IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR PARENTS/GUARDIANS OF THE SOMTAWIN FOOTBALL PLAYERS!

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Several games last weeks

On Sunday morning August 31st we had to play against the Cha-Am team of Thai-Nepalese tailors. We were in luck, they only were 9 and we, Somtawin, had enough players to give them a hard time! And a hard time it was! We scored one goal after the other and we had a 3-0 lead in no-time. After the break the Cha-Am team seemed to be able to get hold of a new, 10th player! Was it their secret weapon? Anyway the game became a bit more exiting and the Cha-Am team almost succeeded in getting a draw. Because of hard work and good field work Somtawin won this game: 5-4!

On Sunday September 7th Somtawin had to play the Brasil team. Despite the fact that Somtawin did not play a good game, too many selfish actions and not holding their positions during the play, Somtain won 4-1. A good result, but not one to be proud of...

Last Saturday September 13th the Cha-Am team asked us back on their home territory, the Hilton Regent Resort near Cha-Am. They wanted revenge for the defeat 2 weeks earlier. A great game to watch! Some Cha-Am players really were very, very fanatic and the Somtawin team played a great match. As well as winning a game when playing badly, it also seemed possible to lose a good game. The Cha-Am won 3-1 and both teams made some beautiful goals!

August 24, against Thai-Nepales team (only a few more to go)

On Saturday our team "suffered" a decent physical training on the beach near Sofitel. They had to run all the way through the mouldy sand to the hotels just after Soi 77, I guess about 2 kilometer (and back)! Great performance, but knowing our team is dealing with football almost on a daily basis since over 2 months, their condition should be(and indeed is) improved! No question about that!
On Sunday morning, seeing the same crack in the same dawn as the week before, we drove to another football field, just after Mountain Ville resort. The field is much better than the one at Somtawin (although a few cows seemed to have dropped some of their overweight...) and, although a couple of players were not available due to health reasons (...), our players were absolutely good. The game was very nice to watch, because Somtawin showed a lot of dedication and our young players showed themselves real worthy opponents to the "Spanish" team, that seemed to be in the lead of the Thai-Nepalese league. Although it looked that they would be defeated untill far in the second half, they managed to score 3 times (Martijn, Amrit and ...) in the last 10 minutes! A draw and a great performance guys!!!
Our team in the meantime choose their captain (Dear) and co-captain (Martijn) and they already started their preparations for their journey to Malaysia, the second week of October. They already talked about possibilities of sponsoring to get a decent outfit for that event. Some of the players already know very well how this world works, the rest will learn from it... wonderful!

August 17, 2008. Third Thai-Nepalese opponents.

At the crack of dawn, Sunday morning... I suppose that's going to be our live as long as our children are part of the Somtawin Senior Footballteam. 6.30 AM sharp we were present. It seemed we had to play the Germans! Always difficult. Although we had 2 very early goals by Martijn and Top we did not manage to win. After a good start the Germans were able to defeat us... 3-5... No need to spend any more words on this game...

At the crack of dawn, Sunday morning, 6.30 AM

Dear's mum picknicking

Ohoh, the Germans are coming...

Frances is meaning business during half-time...:-...

Game evaluation afterwards. Everyone had their say

August 3, 2008. Another game against another Thai-Nepalese team.

And again an early rise on Sunday. 5 AM... The first picture... only black... As agreed we were at the new Somtawin school at 6 (okay, we were 10 minutes late) and found Billy stretching and warming up. Matt arrived soon after this and then the big wait began. It was untill 6.45 that the schoolbus arrived. The driver forgot... say no more... Then coach Francis started to become a little bit nervous, because his Thai-Nepalese team were late, bút... this is Thailand, you know... Ten minutes past 7 they arrived, 15 adult men in a pickup taxi. Quickly putting on shoes, also quickly breaking in the PE room for a good, well-inflated ball (someone forgot to bring the correct keys...) and at 7.30 the coach Francis let the game begin! At least 6 supporters this time. It is not exaggerated to state that the STW team had possession of the ball 75% of the time. Furthermore they were on "enemy grounds" also 75% of the time, they had around 30 chances for making a goal and still the Thai-Nepalese guys managed to get a 2-0 lead!?!? Concerning not being able to utilize the many opportunities the team got, it seemed that, as opposed to coach Francis' advise after Saturdays training to drink lots of WATER and to go to bed early, some of the STW players found it more fun to go out and have lots of other stuff to drink and only little sleep. This clearly made them weary and thus some of the STW team were not able to find the goal... Because of 2 goals in the last 5 minutes (60th and 65th minute, we played 2 x 30 minutes) it ended being a draw. A pitty, because looking at the overall game our STW team was stronger and really should have won. Hopefully the STW team will be able to play at it's fullest potential the next game. This will help motivate and not frustrate the team! Guys, think about this and... keep it cool next time!!! Here are todays pics:


Sunday, 6.15 AM, Somtawin school

The only activities in both goal areas untill about 7.15

The Somtawin bus arrives quarter to 7

The Thai-Nepalese putting on their shoes

A total number of 6 supporters this time

Coach Francis talking to the team during half-time

Games towards the end

Video: Somtawin scores 1-2

And it's a draw... 2-2 in the end!!

July 25, 2008. Third game: Vithalaya school

After school on Friday a match was planned against the football team of Vithalaya school on Petchakasem road in Hua Hin. It was clear that this game would be a difficult one, because we already met the Vithalaya team in an "indoor" competition (small field, but due to the good weather in Thailand played outside) at Market Village somewhere in December of last year. At that moment we lost 0-10 against them in 40 minutes. Today we really did not have any chance against Vithalaya school. They were absolutely better than the Somtawin team; they outsmarted us with their personal technical skills as well as game tactics. In the end we lost 5-1... Some of the highlights were Charly and Billy, who really were one of the few able to keep up with the higher level of the Vithalaya level of playing, and the photos, that were taken with a professional camera this time. Enjoy the photos!

Matt's balancing skills

Great Vithalaya building

What are you doing there, Mr. Dan?

Charly in action

Half-time

Drive-by Somtawin fanclub

Free-kick

Again loads of supporters

4-0...

Great background - next time with a clean ball...:-)...

July 20, 2008. Second game: Thai-Nepalese adults

5 AM!!! This was the crazy hour (most Europeans still were awake on their Saturday night!) we had to wake up... leaving at 6 to be able to be at the wholy Somtawin grounds at 6.30 AM. All members of the senior team were already present (as well as some of the junior team) and coach Frances was doing his utmost best to get his Thai-Nepalese team there in time. They arrived just in time, 15 people in 1 pick-up taxi... love how they can be very practical. After Frances was able to fill up some of the worst wholes in the grass, the game started at approximately 7 AM. About 20 supportes (no kidding!!) were cheering on the team. As it was still early and we had quite some rain during the night it did cool of somewhat, but the heat of the game and the will to win (plus off course some extra drops of rain) got everybody somewhat overheated and completely wet after not more than 10 minutes in the field. Luckily one of the Thai-Nepalese players was able to lose the ball for a full 10 minutes by kicking it in the man-high grass (at least for some of the Thai-Nepalese guys) at the left side of the football field. The Thai-Nepalese were very eager to get the ball, but only few of them were really able to kick it to one of their fellow players. On the other side STW had some very good chances, but it looked like nobody dared to score Somtawin's first goal... Although not really reflecting the game untill that moment, the Thai-Nepalese team succeeded in scoring the first, and 5 minuites later also their second, goal. At half-time the score was Somtawin 0 - Thai-Nepalese 2... During the break, though, Frances was able to motivate his Somtawin team by stating that the Thai-Nepalese would play with some highly pregnant guys in the second half, and they thus should be able to catch up with the competitors. And indeed, not more than 5 minutes after the start of the second half Somtawin scored 1-2!! Super!!! And although your reporter was not able to see much of the second half, Somtawin even succeeded in scoring it's second goal AND even it's THIRD one! SO WE WON 3-2!!!! Goals were scored by Top (2x, 1 assist by Thomas, 1 assist by Martijn) and Billy (assist bij Mark P). Within living memory this was Somtawin senior's first victory! What is the secret? The coach? Absolutely! Was it the time of day? Hopefully not... Or just our very inspired group of youngsters? Undoughtedly!! Please go on like this, Somtawin senior team, if all of you keep being enthusiastic as this, you will soon become a complete, more professional and WINNING TEAM!!!!!

Letter: STW Football Coach & Training Programme (download and complete!)

Dear parents/guardians of the Somtawin Football Team players,

End of June you should have received a letter including permission slip via your son/daughter, because he/she is selected to be part of our Somtawin Football Team. In this letter it is told that we have a new trainer, additional training sessions and we will have regular matches. Because part of this activity will be done outside school hours, there will be additional cost. These will be paid on a 50/50 basis by the Somtawin school and the parents/guardians. This means that each player should contribute 500 THB per month.

Since a lot of slips were not yet returned it may be that you did not get the letter. If you click on the picture or THIS LINK you can download and print the letter. Please fill in the details and make sure your son/daughter takes it to school on shortest possible notice.

Many thanks, kind regards,

Mr. Steve, Miss Nongnoo, Mr. Henyo, Mr. Vrijken

Beach training on July 5th

Playing a game is great, but training really is a must. At some time in the future maybe to maintain the qualities the guys will then have, but as long as the qualities did not yet come out to their fullest, training is key! Today they trained at the beach, just a couple of 100 meters away from their old Somtawin schoolbuilding. As with every first time it was difficult to have everybody there in time, but at 3.15 PM they all were ready for Mr. Francis´ fitness training. Although there is no real picture evidence of the actual training, our guys were very enthousiastic and warming up as well as cooling down were taken very seriously by all. We heard Francis already talk about a new game next week against one or two of the other teams he trains, so they really have something to go for. Great work, guys!
Please find below some pictures that were taken today.

The ones getting there first started bit of a training by themselves.

The trainer just arrived, everybody eager to get into action!

Warming up, very important.

... very, very important!

Cooling down: also very important.

... also very, very, very, very...

... very very very important!!

June 30, 2008. First game: Prommanusorn School Petchaburi

Today was THE day, D-day! After only 2 trainings ánd a new, professional coach, Somtawin Sr. Football Team had to play against a team from Prommanusorn School in Petchaburi, the biggest school in the district. Big, meaning a lot of kids to pick the really good ones... Like last year this seemed to be an impossible task for our youngsters... ehm, seniors...
Besides some 18 players from the New Somtawin School there were about 2 hands full of Somtawin fans, die hards that had to overcome a sheer 50 kilometers to see their heroes play!
Because the game started in really, really hot weather, coach Mr. Francis Henyoh started with a calm, though solid warming up. At about 4 PM the game started. Although it was clear that the competitors were somewhat more experienced than our STW team, found eachother more easily in passing the ball and seemed to be less affraid of the ball, the STW team showed real character (and had some luck, like a little angel on the goal pole) and succeeded in a 0-0 at half-time. Great result (and some really tired faces...)!
The second half went somewhat more dissappointing, BUT for a reason. Instead of the Prommanusorn players, all of a sudden, our great team found themselves playing against a totally different team, a team of players from all over the district (I was told). Two trainings and pure character were not enough anymore to "hold the enemy". The score at the end was 4-0 in favour of the Prommanusorn team.
In spite of this loss the coach and his team can be proud of themselves! It seemed that the best score of last year was a 2-7 loss of the STW team. In light of this and the knowledge that they only lost the game in the second half against absolutely better and more experienced players, asks for more! More training! More games! More... better, and a first VICTORY!!!

Prommanusorn School in Petchaburi
A great Gymnasium at Prommanusorn School
The coach and his pupils
The coach and his goalkeeper pupil
A calm warming up
The opponents
Still laughing before the game
Couple of minutes before the game
Fans, loads of fans... for the competitors
Action!
Free kick (seeing the need for a mowing machine?)
A lot against many players
Fans requesting photo's, autographs and... email adresses! Would they ever experience this in... (their home countries)?? NO!