to the girls

Alan Crocker, the Club's Chair said "Since receiving our Charter Standard Award three seasons ago we have been actively developing girls football here at Derry Hill. We feel it is important the Club offers a pathway for those girls aged 11 and older who, due to FA rules, are unable to play football with boys. It also offers a valuable opportunity for girls who come to the game late to get started without the added pressure of having to perform at the level of their male counterparts."

Nick Sims, coach of the Under 12's girls continued "Today was about letting girls know what is on offer at the Club. We have had great success since starting the group, and are pleased with the reputation we are building. We finished second in our division this season as well as having several girls selected to represent the Wiltshire Centre of Excellence. We aim to build on that success next season."

Derry Hill United offers football for girls aged 9 to 15. If you are keen to participate in a healthy, exciting and rewarding activity they want to hear from you. The Club can be contacted via email girls@dhufc.org or by phone on 01249 814362.