It has been a fantastic 9 months for the Year 7 Football team, with a number of successes in their first year at Arthur Terry School!
September 2013 saw the Year 7 football trials take place, with over 60 students in attendance to try out for the football team. The effort and attitude of all who attended that day was astonishing and gave me some real thinking to do!
We assembled a squad of players and fixtures soon began! The challenge that faces incoming students is not to be underestimated. Often students come from a variety of our surrounding Primary Schools and are then all of a sudden part of the same team. The students soon got to know each other very well and would over the course of the year become a very strong unit.
The team started their footballing campaign with a resounding 5-1 win over St Edmund Campion School in the District Cup. They soon progressed again with a 7-1 win over Perry Beeches Academy in the Quarter-Finals. The Cup then took a bit of a back seat until later in the year.
The League campaign did not get off to a fantastic start. A very strange fixture away at Kingsbury ended in a 6-6 draw. This was followed by a fantastic match with Bishop Walsh, ultimately resulting in a 3-2 defeat.
The Bishop Walsh game led us into the Winter Break with 1 draw and 1 loss in the league, but a Semi-Final place in the District Cup to look forward to! We also took part in and managed to win the Sutton School's five-a-side tournament, qualifying for the regional finals! (Picture below).
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| Back Row: Mr Holliday, Tom Land, Nathan Wiseman, Kai Jevons, Jamie Biddle. Front Row: Ajay Pammenter, Archie Munn, Jonathan Grigg. |
March saw a return to the league campaign with resounding victories over St Edmund Campion (4-0), Great Barr (3-0) and John Wilmott (7-1) to storm to the top of the League table.
The biggest of the season so far came in the District Cup Semi-Final vs. Plantsbrook. The team were determined to get a good result and get to their first Cup Final as secondary students. The effort and attitude was outstanding and the quality of performance really showed in a 7-1 win.
The District Cup Final took place at Bodymoor Heath; Aston Villa's official training ground. We faced Bishop Walsh who had beaten us earlier in the season 3-2. The team worked incredibly hard and were not in any way overawed by the occasion. Two goals from Harry Brophy on the day gave Arthur Terry a 2-0 win.... CUP CHAMPIONS 2013/14!!!
Back Row: Joe Delaney, Ajay Pammenter, Harry Brophy, Kai Knight, Jacob McGrath, Adam Perks, Luke Barnett, Tom Land.
Front Row: Jamie Biddle, Jonathan Grigg, Dylan Russell, Archie Munn, Morgan McSheffrey (Cpt), Jack Hawkins, Harry Canning.
Attention soon turned back to the League campaign and a title deciding match with North Birmingham Academy (NBA)! NBA had crept up the league table and taken a two-point lead into the final match. This left us having to win to secure the league title....
Once again the lads seemed extremely focused and determined to win, After a fantastic start to the match we came out with a 5-1 win and secured the league title! Whilst all the players were simply outstanding, a notable performer on the day was Jonathan Grigg who scored two superb goals!
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| Final League Table 2013/14. |
Notable Performers:
Morgan McSheffrey (C) - Morgan has captained the team from the first game of the season and has been simply superb. He has led by example and helped motivate and inspire the team to some excellent results.He is confident to defend as well as get forward and attack.
Harry Brophy - Worked so hard throughout the season and after a couple of matches became a regular in the team. He learnt a lot in a short space of time and went on to score a number of goals as a Striker, including two vital goals in the District Cup Final!
Tom Land - Tom has shown a quite astonishing level of improvement during the season. He has become a superb wing-back for the team, operating down the right side of the pitch. His pace, power and intelligence with the ball have helped the team no end, not to mention his work-ethic.
Jack Hawkins - Jack is another player who has shown a superb level of improvement in the season. His pace down the left side of midfield has been a great outlet for the team. He assisted a number of goals during the season and did manage to get on the score sheet as well!
Ajay Pammenter - Ajay has had a superb season. He was worked tirelessly in every match we have played, driving the midfield forwards and contributing some fantastic goals.
Every player who represented the team at any point during the season was a credit to Arthur Terry. I know that the students have taken a great deal from the experience throughout the season and as a teacher at Arthur Terry I can say they have been a pleasure to work with! I look forward to the start of the season next year with the same bunch of players and potentially some new additions! Hopefully we can go on to even better things in 2014/15!
Mr Holliday
