Welcome to our club as we move into our 38th season
It was good to get back to playing a full season with no pandemic issues !!. Our presentation days were again split into 2 sessions due to the large number of age groups now representing the club. We had 180 players registered for the club last season, which is a new record.
Kirton Kestrels is a great, family friendly football club and we pride ourselves in the position of trust we have in coaching our children and young people. We try to place the emphasis on having fun especially with the younger age groups and our philosophy is that winning is not everything !
For 2023-24, Kirton Kestrels again has10 age groups, starting at Under-6 and continuing to Under-18 (but with NO Under-15, Under-16 or Under-17). This is assuming we can get our Under-6's started as there seems to be a shortage of players and coaches for this young team at the moment. The Under-8's, Under-9's ,Under-10's and Under-12's are all fielding 2 teams for this season. Our Under-6's will just have free coaching for most of the season. A few friendly matches may be organised. The Under-7's will play in 4v4 festivals, and be involved with 5v5 matches towards the end of the season. All the other age groups will be playing in the Suffolk Youth Football League on a Saturday morning.
The club is affiliated to the Suffolk County F.A. The affiliation system has changed for the new season. NO affiliation number will be issued in future. Our 'status' will be affiliated.
Kirton Kestrels is a FA 2* accredited football club (used to be FA Charter Standard) and all the club's coaches, managers and often their assistants, have been trained to the Level 1 standard, which involves many hoiurs of online work. Everybody who may be involved with the players must undertake a DBS check and Safeguarding course. We have our own Club Welfare Officer and are also following the FA RESPECT "code of conduct" for players, spectators and officials. View our club constitution.
Our club HQ is the much envied sports pavilion on Kirton Recreation Ground, which was built in 2003 and received massive funding by the Football Foundation. Although owned by the Parish Council, Kirton Kestrels are the main user of the facility, and contributed significantly to the fundraising for the building.
Our Under-8s will play 5 a-side games with their home matches at Kirton Recreation Ground. Due to lack of space, the Under-9 and Under-10 teams will play at Trimley St Martin CP School and they are now both playing 7 a-side mini-soccer. The two Under-12 teams and the Under-11 team will play 9 a-side matches on Kirton Recreation Ground, sharing the junior pitch..
The club's Under-13's, Under-14's and Under-18 sides play 11 a-side football, sharing the senior pitch at Kirton Recreation Ground.
All of our Saturday teams play in the Suffolk Youth Football League
Each age group (apart from the Under-6's and Under-7's who train on a Saturday) has 1 hour of training under the floodlights at the Kirton Recreation Ground during the week.The Under-18's will train at the Felixstowe Academy AWA on a Monday and Thursday with 2 other slots available for other age groups on the Thursday.
Yet again, subscriptions have been held at the same cost :-
U7 - £35
U8 to U10 - £65
U11 to U15 - £70
£110 if 2 or more players from the same family
There is NO weekly fee.