I’ll start with the gloomy stuff, I’m sure everyone’s heard enough about the weather in reports already but it caused havoc during the season and threatened to leave us with few fixtures particularly as the fixture list pitched the Under 11s up against Deal/Betteshanger and Dover at least twice each, both clubs do not field a team in our age group, hopefully this will change next season!

We have been fortunate that we have built up some good relationships with other local teams and we were able to arrange some additional fixtures with the squads from Ashford, Canterbury, Thanet and Whitstable. The U11 coaches from these clubs have been very helpful, especially Martyn from the Ashford Under 11s who also agreed that our teams should play warm up matches to both the 1st Teams away and home matches with Ashford. The Ashford away match being our first competitive match of the season and resulted in a narrow loss before the boys watched the 1st team play some attractive winning rugby which the boys (and they are all boys at present) would do well to try and emulate for the rest of the season.

Ricky added in a Wednesday evening training session from early in the season, this session has concentrated primarily on fitness and has been a huge success, with squad fitness levels improving throughout the season.

First festival of the season was the Canterbury festival, due to other clubs not showing up we were in a group of three with Ashford (hello again) and Blackheath. A closely fought first match in a longer game than usual resulted in a loss to Ashford by a single try, we were then straight on to play Blackheath’s A team (their B team was at the Medway festival, probably along with their C and D…), we were given a bit of a lesson in running rugby in this match and were sent home from a festival (for the first time as I recall) after playing only two matches, this was a good learning experience for all, I’m sure.

The next festival was the East Kent held at Sheppey and this was in a league format against all other East Kent clubs. The U11s proved again that they are masters of the festival slow start but then all matches at this festival were very close and could have gone either way. We won some, we lost some but it was clear that the squad were competing well and that tries were being scored which was a good boost for the rest of the season.

We threw in an extra festival at this point, the Cranbrook ‘B’ Festival. We had players missing through injury (eg. Tom Cloke after some feisty play at Sheppey) and holidays etc. but it was fairly clear that not all teams were fielding a strictly ‘B’ Squad (there was no ‘A’ Festival scheduled on the same day). This festival was also a sign of things to come as it was played in the middle of a storm with gazebo’s flying around the ground. What was clear from this festival was that the Under 11’s were able to score some good tries and that Kian Supple was blossoming into a good finisher from the outside centre position, Tristan Parmenter was being a particularly tenacious first line of defence at Fly Half and Cohen Double was an attacking threat when running the ball or from maul and line-out. We did have an unfortunate moment during this B Festival when TJ Leather, after some typically brave play, was ruled out for a few weeks with concussion, this showed us the importance of knowing the signs of concussion and what to do when we have a player with a head injury, the club did well to organise training for all coaches on this subject during the season – don’t be a headcase.

November was quiet apart from an away friendly against Whitstable and Thanet and Alfie Dove fracturing his collarbone unfortunately in what looked like a season ending injury. We also bode farewell to Billy Evans who had moved from the area to Whitstable so we would see Billy again in blue and white.

December saw us with just one planned friendly at Sheppey with Medway and at this fixture the squad finally started to show their potential with some good wins backed by solid defence and some flair in attack, we also had try scorers throughout the forwards and backs and it was increasingly clearer that our squad relies on the whole team to perform and is not reliant on one or two individuals, I think there were six or seven different try scorers on this day with nobody getting more than two, a great squad performance. We also played the return fixture with Ashford before the 1st team match and this was another close match, both defences nearly cancelling each other out, Ashford opened the scoring but the U11s had the majority of possession that finally paid off in the final minutes with Kian Supple bursting through to ensure honours were even in front of a sizeable crowd. Unfortunately Ashford’s 1st Team won the main event.

January/February and the rains came… We had a friendly with Canterbury and gained a couple of new players in Sam Johnson and Max Pavitt. I’ve stopped keeping scores in friendlies as we rotate the squad so much and try the players out in different positions where we can and when it’s safe so results and scorers aren’t recorded but the quality of play is. The U11s continued to show improvement and we had further improved performances against Ashford when the pitches turned to ponds and we borrowed the pitch down at the Marsh Academy for a couple of weeks. Our backs play in one session left Ashford scratching their heads as they couldn’t get the ball at all and so the confidence of coaches and players was very high moving towards the season run-in.

March and we were still dogged with postponements, the East Kent Festival was altered and played at Howe Barracks, Canterbury. We started with a very close match with Canterbury, which frankly should have been won but a couple of missed tackles gifted Canterbury a try and then the vast amount of possession the boys had didn’t pay off with too much trying to force the ball over the line instead of utilising the glaring overlaps, more to work on in training. The rest of this festival was fairly experimental for us, blooding some new boys and mixing players through positions. Ashford won the festival, fairly easily and given our recent performances against our neighbours this proved that we could and should have been pressing for festival wins.
March concluded with the Kent Festival Prelims at Medway. We put a strong 1st team into the Kent Festival and all played extremely well. We were unbeaten through matches with Maidstone, Whitstable and Old Colfeians, the last being a 6-0 whitewash and the Whitstable match being a draw that we really should have won, Joseph Faiers having a try disallowed from a forward pass that was very harshly called, Faiers deserved what would have been the winning try having had a frustrating job throughout the season of waiting for the ball to come to him which should have happened more often than it did, more for the training ground, he did mask the disappointment a little against Colfes by chasing up a pin point accurate kick to the corner from Tom Reina, gathering and scoring before Colfs had managed to turn and defend. We had a couple of injuries going into the final match and ran out of bench and so we were beaten by a fresher Medway team in what was, in hindsight, a play-off for going into the cup finals group on finals day, tiredness crept in and in an ill-tempered game Medway went through and Folkestone were relegated to the Shield. This was a well organised festival and Folkestone U11s played their best rugby to date, another selection of try scorers and also a very solid defence, the forwards were on top in every game and with some satisfaction won nearly all scrums against the giants of Whitstable, despite a slight anti-climax, the festival was a cause for some celebration.

April – early April and two major bits of misfortune, Cohen Double injured and out for the rest of the season. Joseph Faiers injured and out for the rest of the season. Both players had played a huge part in the improved play of the squad and would be missed. We did bid a very pleasing welcome back to Alfie Dove and Alfie played in a freshly arranged “B round robin” on pitch 1 with Ashford, Thanet and Whitstable visiting. This was a thoroughly enjoyed morning by all squads and gave all of our players the chance for some competitive rugby. Jacob Emery and Cameron Easby getting some competition and playing very well and the mighty Dominic Bowden returning after some injuries and putting in a gutsy display after some harsh treatment from the Ashford forwards.
The next point of note was the Kent Festival Finals at Aylesford RFC. We really hoped on this occasion to send Toby Walton (who had just moved to Wales but returned for the finals) off on the right note but it wasn’t to be. It will remain a mystery as to why the squad didn’t play to their potential on this day but that’s what happened, only the sight of Catherine Spencer at pitchside before the final match against Dartfordians got the lads back to something like themselves but it was too late and the squad went home disappointed. I’ll return to Toby Walton, he will be missed by teammates and coaches alike and we all wish him well at his new club in Wales.

Finally we played the Rye Festival over two days of the May Day Bank Holiday. This was played on a beautiful surface at a turf farm near Brookland and the weather was very kind. A scoreless first match against Ashford showed that our defence was in great shape, this was followed by a slightly frustrating first day when most but unfortunately not all players were swapped through at least two positions, Ethan Holt being the tallest winger on show. The second day was bright and sunny we opened our scoring against Dorking via Lewis Hammerton finishing a good team try and then beat Shoreham with tries from Tom Reina from the full back position who was warming to joining the attack at pace plus both Kian Supple and Cameron Brown from the Centres who had started to forge a prosperous partnership (although needed to remember that their wingers are there for a reason).

And so the season ended on a lovely surface in good sunshine with good results, which is how it should have been.

I should mention a tale from the Rye festival involving His Excellency the Chairman and the bus but I’ll leave that to Mark and his future speeches.

So, season wise - results wise, we won some, we drew some, we lost some but we played well and the spirit of all of the U11s, as always, has been fantastic. There have been many try scorers throughout the squad, highest scorers were Kian Supple, Tristan Parmenter, Cameron Brown and Joseph Faiers but I didn’t keep count throughout.

We finished the season with just over 20 squad members, we lost and gained an even amount during the season and would benefit from gaining some more players for the start of next season.

Finally the end of season awards:

Firstly, our age group award “the Shoreham ball” to a person or persons who have done something during the season that has let the side down. This year the Shoreham ball was awarded to three coaches, namely His Excellency the Chairman Mark Edwards, Andy Parmenter and Simon Cloke. The ball was awarded for crimes against lycra and scaring all those present when the trio arrived at the Rye Festival on their bicycles dressed in the tightest of bicycle racing attire, somebody mentioned that the Darts finals were at Lakeside…. Liz Cloke graciously accepted the award on behalf of the trio.

Spirit of Rugby Award – Tom Cloke
Tom has had a season interrupted by injuries due to some tough tackling from both scrum half and wing positions but continued to train with the squad throughout. What particularly impressed his coaches was his encouragement to others and his acknowledgement and advertising of good play amongst his peers. Well done Tom.

Most Improved Player – Kieran Dorrell
Kieran has always been a committed forward but where at the beginning of the season he may have held back a little he finished the season by leading all of his teammates in ruck and maul. His hooking has improved immeasurably leading to his team winning many scrums against the put-in and Kieran has been extremely unselfish in securing ball for his team mates to go on and score. Well done Kieran.

Coaches Award – Lewis Hammerton
This was a hard fought award. Lewis has continually worked his socks off, playing nearly every minute of competitive matches from the front row. He has played hard but fair rugby, continued to develop, listened attentively to his coaches, never questioned a decision and just got on with being the best he can be. Lewis even turned his talents to playing Centre at the last festival of the season. Lewis has been determined and disciplined throughout; his season has been a benchmark for all other U11s who wish to raise their game. A joy to coach, well done Lewis.

In addition to the individual results, Folkestone had a great U11s squad this year, full of good humour, determination and skill. Well done all, bring on next season!