Bolden's Blog
Bolden’s Blog: deductions, dead pigeons and designs
Published by Gillingham Ladies Media on October 7, 2009
Hello, and welcome to my blog! I am Kimi, captain of Gillingham Ladies Reserves. The ressys are looking good in the league so far, with three wins from three, finishing 6-1, 4-1 and 9-0. Sadly though, we are not contending for the top spot in the table due to a big mess up with our registrations pre-season leading to a 5 point deduction after being forced to forfeit the game.
The girls are probably going to suffer from this deduction at the end of the season, as despite our unbeaten run looking hard to break, Ashford, the top team, were sadly the team we forfeited to, meaning even if we beat them the once, we are still behind them on points. It’s a pretty damming start to the season but the girls have really worked hard to move on from it by giving themselves the target of being unbeaten all year! It’s a brave suggestion, but I have every confidence in them that they can achieve it!
We train twice a week, which is something very few teams in both of our leagues do, and by training all together the squad has remained very close, and players happily switch between teams. Tuesdays are all about fitness and the five a side, which the girls have started to get very competitive about, with penalty shoot outs deciding the finals a number of weeks in a row, showing also how close the standards are among the team.
This stood out massively this week in the reserve game, when two first teamers, Charlotte Thurston and Amy Russ came to us, giving Kate Foster and Charlotte Abbott the chance to go up. The two slotted in perfectly to our midfield, despite a massive reshuffle at the back, the team still worked hard for 90 minutes, and continued to push for goals despite the 9-0 score line.
At which point I feel I need to mention Jess, our goalkeeper who has joined us from the Academy and barely touched the ball Sunday. She has been a huge source of amusement from the minute she appeared, and managed yet again Sunday to set us all off laughing, despite a quiet game for her. During a goal kick at the Deal end, we could hear Jess behind us, screaming for the Ref. Puzzled by her desperation, we all turned, to find a dead pigeon laying in her area! Due to the close proximity to a large field, the poor bird had been shot, and fell yards from Jess. Demanding the Ref remove it, very few of us were willing to shake his hand at the end!
Known for her halfway line clearances and her unusual wit, Jess’s most amusing comment so far this year has to be: “Well how am I supposed to know it was going to rain?” So we asked her, “Don’t you watch the weather forecast, Jess?”, “Well, Yeah” she replied, “but it doesn’t say Gillingham on it so I dunno which bit to look at!”. Bless, I am hoping to bring more of Jess’s wisdom into my blogs as she is far funnier than I am!
Mentioning the Academy, I am currently the Manager of the Under 10’s girls team at Gillingham Girls Centre of Excellence, and would like to share my pride in my “little munchkins” as we affectionately refer to them! I work with my assistant Matt, and the girls play other academies such as Chelsea, Fulham, Reading, Charlton and Millwall at seven aside. They can be expected to travel just as far as the ladies for games, and often far earlier on a Saturday morning than the Ladies would even entertain on a Sunday!
I have 8 players in my squad at the moment, aged between 8 and 9, and none have played football at this level before. Our run of results have been varied so far, with us facing the three toughest teams in our first four games. We do not record the results in a league as the girls are encourage to be involved for personal development rather than results, but so far we have drawn 1, lost 3, and won a spectacular 8-3 against Leyton Orient.
Despite the 3 losses, these were against very organised and established opposition, and I am very confident that the girls have come on so quickly already, we will be a team to be reckoned with very soon. This week we are away to Hampshire, which will be a nice early start, of which I try to numb with a McDonalds breakfast!
We often try to shoot home on a Saturday to watch the men play which is a great way to spend the afternoon, helping Tommy T get ready and catching up with some of the Youth team activites. Looking forward to the Charlton game in a few weeks, which should be an exciting game, knowing how well Charlton have started the season.
Despite being busy with all the football, I still somehow manage to find time to have a life, and am currently spending my days re-training as a Primary School teacher. I graduated in the summer with a Graphic Design degree, and will be donning my robes officially in November, but with graduating in a recession providing huge competition for jobs, by designing as a freelancer in the holidays, I have found a way to have my cake and eat it!
I have been thoroughly enjoying my days in my old school, which certainly makes me feel old, everything seems so tiny now, and I really haven’t grown that much! My primary days were very strict and scary, now it seems children are bribed into things rather than being told they have no choice! Oh to be 5 again!
So far the children have been very responsive to having me around, and usually calling me “the lady from Gillingham” rather than “Miss”, but yet again are a brilliant source of amusement. When studying a famous author who was “Born in Bath”, one of the girls questioned me asking “Does that mean her Mum was in the bath when she was born?!” I took it upon myself to take them to the map and introduce them to the City!
So that’s my life at the moment, so busy with so many different projects. Keep up with us at Gillingham Ladies website to follow our progress and hopefully I will have some more news next week!
Kimi
