With the new season now underway for most, it’s a very busy time here at Northumberland FA and there’s plenty of exciting news for me to get through in this week’s column.

The first of which is a fantastic opportunity for our county’s grassroots coaches to take in some expertise from The FA’s Pete Sturgess, who will be delivering an FA Foundation Phase DNA Workshop at Ashington CFC on Monday 1 October.

As well as a presentation focusing on the Foundation Phase DNA, a series of age-specific sessions will be delivered which will benefit all coaches, especially those entrusted with the development of our youngest players.

This promises to be a hugely insightful evening and I’d encourage all coaches in Northumberland to come along, so please CLICK HERE to book your place.

Next up is details of an event we’re all excited for here at Northumberland FA - our 2018 charity golf day. Taking place at Close House Golf Club, which expertly hosted our Pitch Improvement Conference earlier this year, the day will include breakfast, 18 holes of golf, competition entry and dinner, with all proceeds going towards North East Hearts with Goals and to grassroots football development.

Spaces are limited, so please contact Andrew.Cook@NorthumberlandFA.com as early as possible to book your place.

In other news, we recently hosted a series of trials for our 2018/19 Representative Side at Whitley Park. As always, there was some outstanding talent on show, and the team’s manager, Kane Wears, now has the difficult task of choosing which of those players will be invited back to train with the squad ahead of the new campaign. To read Kane’s thoughts on the two sessions, please CLICK HERE

Before I finish, I’d just like to mention two exciting announcements that have been released by The FA this week. As well as announcing a new vision for the future of Walking Football - titled ‘Stepping Out’ – a new, three-year equality, diversity and inclusion plan has also been launched.  They’re three words we align closely to our work here at Northumberland FA, so it’s great to see The FA launch a new strategy to ensure the highest level of the game is accessible to all, regardless of gender and ethnicity.

Enjoy the rest of the week and best of luck in your games this weekend.

John.

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