20/09/2026
Hi everyone,
It’s Lauren here, the teams secretary, first aider and general “all other jobs” person 😂 tonight I wanted to take a wee moment to write a post a bit different.
This post isn’t about the team, but the person who made it happen, our head coach Mark.
In 2024, After weeks of getting in his ear, I *finally* convinced Mark we should start afresh and start a team from scratch. That first training session was a cold December 2024 night. 2013 age group had just started 9 a side. That night, we had 7 boys turn up. A few had never played football before. Those first few months of 9 a side were challenging, sometimes we wondered if we made the right choice. But we kept plodding on, knowing that things could change. And lo and behold it did.
We moved to 11-a-side and went all the way to a cup final, 1 year after that first training session. This team has gone from strength to strength and I will always say it’s up to the boys to prove it on the park, but the level of intensity and thought that goes into each one of Marks training sessions is incredible. With his extensive experience working in children’s mental health, he always makes sure that each child is respected and appreciated, never feels under valued and he loves to see them love the game.
Now we are approaching another semi final in less than 2 years since we began.
Volunteering to this extent can be draining, it takes up so many parts of your life that people don’t realise until they do it. Mark has came directly from 12 hour night shifts to come and coach the boys matches and never complains.
He may not notice the impact he’s had, but I do and I think many of our wonderful parent group do too.
So mark, thank you for being the coach to bring this team of boys on in confidence, ability and strength. You are the best 💙🖤
