The coach of a Cwmbran football team who won their first league game in five years says the win was enjoyable, but the best part is seeing the boys come together as a team, make friends, and grow as people.
Anyone who volunteers their time to coach young people in sport across Torfaen is the best. I love meeting them.
James Oliver-House, from Coed Eva Athletic FC under-16s, hopes his team’s long-overdue win will encourage local businesses to sponsor the team. At the moment, they have to borrow an old senior team’s away kit- and there are not enough shirts for every player.
I met him last night as his team trained at The Birches in West Pontnewydd. He nearly called off the session due to rain. It went ahead so the team could get together two days after a 3-1 win against local rivals Llanyrafon.
There was another important reason the session went ahead. Last season, he told his players that if they ever won, they could shave his head 🙂
Standing pitchside as the squad warmed up, he grinned as he told me: “It’s unbelievable, unbelievable.
“They’ve won a couple of games in pre-season.
‘Learned so much’
“It’s the first league win in five years. They’re all ecstatic and really happy to finally get that off their back.
“It’s their first win since under-12s. And now in pre-season, they’ve won something like seven out of 12, so they’re going in quite confident, a lot better than where they were in terms of their confidence and their ability.
“They’ve learned so much, they’ve gained so much from it. Yes, they’re a really good group of boys. “
I asked him what he loves about being a coach.
James said: “A lot of it is seeing them progress. Seeing them go from not so confident or not getting a certain thing, and then getting it, and seeing them buzzing that they’ve actually done it or buzzing that they’ve achieved something, or coming together as a team and just making friends and growing as people.
“It’s unbelievable. You have a genuine impact on them, and that’s nice. It’s really nice.”
He said the team would love to get support from sponsors to buy a new home and away kit, as the team currently borrows an “old away kit from the seniors”. This strip only has 13 shirts, meaning there’s not enough for his squad.
The club also has referee fees to pay each week, plans for a Christmas party, and hopes to go on tours.
‘Keeping their heads up’
James thanked his players’ parents for keeping their heads up over the years, adding: “They keep them going. Sometimes, the boys will have their heads down about games, they’ll [parents] take them out of that and get them going, and get them back for Monday [training].
And why did he agree to his head being shaved after his team’s first league win in many years?
He said: “It was a bit of joke. It was just kind of like, ‘oh yeah, you can give me a haircut if we win’
“You don’t really think it’s gonna happen, you know, you just keep going, and then they did it, and they’ve done it in three games, and then they called the bet in.”
Sponsor Coed Eva Athletic FC under-16s
If you can help, please email [email protected]