Five hundred and forty people attended our annual Presentation Evenings on Thursday 19th May for our U8 to U11 age groups and on Wednesday 25th May for our U12 to U18 age groups. Both events were hosted at the Bank of England Club in Roehampton where many of the squads train during the winter on the floodlit pitch.
During the season players and their parents play matches and train in their small friendly groups but this annual club event shows the scale of Sheen Lions and youth football in Surrey. Sheen Lions is currently the third largest club in the Surrey Youth League fielding 18 teams with 290 registered players. This season we played 298 league games, 149 at home at Palewell and Sheen Common, and 43 cup games. 108 clubs field 452 teams and 7,176 players in the Surrey Youth League. The even is an opportunity both to congratulate our players on their sportsmanship and to thank our organisers for all the work they put in behind the scenes.
As always most of the thanks is due to to our Club Secretary Sarah Street for her faultless administration that ensures that we have players registered, pitches to play on, referees for games and her help with League issues. Sarah is a dedicated QPR fan and as part of our 25th anniversary, and to mark Sarah's long involvement and critical contribution to Sheen Lions our Chairman Geoff Parmiter presented Sarah with a framed QPR shirt signed by their all of their first team. I am not sure if Geoff also arranged QPR's promotion to make sure this was a particularly special gift but knowing him I would not be surprised!
We are proud of all our players, demand for places at clubs like Sheen Lions is high and each player deserves the trophy they receive during these evenings. It is nice to acknowledge special contributions to the team and you can see a list of the
award winners here.
The presentation evening is also a chance for the players to say thank you to some of the other people that enable them to play football. Each of our teams is run by parents who manage and administer their squads, run the line, put up and take down the goal nets and flags and always my favorite, pitch sanitation. The most important part of the players development is our wonderful coaches. The contribution of all these many people was acknowledged on each evening with presentations to the Managers and Coaches.
Next season we are looking to have 19 teams and will add a mini soccer development group. We are
consolidating all our training and match days at Palewell where we will have new mini soccer pitches and a
9-a-side facility for the U11 age group. All age groups are already busy building their squads for next year and many Sheen Lions teams are still playing in the Summer tournaments.
Thanks to Lucy Palmer, Simon Fanthorpe and Simon Roberts for their photos. You can see all their photos by clicking their name.
