Uckfield Grasshoppers Junior Football Club

Established in 1981, Uckfield Grasshoppers Junior Football Club have been a pillar of our town’s community providing football for many children over a span of close to 40 years.

With many clubs and groups facing a future of uncertainty from the COVID-19 pandemic, CommunityAd caught up with Uckfield Grasshoppers’ Football Development Officer Paul Fletcher to find out more about this wonderful club…

 

Throughout its history, what would you say has been the club’s biggest achievement?

This is an extremely difficult one for us at Grasshoppers. We’ve worked tirelessly over the years to provide football for as many children as we can and that is key to what we do. To be recognised as doing this and to continually improve the standards we set ourselves has to be right up there as a top achievement point, however, working so hard to get the All Weather Pitch was massive. We spent an awful lot of time working on the project alongside the school, town council, county and national FA’s.  To see it being used widely has to be our biggest success as it is a legacy for the whole community to use.

 

What has been the secret to maintaining and running this fantastic club over almost 4 decades?

Hard work, respect for each other and an incredible team! We are so lucky to have an excellent management committee that keeps pushing the development of our club. Our coaches and administrators work extremely hard and are well supported by players and parents.

 

How important has the support been from the local Uckfield community and could you have ever envisaged the club running for as long as it has?

A football club needs players to be successful. Because we want to be as inclusive as we can be, we support every single player and parent where we can. We try and find out as much as we can about our players so that we can assist them not just to be better players but to be better young people. Having that bond with our players, parents, guardians, carers and grandparents means we are able to call on them to support us during our sixes tournaments and Fun Days which make them the success they are. The Club has been going, like you say, for some time and I remember joining as a boy, playing in the sixes tournament. I’ve been lucky enough to see my son join, develop through the stages and play in the tournaments as I did, I hope more players are able to share this feeling over the years and as long as we continue to develop our club I see no reason why this won’t continue for another 40 years.

 

Can you explain to readers just how much of an impact COVID-19 has made on the club and do you know when you can restart training and a date on when the new season will start?

COVID-19 was a massive event for the club as it was for every club throughout the country. On the back of an exceptionally wet winter the timing was a terrible blow. Matches, training, events including what would have been our 30th consecutive Sussex Sixes Tournament were all cancelled as we went into lockdown. The club has managed to ride it out and offered video session challenges when lockdown was eased. We are back training, adhering to the FA guidelines and recommendations we have subsequently put in place to keep our coaches and their families, the players and their families safe whilst at the same time doing everything possible to maintain a fun, and educational football environment which has been a massive task.

Our coaches are being given the PPE equipment they need to run sessions and we have a COVID working group that constantly assesses the situation. We didn’t think in all honesty we’d see football this side of Christmas but as it stands, we are pre-season training, arranging friendlies and itching to get started in league football. Some types of football are off limits at the moment, but we understand this will change in the coming months. It’s been a challenge, but challenges are there to be overcome and we believe we have become a better club in the way we address problems, the way we communicate and conduct ourselves.

 

Are you looking for any new players currently?

We are always looking for new players. We are hoping to build on our successful girl’s football teams and create a Girls Football Hub. When we started the FA Wildcats Centre, we didn’t think interest would take off just as much as it would. We are keen to develop this and it is a really exciting time for the club. Our plan is to utilise a pitch just for girls’ football and create a centre where training and games can be played.

 

Do you have a future vision of where you would like Uckfield Grasshoppers to be in the next 40 years?

As mentioned, the Girls Hub is our big project short term and we hope to have this in place soon. We’ll then look at turning the Club into a registered charity, which we hope will open many doors for us to enable us to create and own our home ground. Owning our own home ground, we believe, will enable us to offer football for more people within the town, and wider community. The population of Uckfield is increasing and we will need to be able to provide football for all within our local community, this may include more teams, creating taster sessions, development centres, more futsal court time as well as providing our players a pathway into adult football.

 

Stay up to date and find out more about the Grasshoppers by visiting their website or checking them out on Facebook @UckfieldGrasshoppersJFC.

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