Riverlution
The winter league finishes and the summer league is soon to begin so here is an update of some changes that will be taking place to improve the set up.
Firstly River Juniors has been seeking guidance and information from the council to enable us to become the most suitable type of organisation possible to meet our demands and aspirations. Paperwork is being submitted and information will follow. It’s taken a long time to get the right guidance to allow us to make an informed decision.
For the last 2 season we have had a lot of trial and error and its been stressful, confusing, conflicting and at times unorganised being pulled in different directions. We now know exactly what we want and what direction we are heading in. I think previously we have tried to be too accommodating and its led to a split way of thinking, we now know our direction and whilst we welcome everyone we have our ideas, beliefs and methods and they are what we will follow.
We are growing so quickly it’s difficult to keep up ourselves! From the Soccer School we will be having 8 to 12 new U7 teams starting in September and looking likely to be a minimum 8 teams per year.
Based on that growth its difficult to manage and would like to introduce Stephen Sullivan who has joined Michael and I, he will be involved in a lot of the organisational side of what we do to allow Michael & I to concentrate on the coaching which as many people know is actually 7 days a week now. He has been attending sessions and introducing himself and we’ve had a meeting every other week for 3 or 4 months to enable us to generate a structure that helps the football, organisation and growth.
At this point, feels awkward and strange to write, I’d like to confirm Michael isn’t just a coach he is an integral part of the organisation, we do this together, so hopefully everyone is aware of that to save any awkward moments. I may be more prominent in person who has a lot of the interaction at the club but that’s just followed on from how it used to be but the reality is we both do our share to make this work. Stephen comes onboard from Holy Rosary Football Club, has years of experience at grassroots football and isn’t obsessed by coaching like Michael and myself. Stephen enjoys watching the games, sessions and discussing it with parents whereas Michael and I want to coach as much as possible. We all have a variety of strengths coming together.
We won’t pretend everything has and does run smoothly but when we provide so much football for so many kids without a full time team some things have to take a back seat. Coaching, teams and a belief in how football should be is our priority and doesn’t leave a lot of time for us elsewhere in football or personal life. Our organisation and social side of the club could improve and Stephen joining us will allow that to happen.
This summer we also part ways with our Wirral side, they’ve had an opportunity to help them grow and decided to take it. They’ll be Poulton Victoria Youth, there has been no fall out and we still share the same views and will continue to support each other when required. I’d like to thank Peter, Tony, Steve, Emma and Simon for believing in the River Juniors project and building something that follows our beliefs and values regardless of a name. This is not a criticism of their decision but I can confirm we have no plans to play under any other club, we are a massive club in our very own right and we will have many things coming in the future to prove it.
Finally to end the chapter of the Wirral connection and embrace the future of the club with a new organisation structure we have had a new badge created by Barry and his team created at Colour Create. The original badge was chosen by more people who are not at the club than are and to bring in what will be our final organisational structure we thought it would be a good idea.
We appreciate many people still have the old badge etc and we aren’t worried by this, it will just be any future clothing, logos, leaflets etc will contain the new badge. Please don’t complicate this by worrying over it, its just a logo that will phase out the old one as and when required.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and continuing to be part of the #Riverlution