LFF Newsletter - 26th March 2026

What a fantastic week it’s been at Lewis’s Football Fun! The energy, effort and smiles across all sessions have been brilliant to see.

It was great to get back with our Bishop groups. The lads worked incredibly hard, with lots of technical work, reaction drills and fun games mixed in. Saturday continued in the same style — high energy and great effort — and of course, getting “smashed” by Coach Jordan never disappoints! I’ll also be more present around these groups soon when fixtures allow. There will be some changes to Saturday logistics and setup, so please bear with us while we finalise details.

Sunday was busy and packed with football fun. Cubs and Eagles were jam-packed on Farndon Field with lovely weather and a fantastic atmosphere. It was great to see parents, grandparents, and families supporting the kids — two brilliant sessions. The girls' group continues to grow steadily with some new faces, and the boys had a really intense session.

Monday nights never disappoint — our busiest night. I stayed indoors with Explorers, Jaguars and Tots, pushing the younger groups. Sessions like these remind me why I started this business — really enjoyable and rewarding. Outside at the YMCA, all coaches delivered outstanding sessions. Great feedback from parents, particularly about Coach Nathan and Coach Niamh, but as always, all our coaches were fantastic.

Our team meeting last Thursday showed the passion and energy our coaches bring to your children and the business. It’s exciting to see how we’ll continue driving forward, helping your kids succeed and creating great memories.

Lewis’s Next Level was excellent — one smaller, intense group of four and a second group of ten. Great work from everyone, with myself and Coach Jordan leading the sessions. The next one is on Sunday, April 19th — prepare yourselves, it’s going to be tough!

👏 Congratulations to Coach Vicki on her promotion to Operations & Customer Manager.

👶 Congratulations to Coach Sam and his partner Abbey, who are expecting a baby.

⭐ Congratulations to Coach Grace on being offered a permanent position within Lewis’s Football Fun — more information coming soon on social media.

We’ve also had some fantastic volunteers stepping up — really helping support your children. We continue to support those completing Sports, Duke of Edinburgh and other voluntary schemes.

Thank you to everyone who entered the April Mini Leagues. Teams will be drawn soon and videos announced over the next couple of weeks.

We can confirm there is one more session at Active for Today, YMCA and Bishop Alexander. After that:

• Bishop will move to Devon Park

• Active for Today & YMCA will move to Farndon Field

Updated times and groups will follow soon. Thank you for your patience — there’s a lot to organise but we’re on it 100%.

We have so much to look forward to, including planning for our presentation night — we'll keep you posted!

Thank you again for your continued support. ⚽️💙

⭐🏆 Stars of the Week 🏆⭐

Tots - Coach Nathan

Grace was brilliant throughout the session; she has been consistent over the last few weeks, showing great patience whilst waiting for her trophy "Coach Bear". Her determination and effort in the session made her a very deserving winner

Albie also did really well. In just his second session he showed much more confidence, joining in more and getting involved; even if it was just simply dribbling and kicking the ball. He is becoming more comfortable within the environment. Well done to both!

Cubs - Coach Lewis

Jacob great session from start to finish; remained engaged and demonstrated some great skills

Loki 100% effort, tried to get on the ball a lot within the SSGs, showed fantastic bravery. Remained proactive throughout and scored a couple of goals

Eagles - Coach Tyler

Julio for his continued listening and great battling throughout the session

Sam for his immense effort and goal scoring

Explorers - Coach Lewis

Francis had a fantastic first half of the session. Although he can sometimes get distracted, he was very focused and showed some brilliant skills. When his concentration is there, his ability really stands out. Great effort and well done, Francis

Ajuni also earned recognition, winning her first medal after around six weeks of attending. She has been trying very hard and showed great effort in all the drills. Although she can be a little shy in games, this will come with time. Her effort was phenomenal, especially being the only girl in the group. Well done!

Jaguars - Coach Lewis

Kevin gave his all throughout the session. He was very competitive, showed great dribbling in and out of cones, and really bought into everything we asked. This attitude is exactly what we want to see

Alfie was also excellent as always and scored the goal of the day; a first-time finish from distance into the roof of the net during the small-sided games

Sharks - Coach Jordan

Dougie his best session yet, great focus and great competitive play

Lions - Coach Nathan

Louis For his non-stop continuous efforts throughout the whole session; answering questions and demonstrating perfect behaviour and concentration to his team during the main session. He was able to complete the drill successfully which helped his team mates how to adapt during the main drill. A true example of learning from your teammates as well as the coaches

Harry for developing throughout the entire session and improving on his ball control but mainly for its efforts during the game. Once we introduced the second role, he started to create space getting on the ball more frequently and being more effective

Rhinos - Coach Jordan

Gabriel transitioned well into the group; performed well in the drills and earned player of the match

Zar fantastic hat-trick in the match

Buffaloes - Coach Charlie

Mia Faith brilliant listening during the whole session. Used feedback to improve her technique, asked great questions and encouraged her team mates

Ninjas - Coach Hilly

Joshua for his hard work and improvement throughout the session

Vipers - Coach Tom

Tajus incredible defending, some excellent blocks and tackles, and keeping possession of the ball after winning it

Denis great attitude towards drills, he really listened and it showed in the games where he created space for himself to score some lovely goals

Ravens - Coach Jordan

Davey man of the match

Jack W huge improvement in drills and match

Jack L some good saves (Coach JJ)

Freddie man of the match (Coach JJ)

Girls - Coach Tyler

Ava stood out with her skills and always had a smile on her face...she even bagged the winning goal in the match

Olivia great passing in the first drill and an all round great performance in the match

Avengers - Coach Jordan

Laika fantastic game play and goal scoring

Raff finishing 1st place in the shooting range drill

Bishop 1 - Coach Lewis

Rokas great effort throughout the session

Zar great space created and got his head up ready to make a pass in the match

Bishop 2 - Coach Lewis

⚽ Group Focuses: ⚽

Tots - Imagination Based Learning & Application to Football

• Imagination Based Learning, Taking a Trip into the “Forest” Where Players had to Dodge the Trees by Dribbling Around Cones

• Encouraged Lots of Fast Dribbling

• Working on Changing Direction by “Chopping Trees Down” & Reacting Quickly to Move into Space

• Players Practiced Both Big Kicks & Little Touches While Keeping Control of the Ball

• Scoring Goals Against the Coaches

• Fun Races

Cubs - Varied Tempo

• Races

• Dribbling with Pace

• Stop & Start

• Turning with the Ball

• Goals Galore

• SSGs

• Match Play

Eagles - Scanning & Focus

• Dynamic Warm Up

• Running Backwards & Scanning

• Dribbling with Use of Different Colour Corners to Encourage Scanning

• Attack v Defence

• SSGs

• Match Play

Explorers - Avoiding Defenders & Winning the Ball Back

• Intense Dribbling & Fast Turns

• Players Dribbled Through Spots to Improve Control & Direction; Using Different Parts of Both Feet

• Shoot & Score After Dribbling; There Were Some Excellent Goals Scored

• Introduced Tackling Games to Help Players Win the Ball Back

• SSGs

• Match Play to Utilise Things Learned Within the Session

Jaguars - Technique & Avoiding Defenders

• Technique; Dribbling Through Cones in Races to Return the Ball to their Teams

• Introduced a World Cup Theme with Four Nations to Keep Things Competitive

• Players then Worked on Scoring Goals Quickly; Before Adding a Defender to Increase Difficulty

• Dribbling Around Pressure (Defenders) Without Missing Cones

• Ball Manipulation Using Inside & Outside Turns in Figure-of-Eight Patterns

• Tackling Games & Passing Through Gates

• SSGs

• Match

Sharks - Reaction & Agility

• Reaction Drills Set Up

• Agility On & Off the Ball

• 1v1 Dribbling with Shooting

• Match Play with Coaching Points

Lions - Ball Control, Turning, Dribbling & Passing

• Warm Up: Activating Listening, Pitch Awareness & Getting Focused Ready for the Session

• Ball Mastery Utilising Both Feet. Involved Turning/Changing Direction & then Making a Pass to their Partner

• Preparation the Ball Receiver Needs to Think About in Order to Successfully Control the Ball

• Short & Long Distance Passing Whilst Working on the Correct Technique to Build Accuracy, Power & Offering the Best Possible Chance for their Partner to Control the Ball

• Every Pass was to be Made Whilst the Ball was Moving; Creating a Realistic Scenario of a Matchplay

• Game: First Part of the Game was Normal Matchplay

• Development stages:

  • Pass Before Scoring

  • Freekick Rule: To Reduce the Number of Times where Teammates were Tackling Each Other:

    "I introduced a free kick rule whereby if you tackled your own teammate, the opposition were awarded a freekick regardless of where they were on the pitch. This worked extremely well and you could see the children were starting to think more about their positioning on the pitch, and how they could be effective. There were a couple of lightbulb moments where the children realised how difficult they were making the game when tackling their own teammates."

Rhinos - Build Up Play

• Reaction Warm Up

• Split the Group into 4 Teams with Overloaded Possession & Varied Starting Points on the Pitch

• Match Play with Coaching Points

Buffaloes - Passing & Movement, Shooting Under Pressure

• Warm Up; Stuck in the Mud, Dribbling Races

• Pass & Move with Emphasis on First Touch & Effective Pass

• Shooting Under Pressure; Race to Ball to Become Attacker - 1v1 Transitioning into 2v1 & 2v2

• Match with Conditions on Positioning & Movement to Receive the Ball; Avoiding Turning & Running Away from Ball

Ninjas - Keeping Possession

• Tail Tag Warm Up

• Rondos with Focus on Keeping Heads Up

• Possession Working on 3 Passes then Transitional Play to Score

• SSGs

• Match

Vipers - Losing Your Marker

• Passing Pattern Warm Up

• Communication

• Passing Accuracy

• Movement Off the Ball

• Finishing Drill

• 1-2s

• Quick Paced, Sharp Shooting

• 5v5 Square Grid using Outside Players to Link Up & Score

• 5v5 Matches; 3 Teams Each Playing 2 Games

Ravens - High Speed Dribble to Finish

• Fitness Drill

• High Intensity Dribbling 1v1 to Score Against GK

• Overloaded Possession

• Match

Girls - Body Movements

• Dynamic Warm Up

• Dribbling to Gain Familiarity of the Ball & Pitch

• Passing, Moving Body Out to Aid Ball Control

• Keeping Away from Defenders

• Shooting Utilising First Touch & Turning Out Past Defender

• SSGs

• Match Play

Avengers - 2 Touch Pass & Move

• Reaction Warm Up

• 2 Touch Passing

• Shooting with Range

• Match Play Utilising 2 Touch Passing Drill

Bishop 1 - Dribbling & Close Control

• Encouraging Players to Use Both Feet Confidently

• Incorporating Passing Combinations, Competitive Elements & Shooting Games to Develop Power & Technique

• Overloaded & 1v1 Scenarios

• Defensive Positioning

• Quick Reactions

• Emphasising Body Movements; Dropping Shoulders to Gain Advantage & React Faster than Opposition

• Match

Bishop 2 - Dribbling & Close Control

• Encouraging Players to Use Both Feet Confidently

• Incorporating Passing Combinations, Competitive Elements & Shooting Games to Develop Power & Technique

• Volleys Using the Stronger Foot & Control of the Ball in the Air

• Overloaded & 1v1 Scenarios

• Defensive Positioning

• Quick Reactions

• Emphasising Body Movements; Dropping Shoulders to Gain Advantage & React Faster than Opposition

• Match

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/517ee1_b659fd61f4b7424b8772c68148c37012/360p/mp4/file.mp4