Club Chairman Al Tindall speaks to carlislefutsal.com on a successful season and plans for 2018/19.
It has been another excellent year for the Club.
Once again we’ve grown our academy programme in line with the plans we set out at the start of the season establishing u6, u7 and u10 squads and have strengthened the squads we already had in place with several new members joining. This success has partly been down to the fact we now have a regular games programme for all the teams including league competition, friendlies and tournaments.
We have completed our first trip abroad competing in the Futsal World Cup in Barcelona winning the Silver Cup. A hugely enjoyable and educational experience which has left us with a thirst for more.
The usual challenges around facility hire haven’t been as prevalent. We were able to donate a set of Futsal goals to Caldew school which opened up another venue for us to use meaning we could expand into delivering sessions midweek which has enabled growth.
Our biggest success this year has been the strengthening of our coaching team with top Futsal coaches Robbie Elliott and Phil Codd re-joining us after spells living away from Carlisle and Jose Sanchez’s appointment as head coach of the u12/13 squad. Their return to the Club has been complemented by the recruitment of a number of coaches new to the sport but each with the qualities required to become top CFC coaches. This recruitment takes our coaching team up to 14 now. We will continue with our organic growth policy and afford them the time over the coming seasons to learn the sport and develop into whatever roles they wish to take on as we shape the Club over the coming seasons.
Growth plans
The goal of our Futsal Academy programme is to create a generation of English Futsal talent that can go on and represent the Club at the highest levels of domestic competition. In the future this means playing for our adult teams which we plan to form again at some point soon. On June 1st we will open our first performance centre outside of Carlisle as we expand into West Cumbria. This is a real milestone for the Club and is great news for people in that area who can benefit from the knowledge our coaching staff bring. In the coming 12 months we will also be launching pre-academy sessions as we aim to bring our unique Futsal fun introduction to 3-6 year olds in Carlisle.
For us to realise our long term goal we will be focusing on the academy teams we have in place in Carlisle whilst growing our presence in West Cumbria. Our focus for the players in our academy programme will be to continue to guide them so that they can realise their full potential in Futsal.
Competition
There will be limited local matches for our teams as we steer away from playing grassroots football Clubs. We dont get much from these games and with lots of Futsal academies around now our games programme has become really busy. Half of our squads have this season taken part in the Academy Futsal League a Junior National League competition which has been a huge success. Next season the squads that missed out this year will get the chance to experience that. The second season of the AFL will launch in September and it looks like there are more divisions to be added which means promotion and relegation will become a factor and will add to the excitement on a match day.
Season Schedule
For the 2017/18 season we introduced a season schedule which aimed to identify designated ‘match’ weekends with the aim of allowing all parents to plan in advance. The success of this has been hit and miss with lots of date changes as we have relied on facilities, opponents and competition organisers to help with hitting the planned dates. We will be seeking your feedback on whether the schedule was useful in our usual end of season survey before we decide on whether to issue the same for the 2018/19 season.
Kit Deal
Our previous deal with Nike expired this month, we had been benefitting from a 25% discount on RRP of Nike products. I am pleased to announce that we have just signed a new 4 year deal with Nike which provides Club members with a further 5% off meaning you now get 30% off the RRP of Nike goods from our online Club shop. All Club kit can also now be ordered direct from our online shop delivered straight to your door which is much quicker than the system we had in place last season.
End of Season Break
Last season we introduced our first ever Summer break in June and whilst everyone missed playing we found that the players came back after the break raring to go. The 4 weeks off also allowed us as a coaching team to plan for the coming season and squeeze in some coach development opportunities on coaching courses and clinics. This year we will be doing the same and closing the academy for the whole of July as this is when most members seem to take their holidays. It also ties in nicely with the shut down period of the rest of the Futsal community.
Membership Fees
Our membership fees have been fixed at £20 per month since the academy re-launched 2 years ago. We will be fixing our annual fees at 12 monthly instalments of £20 at least until the end of the 2019/20 season. Fees will still be payable during the shut down period in July. As a not for profit organisation we are able to put all money raised directly back into the Club and Futsal funding growth through equipment purchase, hosting events, player and coach development.
Sponsorship
We were delighted to agree a deal with Howdens Joinery Kingstown in January to become our new Club sponsors. Their financial support will allow us to deliver some innovative local competition activity next season. Watch this space on that one.
Partnerships
Our link with Carlisle Uniteds Football Academy has gone well with both Clubs working together to ensure talented young players are able to play both sports. One of the other challenges we have faced in previous seasons has been from professional Football Club Academies signing our players and parents not knowing whether their child playing Futsal is an issue. The simple answer is yes they can still play Futsal and that is why we signed the agreement with Carlisle United. Carlisle Futsal Club offers its own elite pathway into a professional sport and there is room for both Football and Futsal.
The 2018/19 season will be just as good as this year. We have big plans and a reputation for delivering so keep a look out on CarlisleFutsal.com and our social media channels for all of our news!
Thank you to you all for your continued commitment and support.
#thisisours
Al Tindall
