UD.... AND THAT'S A WRAP!!
United Dragons 2020 Round-up
It has been a year full of ups and downs, yet throughout 2020 we have remained United!!
2020 hasn’t been what everyone expected, however rather than accepting defeat, we have had one of our most amazing years to date. At United Dragons we have welcomed new coaches, Lewis, Matt, Casey, Ruben, Milo and Mo whilst also welcoming back Rob. With these new additions, we have added a wealth of experience and expertise to our club and we are delighted with how they have embraced the UD way. Along with our new coaching family, we have seen an influx of players join our various programmes. It is so great to see all of our sessions filled with passionate, eager and motivated our girls and boys. It is what makes us coaches super proud.
On behalf of all the coaches and directors we wish you and your family a happy holiday and we look forward to seeing you all back in 2021. Please see below some of our 2020 UD highlights. GO UD!
UD Training
With 2020 coming to a close, we thought it would be important to reflect on the amazing progress that our UD players have made across a year filled with distractions and long periods of no football. Remaining in line with our UD 2020/21 coaching curriculum, every player will have worked on several fundamental movements of which assist their development in agility, balance, coordination and speed. We have also placed an emphasis on ‘football manipulation’ this year. Having our players comfortable with using various parts of both feet to move the ball leads to a more confident and competent player. Aside from the vast technical improvements we have also stressed the importance of sportsmanship to the players this year to ensure we are also developing their character as well as their skills.
Our midweek training groups have seen their highest number of players and we are delighted to see so many children eager to improve their skills and have fun after school with us. We are very fortunate to have some great midweek training venues and we encourage you all, if you have not done so already to check out our training options.
Regent’s Park League
In an unprecedented year, United Dragons have for the most part enjoyed a superb calendar year! We have played a whopping 180 games throughout the year ranging from U7’s – U13’s. Whilst the focus is always on improving as players and coaches, it is always nice to hear positive stats. Over the 180 games played, we have picked up 113 wins, drawn 27 times and suffered 40 defeats. That’s an outstanding 63% win ratio. These are stats that Pep Guardiola would be proud of!
The start of 2020 saw our U8’s embark on an unbelievable cup journey to reach the final… only for it to be postponed due Lockdown 1.0. Our U11 boys experienced the very same joy, reaching the final after an epic injury time winner in the Semi-Finals by Luca Wyke. All of our boys and girls representing United Dragons have seen a developmental year. Our coaches are adapting to a new child centred coaching philosophy where the players are afforded autonomy within a game to make changes, learn from mistakes and celebrate successes.
Never before in previous years have we as coaches and players critically evaluated ourselves more and this was evident with our new mid-season player report forms. It was outstanding to see so many of our UD players analyse their own game and set targets. The league resumed in September after a lengthy pause and our players ere raring to go and unsurprisingly we took the league by storm, brushing aside opponents with consummate ease.
With the introduction of the new United Dragons sticker book, the players had a fantastic opportunity to keep a track record of their league achievements. With 48 unique stickers to collect, ranging from ‘hat-trick hero’ to ‘nutmeg an opponent’ the players were determined to fill the sticker book up and be the first to complete the challenge!
In November, lockdown struck once again to put a sudden halt to proceedings. Nevertheless, our players continued to refine their skills in anticipation for the eventual lift of lockdown. It was great to finish 2020 with a few games. It was a lovely reminder of the immense talent and dedication we have at United Dragons. UD League players, you can be proud of 2020. All of us are super excited with what is to come in 2021!
Market Road (Camden & Islington Youth League)
This season we wanted to give the talented U12 team a new challenge and so we entered them into the midweek league at Market Road. Having some prior knowledge of this league, we knew it would bring physical and technical challenges that the boys would have to meet. It’s a different brand of football to Regents Park and the league boasts some individually brilliant players.
It’s fair to say the boys have surprised us a little and more than stepped up to the mark! Unbeaten in their first 7 games means the boys are top of the league with no points dropped! 37 goals scored and only 6 conceded, the challenge has well and truly been met! The brand of football that The Dragons have brought to the league is fantastic. The team are compact in defence and expansive in attack and many managers and parents have congratulated us on the style of play. Continue like this in 2021 and we’ll see United Dragons claim their first piece of silverware from the Camden and Islington Youth League!
UD Online
As lockdown 2.0 came, we felt the anxiety of lockdown 1.0 all over again - thankfully children could go to school and playgrounds remained open - as fathers ourselves, we get it! Sadly, grassroots football were told to stop - did that stop us, NO! We changed our format to keep teaching the children and put on 6 sessions throughout the week. Monday saw Denerson teaching Futsal, Wednesday our girls team, Thursday quizzes with Daryl (who is still paying off the prizes), Friday football with Juan and Saturday and Sunday for all with our coaches - a whopping 75 players each week took to Zoom to keep up their Footballing, Futsal and quiz development - Bravo UD!
UD Girls
The United Dragons girls have seen a rapid rise in participation and performance. The girls football programme is something that I am immensely proud of and it is incredibly pleasing to see so many girls practice week in week out. Our Wednesday Paddington session is delivered by Director, Chris and head coaches Juan and Denerson where they coach over 35 girls each session. This term has focused on three primary objectives; Skill acquisition, tactical awareness and physical literacy.
Many of our girls compete in the Regents Park League on Saturdays. With a total of 4 teams, ranging from U9’s - U13’s our girls are learning how to put their training practices into real game situations. This term for has been an excellent learning experience and we are excited to see how the girls continue their development next year!
UD Futsal
It has been phenomenal to see so many UD players embrace Futsal. Head Coach Denerson comes with a wealth of knowledge and has done a fantastic job enthusing the children to participate in futsal. Whilst Futsal shares many similarities with football, it is fundamentally a different sport and our boys and girls are quickly learning what it takes to be a Futsal player. Typically focusing on close control and technique, our Futsal players are developing into fantastic, skilful players! With covid forcing us to move venues to an outdoor Paddington rec AstroTurf, we were delighted to see so many of our players continue their training. The highlight for me was our first ever UD Futsal game! It was a great experience for us all and one we will take into 2021.
UD x Katharine Hamnett
We are so excited to announce our collaboration with the one and only Katharine Hamnett.
We were presented the opportunity to work with the iconic fashion designer who in turn, has developed a range of bespoke UNITED DRAGONS x KATHARINE HAMNETT apparel to celebrate the great work we as a club have achieved with Alive and Kicking - look out for the email to get yours soon!!
OUR Partners
ISLINGTON BOXING CLUB
We have some fun activities and challenges planned for 2021 with our various partners. Our recently new partnership with Islington Boxing Club is one we want to celebrate more in the new year. We were fortunate this summer to have former IBF world middleweight champion Darren Barker set our UD players a boxing challenge and we wish to exploit more synergy with the boxing club in the future.
ALIVE AND KICKING
This year was a struggle for Alive and Kicking - the incredible work they do for Sub-Saharan Africa was a test, but they fought for the cause. With incredible fundraising work, the team managed to rope in Daryl to a 112km run around Isle of Wight, thanks to your support, we managed to raise over 5K!
In 2021, we are working to focus on bringing their amazing training program to the club on a more consistant basis. In particular, their mental health program (delivered through the format of game play) we can see this being of great benefit to our players individual development, especially after the testing landscape of the last year.
SUMMARY
To Summarise, we would like to leave this fantastic poem written by one our UD parents, Stuart Dickinson on what Saturdays mean for the player and more importantly the parent! Beautifully written and sums up what we are as a club.
Every other Saturday (a parent perspective)
Every other Saturday, is not like any other Saturday.
It’s an up at Seven – checking kit, boots, shinnies Saturday.
It’s have a bit more breakfast buddy – you’re going to need it Saturday.
It’s butterflies in the stomach Saturday.
It’s a silent drive to the park except for a few words to the wise like “just enjoy yourself” “have fun” and “nerves are good” Saturday.
It’s tingles in your legs Saturday.
Waiting for the whistle Saturday.
Screaming for a pen Saturday.
Wildly punching the air Saturday.
Get in there! Saturday.
Three points Saturday.
Back home and in the bath Saturday.
Bestest day of the week Saturday.
It’s Mum’s Saturday.
It’s Dad’s Saturday.
It’s Dragon’s Saturday.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!