Get Ready To Play

This page is intended for parents of young players starting a First Kicks or Fun Football programme for the first time, but it should be useful and informative to ALL new SASFC players. The principles remain the same right though the SASFC football pathway. It's really important that we start off on the right foot... 

Starting off on the right foot

How to get our youngest players off to a flying start

First Kicks and Fun Football is where the magic starts for many young footballers.

St Albans Shirley Football Club are proud to offer our youngsters one of the very best early years programmes in New Zealand.

Played on the all-weather turf at English Park, the heart of Christchurch football, we want that life-long journey to get off to the best start possible and there are three key things you need to know to to help make this happen! 

Right attitude – Right gear – Right start

The Right Attitude

This is our first priority at SASFC. From day one, every SASFC player learns to play the beautiful game with respect.

• we respect the feelings of other players
• we listen carefully to our coach and we do as we are asked
• we play fair and we avoid hurting other players

Right across the club, SASFC operates a zero-tolerance policy towards bullying, physical and/or verbal abuse, wilful disobedience and disruptive behaviour. Any player seen kicking or hitting others, being verbally abusive, mean or cheeky to other players or coaches, or disrupting the session in any way, will be taken aside and asked to moderate their behaviour. If poor behaviour persists, players will be removed from the field of play for the remainder of the session. Persistent poor behaviour can and will result in a player being permanently removed from the programme without refund.

The Right Gear

One of the most common questions we are asked about our First Kicks and Fun Football programme is, 'what sort of playing kit do we need?' – and the answer is: 'any kind you like!' Players should of course wear sports gear – shorts and teeshirt are fine. We encourage long socks and shin guards, but these are optional for our younger players. Optional official playing kit (shorts, socks and shirt) is available from the SASFC Online Shop and is the ideal solution for parents looking to kit out their young player for the first time.

Please note there are some conditions for English Park that we do need to observe:

• either flat-soled trainers or studded football boots are fine, however metal studs are not allowed
• we are asked to keep all food and snacks off the playing surface
• a water bottle is always a good idea, even on cooler days, and this can be brought onto the pitch

Please take the usual precautions in the way of sun screen, sun hat, etc.

The Right Start

We want to get our players get onto the pitch with a ball at their feet as quickly as possible. You can help us make this happen by carefully observing these few instructions:

• please try to arrive on time. 'On time' means 5 or 10 minutes before the start of the session
• players should wait until called forward by the coaching team to come onto the pitch
• make sure your player is ready to give their name for any roll call we may take

These may seem trivial points, but they are important. Arriving late means your player may not be allocated their preferred team. Waiting until you are called really helps player allocation too! Players who cannot give their name (or give 'joke' names) will need to be returned to their parent/guardian until we can establish they are registered.

At the end of each session players will be asked to sit with their coach until their parent or caregiver comes and collects them. This should be the only time you need to enter the pitch. Please aim to collect your young player and leave the pitch as quickly as possible, so that we can prepare for the next session.

The SASFC Code of Conduct

Hopefully there is nothing difficult to understand in the above notes. The Right Attitude is something SASFC promote right throughout the club, for players, parents and coaches alike. As our youngest players progress into the Junior Football space and beyond, we expect them to be familiar with the SASFC Code of Conduct, so it would be a good idea to aquaint yourself with it now. The codes for players, parents and coaches are always available on the Programme pages on this site.

You can read the Player Code of Conduct here and the Parents Code of Conduct here

Return to the First Kicks and Fun Football page and register now!

If you are unsure of anything, please contact us at support@sasfootball.club