20th March 2015

Robins U7 White win their Trophy Event (again)!

The successful U7 Whites team with their medals!

Congratulations to Robins U7 Whites who have once again triumphed in their Trophy Event competition, this time winning a Futsal tournament to win their U7s Spring Trophy Event. This follows on from the team's success in the Winter Trophy Event earlier this year

Unlike the Winter Trophy Event which took the form of a mini-league played before and after Christmas, the Spring event was a knock-out futsal competition played over two weekends. Futsal is a fast and furious indoor version of football, originating in Brazil and also greatly favoured in Spain - top stars from both South America and Spain credit their superior technical skills as being fostered on the Futsal court!

So, Futsal is a version of the game that brings out those teams that are skillful and can perform well at speed and under pressure, so a big compliment to the ability and quality of Robins U7 Whites and their coach, Phil Trueman. Phil was rightly delighted with the players' efforts in the competition, commenting "It was not just the winning but the performance of the team was fantastic. Every boy played well and tried to put what they are learning each week in training into the matches. They wore the Robins shirt with pride and showed what an excellent club Robins FC are. The boys should be very proud of what they have achieved and I hope we can continue to play football in this manner and more trophies will follow. Well done and well deserved lads!"

U7 Whites follow in a track record of Robins teams doing well in the newly established Trophy Events with last season's U7s and U8s winning all their Trophy Events, while last season's U9s won 2 out of the 3 available, including a thrilling cup final in the knockout competition! This season, U10 Reds have won both their Autumn and Winter Trophy Events while Robins teams have come close in several other age groups and now U7 Whites join their colleagues in bringing silverware to the club! A full list of Robins FC league and cup honours can be found on our Honours page

The idea of the "Trophy Events" is an FA initiative to allow younger age groups to gradually get used to playing competitive football. Previously, teams would go from playing two years of development/friendly games where no results or League tables were published, straight into a 20+ week season-long league competition. The aim of the Trophy Events is to introduce the competitive element gradually and intersperse competitive fixtures with development league fixtures.

So this season the U10s and U9s age groups will play 3 Trophy Events each consisting of 3-4 weeks of competitive football, making between 9-12 weeks of competitive football across the season as a whole, while the U7s and U8s will also take part in 3 Trophy Events, but shorter in duration, each comprising just two games. The aim is to give the younger age groups a taste of competitive football, but without the pressure a full season-long competition can somtimes exert on what are still very young players.

Further information on the FA's Youth Development review is available on the FA's main Youth Development Review page and locally on the Wilts FA website