Tramore AFC

Early Morning Training

(Some of the 1999 and 2001 kids that took part in the morning sessions with coaches)

Tramore AFC continue to lead the way in their dedication to the development of young footballers at the grounds of Graun Park. For the 2011/12 season the coaching committee of Tramore AFC decided that we would go ahead with an early morning training session to help maximise the contact time we have with our players. We put no onus on any player to attend these sessions and made them completely voluntary. To begin we put in place a 6 week block of morning sessions to finish on October 12th, with two sessions per week. One was for kids born in 1999 and 2001 and the other session was for kids born in 2000 and 2002. The response from not only the players but the parents and coaches alike was fantastic. Each morning there were no less than 15 kids in attendance.

However football was not the only thing we offered the kids and parents. We also allowed kids to turn up for the 7am session with their gear and school uniform. We would then give the kids breakfast and when changed for school we would drop them there in plenty of time for their first lesson. This also proved to be a succesful initiative for kids and parents who may be tight for time with other kids to prepare for school. The kids were served up cereals and juice in the committee room that doubled as a makeshift canteen on both Tuesday and Wednesday mornings where many topics of conversation were held (although not a lot school related). On the final morning the parents of the 2000 and 2002 kids organised for them to be fed a hot breakfast which included sausages and the likes (not one that we would reccomend on a regular basis for the kids!!) A big thank you must go to those parents for thie proactive approach towards these morning training sessions.

(Kids from the 2000 and 2002 age groups enjoying their breakfast before a hard days work at school)

The club would like to thank firstly the parents of every child that attended the morning trainings as they were under no obligation to do so and many had to have other kids dressed, fed and readied for school. Your role in the development of your kids is greatly appreciated from the coaches at Tramore AFC. We would also like to thank the players themselves who have had the chance to recieve more time on the training ground to develop as players and this can only be a good thing. Finally Tramore AFC would like to thank the coaches who give up their time to be down well in advance to ensure we can offer these kids a top quality service each morning. Coaches inlcluded Tommy Griffin, Deckie Howlett, Johnny Browne, Mickey Condron & Gary Hunt. The morning sessions will commence again after the new year and when the harsh weather eases up on us although some might say it never does !