DESPITE THE WEATHER’S BEST EFFORTS THE CHRIST COLLEGE SOCCER SEASON HAS GOT OFF TO FLYING START.
With over 30 boys involved in the Senior squad this enables for two full 1st XI and 2nd XI squads who are all raring to go.
In order to make sure the two squads were prepared, training begun with a pre-season soccer camp on a cold January weekend in connection with the Sports Science department at The University of South Wales. Coaches Ian Jeffreys and Craig Gill ran a mixture of lectures, strength and conditioning sessions plus technique and tactics drills which the boys found hugely beneficial. Ian and Craig imparted expert knowledge and the improvement in the way the boys were playing as a team was clear to see by the end of the weekend.
In terms of competitive games, the season started with our indoor House Soccer event which was hard fought and committed as always, with eventual winners Orchard House coming out as deserved victors with some lovely football played. Unfortunately, thus far, we have been unable to begin our first XI campaign with the first match of the season vs Rougemont being cancelled due to a frozen pitch. Our under 14’s did manage to kick off though against Charters School, Ascot with a 2-1 victory. After a disappointing first half display where the team were kept in the game thanks to some wonderful goalkeeping from Steffan J, the boys paid homage to the cliché of a ‘game of two halves’ and showed a spirited second half display to equalise and then win the game thanks to a brace from Will H. This was in no small part down to the team talk and tactical input of coach Mr Lovering.
This weekend saw the inaugural fixture between our 1st XI and an Old Breconians Team. In a typically robust game our 1st XI came out as deserved winners, with Man of the Match and Captain Will P scoring 4 to contribute to an excellent 5-2 score line. Year 11 student John G-E also made the score sheet with an audacious long shot. It was great to see so many Old Breconians returning and showing that the passion for the beautiful game has been long standing at Christ College and continues to grow with bright prospects for the future.