Having been told that Emanuel hadn’t specialised in football for a number of years/decades, I was apprehensive about the standard at the school and also the appetite for the sport among the students. However, from the very first training session it became abundantly clear that not only do the boys have a connection with football, but they’re also pretty good at it too.

We’ve been training a few times a week since early January, and in that short time the improvement has been incredible, which has been reflected in the results. I think it’s fair to say that starting out this season the expectation was to re-introduce the pupils to school football, have fun and be competitive. Well, we’ve certainly had fun, and having played a handful of fixtures against schools with more established football programs, we’ve been a bit more than just competitive.

We’ve welcomed Dulwich College at U13 level, winning every game across our various teams. The same can be said about the U12s who travelled to Dulwich College and completed the clean sweep. Our U13As are unbeaten so far (in two games) and the U12s have only lost once in a very tight game against Wimbledon College.

In terms of our training sessions, there is always a need to work on our passing, dribbling and shooting. However, it’s our positioning, communication and concentration that really make a difference on game days. It has been a great start and really nice to meet all the incredibly warm and supportive parents who come to watch the games. I think they’ll attest to the improvements they’ve seen, the smiles on the pupils’ faces and the odd bit of sporting drama.

Mario Theodorou, Coach

“I played football before coming to Emanuel, so it’s great to be playing it now in Year 8. Mario is a really great coach; in our training sessions he analyses our games and gets us to play in a rondo, where we play in a circle and try to stop the person in the middle intercepting the ball. My teammate Rory has good banter with Mario, which is a laugh!

We’ve played some great games so far; we drew 1-1 against Westminster Under U13A and beat Dulwich College 6-2 (I scored a goal in this game). There’s a big game coming up against Wimbledon College soon which everyone is looking forward to.

I would rate my teammate Joe Alexander as most improved player. He scored three goals in last Saturday’s game!”

James Daley (U13A team)

We are expecting to start a girls’ football club in the summer. Watch this space!