Wow, it doesn't seem that long ago that a team from our Fundamentals group took part in the last of three indoor Sportshall League meetings and performed rather well. For the under 11s it was our first foray into the indoor season and with only three meetings to prove ourselves the pressure was on from the start. But as I always say the only pressure we should feel in competition is 15lbs/in² at sea level. The athletes really enjoyed tackling new events including standing triple jump, push throw, high stepper and those relays! Obviously as we were in our first year, we were not expecting to set the World on fire, or even Cheltenham.

However, our team did win plaudits from the organisers and other teams, some of whose managers told me personally how impressed they were with our performance. During the presentations at the last meet, where the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place Boys and Girls teams and athletes came from almost the same club I did explain to our athletes that those kids had been here before, competing many times before, and they had the opportunity to practice the events too.

Therefore now we've had a taste of it and we now know what to expect in terms of competition, I fully expect our athletes this year to come back stronger and better prepared to leap up that leader board from a very creditable 5th place (out of 8 teams) for the Girls and 6th place (out of 8 teams) for the Boys. Especially commendable considering we never fielded a full team for any of the meets, just imagine what we'll do this year with full teams! Bear in mind too, that Cheltenham fielded four teams and Yate two. So, I'll be looking for budding athletes to join the team from last year to take us to that next level. Who knows, with a little extra help, we might even be able to take U13 and U15 teams too?

A big thanks should go to the athletes of course, and equally big thanks to the parents for getting up early on a Sunday and some of whom also helped with officiating and time keeping, not an easy but very essential task to keep these events going. Also, to Jon Hughes for filling in for me as Team Manager for the second meet, even if I did send him to the wrong side of the venue! For Steve Sparkes for volunteering me to manage the team, I did enjoy it Steve, so nice one. Finally, the club for assisting with fees and T-shirts for the athletes to compete in. I hope to have many more athletes to choose from this year.

The photo's show the teams from the first and third competitions, apologies about my midriff, I'm working on it!

Martin Smith
U11 Sportshall Team Manager