A Football Festival for all Mid North and Bay of Islands players aged 8 and under will be held on Lindvart Park in Kaikohe this Saturday.
The event kicks off at 9.30am and will run in two groups.
Group 1 is for 5 to 6-year-olds from Karetu, Paihia, Ohaeawai, Kaikohe and Russell who will have warm-up drills and games; players can register their attendance at any stage this week - contact details provided below - or by 9.20am at the latest on the day.
Group 2 caters for 7-8 year olds from Karetu, Paihia, Ohaeawai, Kaikohe, Kerikeri and Russell playing games only; players at this level have until 5pm on Friday afternoon to register their attendance with NFF's Dave Alabaster.
The event is being organised by Sport Northland in conjunction with the Northland Football Federation. To register, or for more information, contact either Ryan Maraki, 401-5774 ext 5774 and (0275) 885-867, or Dave Alabaster 437-7294, (021) 795 073.
In other junior football news from Kaikohe, the first Junior Mid-North Soccer Cluster for the year was held last Saturday and was comprised of teams made up of players ranging from 5 to 8 years old. The programme included 10 minutes of warm-ups and skills with approximately an hour of game time for the kids, within their age groups.
Event spokesman Ryan Maraki noted the cluster, which attracted children and teams from Karetu, Paihia, Ohaeawai, Kaikohe and Russell, was a great success towards reanimating the roundball game in Kaikohe. He advised that clusters like this will be held in either Paihia or Kaikohe every Saturday - including this weekend where it will be run in conjunction with the above-mentioned Football Festival - until the end of August.
All children were welcome to join in at any stage; the cost being $20 for the season for those aged 7 to 8, and $10 for ages 5 to 6.
Kaitaia junior resultsThe Kaitaia United AFC junior football competition resumed last weekend following the school holiday break. The results from round 3 on Saturday, May 11, were as follows.
Under 8s: Eastern Tigers 3 Kaitaia 2 (standout players from either one or both teams being Clayton Marshall-Shaw and Seth Evans respectively), Te Rarawa Harrisons 5 Eastern Stars 4 (Taylor Low, Matiu Paratene), Paparore 4 Pamapuria 2 (Ella Hilton-Jones); Under 10s: Paparore 7 Awanui 0 (Kieran Heemi-Shannon, Corey Hallett), Te Rarawa 2 Eastern 1 (Ryan Berghan Page); Under 12s Te Rarawa Honda 3 Oturu 0 (Caleb Fleet), Northern Mustangs beat Eastern (Black Broughton, Leela Brown), Awanui 2 Tu Kaha 1 (Marcelle Petera, Christopher Wintraecken), Pompallier 5 Te Rarawa Stonecraft 1 (Kody Johnston); Under 15s: Eastern beat Kaitaia Fire (Robert Covich), and Tu Kaha Rebels beat Tu Kaha Outlaws (Jack Mannell, Riley Parangi).
The draw for round 4 this Saturday with home teams given first was, U8s: Te Rarawa v Eastern Tigers, Oturu v Paparore, Pamapuria v Eastern Stars, bye Kaitaia, all games kick off at 9am; U10s: Oturu v Paparore, Te Rarawa v Eastern Two at Ahipara, Awanui v Eastern One, bye Kaitaia, all kick off at 10am; U12s: Northern Mustangs v Oturu, Te Rarawa Two v Eastern, Awanui v Pompallier, Tu Kaha v Te Rarawa Honda (at Kaitaia Intermediate), all kick off 11am.
The following Saturday, May 25, sees the knockout round commencing before competition takes a break on June 1, the Saturday of Queen's Birthday Weekend.
And in Kerikeri ... More people are being sought take part in a Youth Level 1 Coaching Course at Kerikeri FC on Harmony Lane in Waipapa this Sunday.
Northland Football Federation's Christina Taylor advised that a minimum of eight was needed to make the course viable - currently only three had signed up as of yesterday - and asked all local clubs to check to see if they can get any more registrations, otherwise the course will have to be cancelled. The course will be run by NFF's Dave Alabaster and was designed for people wishing to improve their coaching of players aged around 13 to 17. The cost to attend the course from 9am to 12pm was $82, and registrations can be made online (the link was www.nff.org.nz/index.php?id=99). For more information, contact Christina Taylor on 437-7294, (021) 795 074.