LARKFIELD YOUTH JUNIORS GENERAL INFORMATION
This is a website all about a really freindly football club in Larkfield. Kent, England, some 4 miles north of Maidstone for boys and girls with special needs/learning difficuties and disablities.
Larkfield Youth Juniors Football Club is part of the Larkfield Football Club which incorporates Larkfield Boys, Larkfield Juniors, Larkfield Youth & Larkfield Girls. In our junior teams, we have 2 age groups, these are under 11s and under 16s. We play regular friendly matches and have lots of fun.
Everyone is very friendly and welcoming to new players and players that have played for us for a long time are basiclly best of friends. Because we train every week, we get to see each other every week and it doesn't take long to get to know people at all. What you have to remember about playing for our team is that there is no pressure to win matches or tournaments because this team was created so that kids with special needs/learning difficulties and disablities got the chance to play football. Because of this nobody expects the team to win. Obviously we try to win as many matches and tournaments as possible because, like any football team, we want to do as well as possible otherwise there is no point in playing if you are not going to try and win. As I say there is no pressure or expectations from other teamates, supporters and parents or indeed from the managers. We play football to enjoy ourselves in a pressure free, safe and fun environment. Our team was started in 1999 because Mo and Sue Sloane had 3 sons, they are called Josh, Tom and Ollie. Josh played for a Larkfield league side and Tom and Ollie were becoming upset because Josh kept coming home with trophies, so Mo and Sue formed this team to give Tom and Ollie the chance to play football. That's how it began.
TRAINING
This team does training every Saturday morning from
10.00am to 11.00am at Larkfield Recreation Ground.
TOURNAMENTS AND MATCHES
Our junior teams play freindly matches against other local special needs teams in Kent. We also play in tournaments in areas like London which are normally all day events. We play against other special needs teams all over the country at these tournaments.
PRICES
There is no price to pay to actully join the club however you have to pay a £1.00 weekly subscription fee at training every Saturday. This weekly subscription fee covers the cost of the kit and the trophies that if you win you are allowed to keep forever.
THIS WEBSITE
This website was started up back in 2002 becuse I had joined Larkfield Youth as a player in 2001. When I joined the club in 2001 I made lots of friends at the club. I loved our team because they had given me the chance to play football and make friends. I wanted to give something back to Larkfield Youth and I had a bit of knowledge about computers, so I decided to form a website. If anyone has any ideas of how it can be inproved then please email here.
HISTORY
Larkfield Youth Football Club is part of the Larkfield Football Club which incorporates Larkfield Boys, Larkfield Juniors, Larkfield Youth and Larkfield Girls. Larkfield Youth Football Club was first started up in June 1999. We started training at Larkfield Recreation Ground in the 1999-2000 season. We didn't play in a league because there were not enough special needs teams in the Kent area to form a league. We played friendlies and even had training sessions run by Chalrton Athletic and Chelsea in the 1999-2000 season. We will always be grateful to Larkfield's old secretary, Ian Greenland for encouraging us to start up back in 1999. Ian Greenland sadly passed away that year after helping at the whole club for many years, he was known as Mr. Larkfield. The reason that the team started was because a couple called Mo and Sue Sloane had 3 sons, they were called Josh, Ollie and Tom. Tom and Ollie were getting upset because Josh played for a Larkfield league side and he kept coming home with trophies. Ollie and Tom wanted the chance to play football so Mo and Sue formed a team that was especially for boys and girls with special needs/learning difficulties and disablities to give them the chance to play football. The team then had a lot of interest in the Larkfield and Ditton area and got a few more players. Since then, Sue has got us listed in the Kent Football Association (The Kent Football Association works with the Kent County Council) and we have had a mention in The Kent Messenger newspaper. We now play in tournaments against other special needs teams which have been in places like Brighton and London and hosted by teams like Charlton Athletic, Brighton And Hove Albion and Wimbledon and we still play friendlies against the same sides several times a year as well. The team keep on inproving every year and we keep getting new players, not just from Larkfield but from areas like Ditton, Lenham, Maidstone, The Medway Towns, Ayesford, East Malling and West Malling. For the first 4 years, we all played as 1 team but for the first time in the 2002-2003 season we formed 1 junior team and 1 senior team as most of the tournaments we played in required this. Up to the current day and our junior teams still play in friendlies against the same teams every year and we still take part in the tournaments.
