Monthly newsletter - October 2023
Hey Ballers,
Hope you’ve all had a good October and are enjoying the start of the winter months.
I love this time of year, perfect weather for getting a sweat on while playing football!
Christmas/New Year football camp
We will be back at Ridgway Academy for 3 days during the Christmas break. This will be from Tuesday 2nd Jan - Thursday 4th Jan. As always, all the details can be found here: https://strivefootballacademy.com/football-camps
Toy Collection for charity
Ridgeway Academy has been helping a local Children's Charity in association with the Lister Hospital for the past 7 years - and I would love to help. If you would like to help: all items must be brand new and in original packaging due to hygiene reasons. They should be suitable for 0-15 year olds and do not need to be ‘Christmas themed’ as they are distributed throughout the year. I’ll be collecting any toys donated and dropping them at Ridgeway in early December - so if you would like to help, drop me a message.
What I’ve been watching
Messi won his 8th Ballon D’Or and it seems to have divided opinions… My argument would be: at the best competition in the World (the World Cup) he was the best player on the best team and therefore deserves the trophy. Other people would argue that Haaland was more consistent: performing for a full season in the hardest league. What do you think?
I’m really enjoying the start to the Premier League this year. I think the gap between the very best and the rest has been reduced and more teams are enjoyable to watch. Special mention has to go out to Spurs - for me, they are the most exciting team to watch at the moment and I love their style of play. The way they entice teams to come out and try to win the ball before quickly making a few passes to be through at the other end is remarkable.
A club that I would be concerned about is Manchester United. It is still up in the air what is happening in regards to their ownership but it’s the on field problems that are more worrying. I watched their 3-0 loss to Man City and the way some of their players, most notably Bruno Fernandes - their captain, walked around the pitch showing almost no care is an insult to the supporters. A club’s captain is a player that teammates should be able to look to in times of need - not a crybaby who looks to feel hard done by at every moment.
Jude Bellingham continues to impress the world. His latest feat was scoring two goals in a 2-1 win over rivals Barcelona in the El Classico. His ability to score goals and get into scoring positions for a classic ‘number 8’ is ridiculous! Paired with the fact that he is only 20 years old is frightening.
Worth a watch
I have started to upload my coaching videos to TikTok, Instagram and now YouTube shorts. Watch them here: https://www.youtube.com/@The_jwl/shorts
Join the Football World in trying to figure out who this ‘Premier League Rapper’ is… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUjutzCUKZY