Forres Area Soccer 7s

Football for boys and girls regardless of their ability.

Main Club Sponsor Aaron’s Groundworx Renewed For Another 3 Years!

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With the new season well underway we would like to take this opportunity to
announce that Aaron’s Groundworx of Forres has renewed their main club sponsorship
with us for another 3 years.

When asked why he wanted to continue the sponsorship with Forres Area Soccer
7’s, Aaron said ‘The club provides an excellent opportunity and facilities for
all the local kids, it was an easy decision to renew the sponsorship. Everyone
at the club do so much for the kids, it is great to see and to be a small part
in the club really means a lot to me.’

Aaron also added ‘The real unsung heroes are the volunteers that give up so much
of their spare time. I give some money for sponsorship and advertising but all
the volunteers do so much more for the benefit of all the kids.’

Paul Lynch the club Chairman said ‘It is fantastic that Aaron has renewed
the sponsorship with us, to have this amount of support from local companies is
just incredible. As we are a registered charity, sponsorship from local
companies is pivotal for us to be able to provide football to children aged 4-16
years old.’

Aaron’s Groundworx undertake a wide range of work, including ground
clearance, drainage, concreting, house foundations, driveways, and gardens.
Contact details can be found in our sponsors tab.

Registration Update!

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The club would like to thank everyone who has registered for the 2023 season, we have been overwhelmed with the amount of numbers so far. Due to the large numbers in the Super 5s & Junior 7s age group, we have had to take the decision to close the registration for these 2 age groups, with immediate effect. If your child attended the Skills Day but haven’t yet registered them, don’t worry they have been allocated a team so please contact the club and we can arrange the registration.

We will however be able to start a waiting list for anyone who wishes to possibly attend in the future. If you haven’t registered and you would like your child to be added to the waiting list, please email office@forres-soccer7s.co.uk with your child’s name, D.O.B, and leave your contact details.

Registration will stay opened for the Developmental 4s & Senior 7s sections.

If anyone has any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Kind regards

Paul Lynch

Chairman

Forres Area Soccer 7s

Start of the 2023 Season

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The start of the 2023 season is just around the corner, with all age groups playing on Sunday 5th March.

Don’t worry there is still time to register, click the ’join the club’ tab in the drop down menu above.

Skills Day – 19th Feb 2023

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We are delighted to announce that the Skills Day for the:

Super 5s (7-9 year olds)

Junior 7s (10-12 year olds)

Senior 7s (13-16 year olds) 

Will be held on Sunday 19th Feb, kickoff 11:00. Please arrive 15/20 mins before to arrange into teams. 

The season will the start 2 weeks later on Sunday 5th March. This will then include the Developmental 4s (4-6 year olds).

Registration is now open for the 2023 season.

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We are pleased to announce that the registration process is now open for the 2023 season. Following on from another fantastic season, with over 300 children registered, we hope to continue to grow the club in 2023.

Next year will also be the clubs 30th year anniversary and we have a lot of events in the pipeline to help celebrate.

The club is also delighted to be in a position to freeze the registration prices with the Developmental 4s @ £20 and the Super 5s – Junior 7s – Senior 7s @ £30 for the whole season.

We will also be continuing to offer free places to children who are in receipt of free school meals as well as refugees who have relocated to the area.

You can register on our website by clicking the ‘Join the Club’ tab and follow the simple steps. Once registered you will receive an email but there will also be more information released before the start of the season. The season will run from Feb – Oct, starting with the ‘Skills Day’, this is only for the 5s & 7s, the date has not been set yet but will be in Feb.

The season will start 2 weeks after the ‘Skills Day’ (including the Developmental 4s) this allows the club time to arrange players into their teams as evenly as we can. Once the teams have been organised we will pass on all the contact details to the coaches who will then be in touch to give you more information.

As the club grows year on year we are always looking for volunteers to help coach the players or you can be part of the amazing team in the ‘Halftime Grill’ serving hot cold & drinks, snacks and hot filled rolls. If you are interested in volunteering please contact the club.

From all at Forres Area Soccer 7s we look forward to seeing you all again for the 2023 season.

Kind regards

Paul Lynch

Chairman

Forres Area Soccer 7s

Team Sponsor Renewal

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Forres Area soccer7s are delighted to announce that Moray Firth Credit Union have renewed their Team Sponsorship.

Due to a name change from Forres Area Credit Union, the local Credit Union decided to take out a new sponsorship deal, a year early.

The Chair of the Moray Firth Credit Union, Lorna Creswell said ” Moray Firth Credit Union (formerly Forres Area Credit Union) has sponsored a Forres Soccer 7’s football team for many years as we felt it was good promotion and at that time we had savings clubs in Primary schools. We all want healthy bairns that keep as active as possible in sports and for them to learn about Money and saving for their ‘goals’ a new bike or computer or a ski trip. Credit Unions are Savings & Loans Co-operatives and owned and run by members. Regular good savings habits we encourage and being part of a team…… parents may want to borrow if they take out memberships too!

Soccer7s Chairperson, Paul Lynch added “It is fantastic to have such great support from local companies, such as Moray Firth Credit Union who have renewed their sponsorship contract with us. Due to them rebranding they took the opportunity to bring forward their sponsorship a year which allowed us to have new strips with their new logo.”   “We will be looking to renew our sponsorship agreements with the rest of our sponsors at the end of this season, with all new strips ready for the 2023 season.

Pictured is the Moray Firth Credit Union Super5s Team with their new tops. Next year, we plan for the kids to wear their new full strips.

If you would like anymore information about Moray Firth Credit Union, then please click on the link and it will take you to their website Home – Moray Firth Credit Union

A huge year coming up for Soccer7s, where we will be celebrating our 30th year and all the rest of our sponsorships will be up for renewal.

Soccer7s Tour of Vienenburg 2022

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Forres Area Soccer7s 2022 visit to Vienenburg

WOW!!!!!! What an amazing week we have had.

20 of our players, ranging from the ages of 7 to 16 and 12 adults made the trip to our Twinned Town of Vienenburg in Germany.

7 x Super5s (7 to 9-year-old)

8 x Junior7s (10 to 12-year-old)

5 x Senior7s (14 to 16-year-old)

The 12 adults were made up with coaches and parents.

A massive thank you to The Berry Burn Community Fund for giving Soccer7s a £4000 grant, James Jones & Sons Ltd for supplying the players with tracksuits, Thomson Tyres for supplying our Junior7s team and Lossiemouth Garage for supplying our Super5s team.

Plus, a huge thank you to everyone else who supported our trip.    

The Journey

We left Grant Park at 0145 on a Kineil Coach, quick pick-up in Elgin and the 32 of us are on the coach, ready for the 11-hour journey to Vienenburg. 

The journey went according to plan, which was surprising due to the cancellations and delays that had been happening all over Europe.  Funny thing was, we arrived at Amsterdam Airport, got off our aeroplane and took the 30 min journey to the Airport Terminal, back through Passport Control and then back onto the same aeroplane we went off.  Obviously, there must be a reason, we just found it very funny.

Met by our hosts, Martin (Mayor of Vienenburg) and Sven with 4 minibuses, we started the last leg of our journey from Hannover to Vienenburg.   

Monday

Lunch/Walk around Vienenburg

We were greeted by our old friend Anni at the Youth Centre.  Anni and Sven were part of the team that hosted us on our previous visit in 2017. 

After some lunch at the Youth Centre and the bed spaces dished out, Anni took us on a guided tour of Vienenburg.  Must have been about 28 degrees, amazing weather. 

Luckily Martin had arranged for all of us to get ice cream at the ice cream shop to cool us down. 

Come Together/Ice Breaker Games

For dinner on the first night, we had a BBQ at the youth Centre, where the Soccer7s players met the players from JSG Harly for the first time. We played some ice breaking games that were organised by Martin Sanger, one of the JSG Harley coaches.

Tuesday

Meet Lord Mayor of Goslar/Tour of Goslar

With everyone feeling refreshed, it was time for Day 2.  Minibuses into Goslar, it was time to meet the Lord Mayor Urte Schwerdtner.  She spoke with our group for about half hour before a lady called Dagmar took us on a guided tour of Goslar.

Open Air Swimming Pool

After some lovely German/Turkish Kebabs, it was time to get our swimming gear on and head to Vienenburg’s Outdoor Swimming Pool.  The kids and adults loved this, although people were complaining that the ground was too hot for their feet.  Haha

Dinner at Sports Pavilion with Kickabout

Another of our old friends Tina, provided our dinner for the evening at the Sports Pavilion.  As JSG Harly’s football season was now finished, we were unable to use the pitch until Friday Night, so the kids got to train and play football around the outside of the pitch. 

6 of the Adults got the chance to go to the Night Time Funfair.  Don’t worry, it wasn’t as it sounds.  Basically, the funfair is only open to adults that night.  Kids get to go on Wednesday.

Wednesday

Lake/Sports Games

Another scorching day in Deutschland, after breakfast we went a half hour walk to the lake and played some games and relaxed before heading back to the Youth Centre for some Bratties on the BBQ. 

Kids went to Funfair

In the afternoon, everyone got the chance to go to the Funfair.  We were met at the entrance by Sven Schneider and Martin Muller from Schutzen and Volkfest Goslar who gifted our young people tickets to get on the rides as well as ice cream and candy floss. 

Dinner at Sports Pavilion with Kickabout

Evening activities included dinner at the Sports Pavilion followed by more exciting football. 

Thursday

Swimming at Goslar due to rain

Sadly, woke up to rain this day.  We were meant to go a hike and then go to the summer toboggan run and cable cars.  Unfortunately, it was too wet for this, luckily Martin managed to make a phone call and get us booked into the Indoor Swimming Pool in Goslar. A big thank you to the manager of the pool, Sascha Feier.  We spent a good 3 or 4 hours in here, with the diving board getting used extremely well. They even fed us very tasty chicken nuggets and chips.

Pizza Party

Thursday Night was Pizza Party Night.  It was due to get held at the Vienenburg Lake, unfortunately due to the rain, it had to be moved to the Sports Pavilion.  4 or 5 different types of Pizza, they just kept coming!!  Not sure there were many pizzas left in Vienenburg.  Haha  

Friday

Rammelsberg Mine

Back to lovely weather on Friday.  We were at the Rammelsberg Mine for 0930hrs where we got a tour of the mine by Dr Jurgen.  He was a very good tour guide who had been on holiday in Scotland a few times.  Luckily, we don’t go down mines in this day and age.   

Hahnenklee Cable Cars and Toboggan Run

We went straight from the mine to the Cable Cars and Toboggan Run that we could not do the previous day.   Everyone loved this, think the kids would have spent the whole day on the Taboggan Run if they could. 

For lunch, we got to eat in the restaurant at Hanenklee, where some of us chose to eat an unbelievable burger.   Mmmmmmm delicious. 

FOOTBALL

After an extremely busy day, it was time to play all our Football Matches.  

5pm was the Super5s kick off, the team was

Super5s – 7- to 9-year-olds sponsored by Lossiemouth Garage

Rory Lynch

Samuel Herbert

Josh Proctor

Verity Judd

Lucas Bain

Forbes McFadden

Olly Hizzett

Ezra Bain was the coach

A very entertaining game, 15 mins each way.  Our players are not used to playing on a bigger pitch, with bigger goals.  The game finished 3 – 3, with goals from Samuel, Lucas and Olly.

The video of the game is available on the Soccer7s Facebook Page.

Next up was our Junior7s team sponsored by Thomson Tyres

Junior7s 10 – 12-year-olds

Callum Kippax

Casey Thomson

Neala McFadden

Olly Milton

Jack Moore

Ayden Trevenna-Roy

Jonathan Herbert

Elliot Watt

Coach was John Ritchie

The video of the game is available on the Soccer7s Facebook Page.

Another entertaining game which was played 20 mins each way.  The score line of 5 nil does not reflect the performance that the Junior7s put in.  They were playing against a very good team of 11 to 13-year-olds.  First half ended 2 nil, it was very close and could have gone either way. Think the fact that JSG Harley had a few more subs that the Junior7s helped them as well. 

Then we had the Senior7s 14 – 16-year-olds played with the Berry Burn Community Fund logo on their shirts

Lewis Smith

Finlay Wallace

Ethan Lynch

Corin Milne

Josh MacDonald

Scottish Finn

Coach was Mike Judd

A very exciting game between the 2 teams of teenagers, Our Seniors borrowed one of the German players ‘Scottish Finn’ to make 6 a side.  20 mins each way. 

The game finished 4 – 4 with goals from Ethan x 2, Scottish Finn and Josh. 

The video of the game is available on the Soccer7s Facebook Page.

To finish the football off, we had our adult’s match

Mike Judd

Tommy Smith

Scott Thomson

Paul Lynch

Gary Watt

Nichola Kippax

Fiona Ettles

Ezra Bain

Jamie McFadden

John Ritchie

Coached by all Soccer7s kids.

Another entertaining match consisting of some walking football and rekindling old memories.  Haha.    The game ended 1 – 1 after Gary Watt put the away team in front.  It stayed that way until the last minute when the home side got a very dodgy freekick that resulted in the equaliser. 

Penalty kicks followed, with Forres winning 4 – 2 so we got revenge for both the penalty defeat in Forres in 2019 as well as the Europa League Final this year. 

Presentation

After the football, we had our presentations, BBQ, and a few refreshments.  A very good night was had by all. 

Saturday

Shopping in Goslar

On Saturday, we were let loose to go shopping in Goslar for gifts for our loved ones back home.  There was also football tournament for the kids in the City Centre but sadly it was on all weekend so Soccer7s could not participate in it.  If our original KLM Flight had not been cancelled for Sunday Evening, the kids could have played in it. 

Open Air Swimming Pool

Final chance for everyone to go swimming at the Vienenburg Outdoor Pool, the kids did not need much persuasion to return to the pool.  There were some tired legs from the day before and luckily there was a very very nice Spa Bath which helped fix our muscles. 

Farewell Party

Time for the Farewell Party at the Youth Hostel. A massive thank you to all our Vienenburg Friends who turned up for the Farewell BBQ.  Far too many to mention everyone’s names

Sunday Return Journey

Time for the Journey home.  We left Vienenburg at 0700 on the Sunday morning for our 1050 flight from Hannover to Amsterdam.  10 hours wait at Amsterdam Airport before our last flight to Aberdeen.  Considering we had to spend all that time at Amsterdam Airport, the kids did absolutely amazing and always had a smile on their faces.   Thank God for Pokémon Go. 

After a short delay on the last flight, we arrived back at Aberdeen Airport at midnight where the Kineil Coach was waiting for us.

Funnily enough, we arrived back in Forres at roughly the same time we departed exactly 1 week before. 

Summary

What an amazing week we had.  We would just like to say a massive, huge thank you to Martin Mahnkopf, Silvan Knoop, Anni Probst, Svell Krull, Tim Meissner and Tina Richter as well as Julian, Martin, Susen, Thorsten, Jorg and Frank and everyone else who welcomed us so warmly. 

We all had an amazing time, and the kids will remember it for a long long time.  Looking forward to the return leg already. 

School Holidays

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Dear parent/guardian,

We hope you have all enjoyed the start of the season, it has been a busy time for all of us at Soccer 7s. It is fantastic to see over 200 children registered and being able to enjoy football in Forres.

Due to Mother’s Day and the Easter holidays we are taking a short break and will continue again on Sunday 17th April.

We are also postponing the Coffee Morning which was organised for Saturday 26th March, to a later date. We will advertise the new date in due course.

If you have any questions or queries then please email the club at office@forres-soccer7s.co.uk or through our social media sites.

Regards

Paul Lynch
Chairman
Forres Area Soccer 7s

Forres Area Soccer7s AGM

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‘Forres Area Soccer 7s will be holding our AGM for the 2021 season on Tuesday 14th Dec from 18:30 at Grant Park Pavilion. Due to the increasing numbers of Covid-19 we will not be inviting any members to the meeting. We feel this is in the best interest of all involved and will help stop the spread of the virus. Please fell free to contact the club with any questions you may have regarding the AGM and we will respond with any info we have. Thank you for your continued support through these difficult times and please stay safe.