HEMEL HEMPSTEAD TOWN YOUTH FC

Dennis Berkamp Attends Hemel Hempstead Town Youth Football Sevens Tournament

Hemel Sevens Tournament
Weekend 12th & 13th July
At Astley Cooper School

Hemel Hempstead Town Youth Football Club organised a 7-a-side tournament at Astley Cooper School. Over the weekend we had 181 teams (1629 children) compete at ages from Under 7 to Under 14 for both boys and girls.

This has been the biggest tournament the club has ever done and it brought teams in from as far as Berkshire, Surrey, London, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

On the Sunday the tournament was attended by Dennis Berkamp whose son was playing for Hadley Rangers. Dennis kindly chatted with parents and children after his sons team had finished all there games and posed for photographs. He kindly posed for a photo with organisers/staff of the event and referees.
From Left to right – George Kelly, Shane Wood, Wayne Cole, Keith Lanchbery, Paul Higgins, Dennis Berkamp, Billy Stanbridge, Stacey Austin-Hiett, Tracey Armstrong, James Bates, Chris Brooks (Chairman).

Most clubs run 5 or 6-a-side tournaments on tiny pitches but we have opted to do 7-a-side on 60 by 40 metre pitches and get more players playing football.
This is not possible at many venues within Hemel Hempstead which makes Astley Cooper school ideal for this event with its large sports fields and facilities on site.

We also want to encourage both boys and girls to play passing football so as part of the rules the goalkeeper cannot kick the ball out of his hands and this has worked very well.

We ran 13 different age groups, 6 on Saturday (Odd numbers) & 7 on Sunday (Even numbers). With also over 2000 spectators attending the event there was plenty of entertainment with Bouncy castles , football speed tunnel , football shooting along with a BBQ, refreshments, ice cream and candy floss.

With the weather dreadful during the week before the tournament and on the friday whilst setting up it looked like it was going to be a wet event. But with only a couple of showers on Saturday this did not dampen the enthusiasm of the spectators or players and on the Sunday the weather was outstanding.
The football played on both days was great to watch and played in a great spirit. In the Under 7's age group there were a number of teams that had never played a competitive game before. Our club had 3 such teams in this age group and one of these teams got to the quarter finals only to lose 1-0 to our own more experienced side. That was a great achievement and experience for the players who took part.
All the teams from Under 7's to U9's all went home with a medal for participating in the tournament.

All the age groups were tight & competitive. This was born out by there being 12 penalty shoot outs to decide who advanced to the next stage of the competition. In one group in the U14 age group there was only 1 game that was won, all the rest were draws.

I must say a big thankyou to the Referees who took part. They did a great job and also to all the members of the Club who helped organise and helped out over the weekend to make this tournament a great success. The comments we received from the Clubs that took part make it all worthwhile.
The Tournament will be back again next July 2009 and will be an annual event.

Final Results
Under 7’s – Abbots Youth A won 1-0 against Acorn Raiders
Under 8’s – London Maccabi Lions won 1 – 0 against Croxley Guild
Under 9’s – Cuffley Tornadoes won 3 – 0 against Cassiobury Rangers A
Under 10’s – Tornado JSC won 1 – 0 against Chorleywood
Under 10 Girl’s – Enfield Ladies A won 1 – 0 against Enfield Ladies B
Under 11’s – Bletchley Youth won 1 – 0 against Wealdstone B
Under 11 Girls – Berkhamsted Raiders A won 1 – 0 against Ruislip Rangers
Under 12’s – Chase Side Youth A won 2 – 0 against Potters Bar
Under 12 Girl’s – Ruislip Rangers won on penalties 3 – 2 against St Albans Rangers
Under 13’s – AFC Newbury won 1 – 0 against Hammer Youth A
Under 13 Girl’s – Panshanger won on penalties 2 – 1 against Lee Valley
Under 14’s – Belmont won 1 – 0 against Harrow St Marys A
Under 14 Girl’s – Enfield Town ladies won 2 – 0 against Beecholme Belles

Hemel Hempstead Town Youth is a FA Charter Development Club and has also just become charity registered. The Club are actively looking for players ,teams and coaches at all age groups for both boys and girls. If you are interested in joining the Club then please contact Club Chairman, Chris Brooks on 01442 263946.