Marco Bains is a Youth Ambassador/Volunteer for the Crimestoppers who gives countless hours back to the community. Marco who works at South and City College as a Enrichment Assistant and is a highly respected individual when it comes to working with the youths. Being a dad and a lover of football, I decided to manage my sons football team, It was the first year for us both me as a coach and also for my young lad who was 6 years old playing in his first team. We joined an already established team called Mahal Warriors who are located in and around Edgbaston/ Ladywood and Smethwick the club formed in 1979 by a group of Sikh people in the community to ensure that people from all backgrounds get a chance to showcase talents. We have never been an only Sikh we have always had players from all different backgrounds, we just offer a service which is low cost and puts your kids first!
We started our season getting the lads ready for the upcoming league we are competing in, as a community club who are not in it for the money, we trained at Summerfield park on Dudley road. In October we played our first game in Dudley and lost 12-0 which then made me realise the level of football being played now in grassroots u7s I was amazed by how other teams understood the game and each other so easily. I could not give up on these lads not yet anyways! So we carried on like our name stats Warriors! Played the following week got beat again 9-0, again team we played was established and had a good understanding of the game. Taking these losses was hard for me as a coach at first as our games wasn’t even competitive, then on the other hand as a parent also I could not give my son the one to one love and encouragement to my son as a coach has to look after the whole team so where as some players could come of the pitch crying I’d have to stop coaching the on field players to try and tell my own son everything is okay and scores do not matter it’s all about progression. I found this really challenging at the start of the season not knowing how to balance being a Dad and a manager an also taking such big losses in game just felt wasn’t working for me at all, I went home spoke to my wife she said, ” its been two games and you are already thinking of giving up!”
Next week came we trained, I watched loads of videos online about different drills and how to be used effectively so we worked and worked on team play, what players can and cannot do yet, where do players feel most combatable, we did everything over the next few weeks and months to ensure we bridge that gap and start playing more competitive. In December we played an away game, and we did it we did not win but we got a 4-4 draw, both parents players and myself was in so much delight you would of thought we won the Premier League but we knew inside how hard we worked during this period and credit to the parents for the continuing support boosted our players. From then we had our Christmas break two weeks no football. In January we are back at it confidence is sky high! The lads all continued to train but played no competitive football during the festive period. We lost 5-0 first game back which was abit of a shock as it seemed my team had forgot everything we have learnt. Back to the training pitch it is, now lets look at some other things positioning, set pieces being played at a fast pace, playing 2 at the back and 2 at the front formation to pressure other team on the ball and make space for each other. Anyways weeks went past, and we are losing 2-1, 4-2 so we are now scoring goals on a weekly basis which is amazing but we still cant grasp a win! We entered into March the weather got abit warmer something changed in my boys I don’t know if it’s the sun or what, but we didn’t lose a game drawing two and winning two. End of season cup arrives we have been drawn with two teams that we have recently played in the League and lost to, so confidence was not really high. We played the semifinal and won 6-2 away from home against a well established team, you should of seen the support from family and friends from both teams amazing! So we got ourselves into a final Bimingham cup! Up against Maypole FC who beat us 4-1 in the league about a month before this so in all honesty my hopes was not high but the belief in my players they knew they was going to win this! Game kicked off and from the moment of the first whislte up until full time we was all over them! Guess what we won! 3-1 in the final!!! The kids were amazing!! Proudest moment of my life standing on the pitch with my son the champion and also my Dad who is the real reason that I managed this team as my dad was the biggest influence in my life also coached all my teams as a kid, and he has helped me so much being the perfect father for my own child so to be there with my dad and son winning a cup is a day I will never forget.
