Mark's Blog

A great finale to the end of term - the children tried really hard and played some great football.

In the Younger Group - Jake Buzzard and Ben McGowan won the Gold Medals and Jake was my man of the match - well done Jake you scored some great goals!!

In the Older Group - the winning team was Harvey Jones (captain), Aled King and Edward Gossage - again this week Harvey had a great game showing great vision and executing some great passes.

Overall my most improved player this term was Daniel Graves - Daniel has been solid in defence but tonight also demonstrated he can pass the ball well and is a threat up front too!!

I hope you all enjoy Christmas and Santa brings you what you wish for - take care and keep playing football,

Mark

The last 12 weeks has flown past and we are once again back to Christmas time.

We finished the term with our traditional end of term tournament.

In the younger group Eleanor Wardle won the Gold Medal and Adam Hitchcock the Silver Medal. I was really impressed with the improvement of both Eleanor and Adam this week - well done both of you!!

In the older group the kids played a knock out tournament - Joseph Delgaudio, Mingwei Lu, Luke Hitchcock and Matt Drury progressed through to the semi-finals.

Matt Drury and Luke Hitchcock both won their semi-finals and progressed into the final.

In the final despite some good tennis from Luke Hitchcock - Matt Drury was the eventual winner. (see photo above of Matt Drury with the trophy)

I hope you all have a great Christmas and look forward to seeing you again in the New Year.

Take care and keep practising your tennis,

Mark

Just a quick blog this evening.

The children spent the first 10 or 15 minutes warming up the same way the professional footballers do at Pride Park. The kids finished the warm up with some sprints - Joe Ellis, Harvey Jones, Matt Verity, Daniel Graves and Matt Luke all showed a good turn of pace.

The lads then moved on to practice their individual skills - before practising their shooting.

There were some great goals by Tom Ginty, Harvey Jones, Joe Ellis and Daniel Graves - well done you guys!!

We finished the lesson with some matches - this week I have chosen two children as my man of the match - Joe Waltons for his brave goalkeeping and Jake Buzzard for his goals.

Next Wednesday is the last week and we will be finishing the term with a football tournament - I look forward to seeing you then.

Take care and keep practising your football,

Mark

We started the evening with some races - to warm up and improve the children's fitness.

Lucas Ashley-Carter ran really well in the second race to secure first place for his team - well done Lucas!!

After the shuttle runs the children practised their forehand and backhand by hitting the ball against the wall. I explained to the children that at home or school they could hit a tennis ball against a wall - they did not need a tennis court or a partner to practice their shots!!

We then moved on to practice forehand, backhand and volleys over a net before having a game of 'catch yourself back in'.

For the last 15 minutes of the lesson - the older children played some games of doubles - this week Luke Hitchcock and Grace Ellis were the undefeated champions.

The younger group finished the lesson with a game of rounders - this week I was really impressed with Lucas Ashley-Carter's forehand shots.

Please note next week is the last week for my tennis coaching and we will be having an end of term tournament.

Take care and enjoy your evening,

Mark

A lovely evening for coaching football - and the kids were fantastic!!

We started the session with a couple of games of tag to get the children warmed up - Joe Ellis won the first game and Fletcher Curtis won the second.

The children then continued the warm up with a ball each while they did their stretches. This week I was really impressed with the individual skills of Ellie Kirk and Edward Gossage.

The children then moved on to practice their passing - the children were encouraged to take two touches; keep the ball on the ground; call a name and pass with the side of their foot.

I then progressed the practice and introduced a defender highlighting the importance of possession in football.

In the matches at the end of the session - I was impressed with the football from: Fletcher Curtis, Matt Luke, Ellie Kirk, Harvey Jones, Aled King, Tom Ginty and Joe Ellis - well done all you guys!!

Well done all of you this evening it was a great session - you all worked very hard.

Keep practising and look forward to seeing you all again next Wednesday,

Mark

Another high energy session - the kids kicked off the lesson working in teams on their fitness and coordination.

The children scored points for their team and at the end of the warm up Luke Hitchcock's team and Matt Drury's team were both winners scoring 51 points.

After practising their forehand and backhand the children spent the remainder of the lesson split into the older and younger group.

The older children played mixed doubles - in the mixed doubles the overall winners were Matt Drury and Grace Ellis (see photo above)

The younger group played 'Kwik Cricket' (Tennis) - in the younger group the overall winners were Connie Burke and Matt Waters (see photo on my Facebook page) who both scored 13 points - well done guys!!

Thanks for another great lesson - take care and enjoy the rest of your evening,

Mark

(The photo is of Joe Ellis and Tom Ginty who turned up early to football training to practice their skills)

This week I was really impressed with the younger players - Matthew Luke showed great pace in the shooting practice - but overall I was most impressed with Adam Graves.

It is great to have Adam Graves back to my football coaching - this evening Adam scored some great goals striking the ball really well - Adam also demonstrated great pace in the matches at the end.

A fantastic effort this week - well done Adam!!

In the older group there was once again some great football from Harvey Jones and Tom Ginty who linked up well in the match and Joe Ellis and Ellie Kirk who played some great passing football.

In the final game Ellie Kirk scored a brilliant left foot shot to secure a 3-0 win for the yellow team.

Well done everyone I really enjoyed coaching this evening - keep practising your shooting - and look forward to seeing you all next week,

Mark

Another great lesson - the kids were all hitting the ball really well!!

This week I was really impressed with Connie Burke and Matt Drury who both demonstrated they had an excellent backhand.

Matt Drury hit some great backhands down the line - and Connie hit some good cross court shots - well done both of you!!

At the end of the lesson the children divided into their teams from last week - this week it was the turn of Joe Dalgaudio's team to bat.

Despite some great shots from Joe Dalgaudio, Luke Hitchcock and Martin Burke - Joe's team did not score enough runs so Mingwei's team were the overall winners - well done you guys!!

This week's most improved player is Eleanor Wardle - it was great to see Eleanor back again and Eleanor played the best tennis I have seen her play (see above for a photo of Eleanor after the lesson)

I look forward to seeing you all next week - take care,

Mark

Welcome to Max Lambert it was his first evening at football coaching - well done Max you showed some great skills!!

After the warm up the kids practised their passing. The children also worked on possession - possession is a very important part of football and something professional footballers spend a lot of time practising.

At the end of the lesson we played some matches - in the matches I was really impressed with Joe Ellis and Harvey Jones.

Overall this week my most improved player goes to Joe Waltons (see picture) - Joe you played your best football this evening - well done a great improvement!!

Please click on the link above and check out my video from half term - Who do you recognise?

Take care this week and keep practising your passing

I look forward to doing it all again next week,

Mark

www.activehomefitness.co.uk

A fantastic start after the half term holiday - and a big welcome to our new lads Matt Drury and Ethan Fox (see photo).

Matt and Ethan you both hit the ball very well - a great first lesson!!

After the warm up using tags the children practised their individual ball skills - before moving on to practice their forehand shot.

The children then played a game of 'Catch Yourself Back in' - before dividing into two teams for the final competition.

In the final game the team captains were Joe Dalgaudio and Mingwei Lu. Mingwei Lu's team went into bat first and scored a combined score of 60 points.

Next week it will be the turn of Joe Dalgaudio's team to see if they can get a higher score.

I hope you all enjoyed this evening - please click on the link above and check out my football video from half term.

Enjoy your evening and keep practising,

Mark
www.activehomefitness.co.uk