Sign In / Register
Junior soccer is off to a flying start at Warkworth Football Club this season, with well over 250 youngsters aged from four to 17 signing up to play every Saturday.
Mornings start with First Kicks and Fun Football, when 150 four to eight-year-olds take to the field at Shoesmith Domain for a hour of warm-ups, training and team play.
Co-ordinator Richard Jones says numbers have almost doubled from last year.
“It’s a lot of kids to control,” he says. “But thankfully I’ve got a good group of volunteers and coaches to help me out.
“We have 12 teams and the pitch size varies according to age, and we have player of the day for each team at the end.”
After that, the older grade teams from Under 9 up to Under 15 take over the fields to play teams from around north Auckland in their Northern Regional Football divisions. This year, there are more than 100 players taking part, Jones said.
New sponsorship from Bedford Homes had meant that players had been provided with their own team hoodie to take home this year.
He said Warkworth was making a big effort to make visiting teams feel welcome this season, with teams providing plates of food for after-match get-togethers. Elemento Café also has a coffee truck at Shoesmith every week and there is a sausage sizzle as well.
Although registration has closed for the junior grades, Jones says anyone with younger children is welcome to bring them along on a Saturday morning to see what goes on and maybe have a go.
Info: admin@warkworthfc.org
