We were pleased to receive another update about the Broadway Bears. We get these from Elaine Ricketts as her grandson, Leo is on the team, and we sponsored their winter kit last year.
As you know, the team has been up and running for just over a year. The first season was amazing, and the team really exceeded all expectations. They only missed being part of the semifinals by 1 point, which was an amazing achievement considering they were losing 10-0 at one point.
Following our last update in March, the team have been busy!
April—The team decided to take on the parents! As you can imagine, that was lots of fun, although some parents took it quite seriously and forgot they were playing against 8-year-olds!
May—The club’s end-of-season party took place at Bescott Stadium Walsall, where each team and its respective team coaches were invited on stage. This was an opportunity to recognise individual and team achievements with awards and recognition.
The coaches, Lee, Andy, and Alex (the new coach) continue to promote the ‘no header’ game as per FA guidelines for grass-roots football due to concerns about Dementia later in life.
June—The Bears participated in the end-of-season games at Great Wyrley as part of the football league. All the teams congratulated each other, shook hands, and were presented with a medal.
June – The Bears coaches organised an end-of-season party for the team at the Broadway, Willenhall, where the coaches presented the team with personalised end-of-season gifts. This included the children receiving a lego gift which depicts their individual shirt numbers. Very cool!
The next season starts in September when the team will be moving into the under-9s, and no doubt, they will excel as they have done in the previous season. The Bears will also move to 7-aside rather than 5-aside as they continue to develop their stills and grow the team. They have also signed three new players to support this: Casper, Jeevan, and Oliver!
July – We are now at the stage of looking at sponsorship for the new season and identification of local businesses. There has been a recent fun day, and there is a proposal for a sponsored car wash; the venue is just being finalised. This is all to create awareness of the Broadway Bears and the importance of grassroots football. We even held a sweepstake on the Euro’s recently to raise further funds, although not the result we had hoped for the winning ticket ‘Spain’ was awarded £50.
There is so much going on; very exciting season for Broadway Bears. We look forward to our next update.