magpies target 6 teams for Germany trip

By Adam Summers Western Gazette 15th June 2006
E-mail adam.summers@westgaz.co.uk

Dorchester Town Youth football Club are planning to

take six of their teams to Germany next May.

The Club’s Vice Chairman Phil Basford is behind the idea, which could see the outfit travel to Lubbecke, which is near Hannover and twinned with the Dorset country town.

Basford said: “We are hoping to take three girls teams and three boy teams there over the spring bank holiday weekend at the end of May. We took two teams over there two years ago and the Germans brought over some sides for our club six-a-side tournament this year.”

“Plenty of people have shown an interest in going but it is in the planning stages at the moment. My counterpart in Germany, Reinhardt Volley, is trying to organise everything over there and we are talking. I hope the trip will come off.”

Basford believes the will be of great benefit to the Magpies’ young players. He said: “When we went two years ago we took the under 14 and under 15 teams and they had a fantastic time. The Germans looked after them very well and our teams played games all over the Lubbecke area for two days.”

“I think it is great taking kids on trips, especially to places like Germany. A lot of them have not been away from home or abroad before and it is great for them to see different cultures and how people live other countries.”

“I would like to expand this idea and organise more trips tour other twin towns - Holbaek in Denmark and Bayeaux in France - but we will have to see how things go.”

Volley said: “We came over to Dorchester last month and enjoyed it very much. That is what I wrote to Phil. We were all full of joy to be there and we hope we can make their trip over to Lubbecke next year just as enjoyable.”

“At the moment we are working on it but we are confident it will go ahead. The problem is that we have no youth hostels in Lubbecke so we have to sort out some accommodation but that should not be a worry.”

Meanwhile, Dorchester Under-11 Girls enjoyed success at a six-a-side tournament held by Poole Town Youth at the Talbot Combined School, Poole.

Magpie’s girl’s secretary Lloyd Spracklen said: “We took three teams to the tournament in Poole and the under - 11s did not lose a game on the way to winning their age group. They faced some tough competition so to do that was a great achievement. Our under-13 girls and under-11 boys also took part and even though they did not win they performed very well.”

“Our under-15 girls took part in a tournament at Colyton in east Devon. They won it and by all accounts played superbly.”

“At the moment the club is Fantastic. We have got four girls’ teams and the boys’ side of things will always continue to grow. Everything is run well and the standard of football being played is superb. A lot of that is down to the Football Association who has ensured that coaches within clubs are qualified to level one at least.”

Annual General Meeting. Dorchester Town Youth Football Club holds their annual general at The Avenue Stadium on Monday 3rd July (7.30 pm).

All officers of the club will be up for re-election. The Magpies have called for all of their age-group teams to ensure they are represented well at the meeting; parents are welcome to attend.

Summer Goal Keeping Coaching. Kevin Lillington has organised two goals keeping coaching days, with Clive Saunders. These will take place on the 4th August and 25th August. To book a place contact Kevin on 01305 268513 during the daytime or 01305 263142 in the evening. The coaching is open to all keepers’ not just DTYFC players.