Fantastic Effort Blog!

Last night (Monday 17th Jan) I collected in the final few envelopes of sponsorship money for the "Save for Robbie Appeal" event which took place on Monday 13th December. When I got home I got out all the other envelopes and completed my spreadsheets, counted up all the cheques and bagged up all the cash and sat in awe looking at the final total on my calculator. Earlier that day I had read the latest piece in the Evening Advertiser on how Robbie's appeal was coming along having noticed over the last couple of months a few articles wherby some Swindon companies had helped Robbie's family out with some events. There was a carpet company in Stratton and Specsavers (a nationwide company) and the total currently stood at £4550.00.

Steve Hale Goalkeeping school is a small goalkeeping coaching organisation ran solely by me with Chippy helping me out with some coaching and support. We have just over 30 members signed up who regularly attend our Monday night sessions. 29 took part on the evening in freezing conditions and over the course of the last month the young goalkeepers and their parents have set about raising funds by way of sponsorship and donations. 5 of the 29 goalkeepers managed to raise over £100 each, one in particular raised a staggering £359 which left me gobsmacked. Both myself and Chippy begged and rolled out our "puppy-dog" eyes to work colleagues, family and friends and between us all the figure that popped up on my calculator at 9.00pm last night was £2055.00!!.....when I set out to try and help out, I thought if I could raise £1000.00 I would have done really well so as you can imagine today I am feeling extremely proud of everyone who has done their bit to make this a success.

I have spoken with Kelly (Robbie's Mum) today and she was amazed and very thankful and within the next 7 days the monies will be handed over and will go into the special account setup for their fund. There are many sad and awful things that happen in this world today and lots of events and charities out there all with good people trying to do their bit to help others, its a never-ending task. It is our responsibility to appreciate what we have, not take it, or life for granted and try and help others and I would like to personally thank everyone who has helped and taken part in this event we put on to try and help Robbie and his family.

A VERY PROUD Steve Hale!

New Year Blog

I'd like to start my first blog of 2011 with best wishes to everybody for the coming year, hopefully everyone had a really good Christmas.

I had a really good two week break, firstly managing to beat the bad weather and the transport problems and managed 5 nights in sunny Tenerife where temperatures were 25 degrees each day, certainly warmer than the -12 degrees I encountered as I drove down the M4 to Bristol airport for our departure! It was great to get away and relax in the sunshine by the beach or the outdoor pool at our hotel. I'm also grateful my good lady is very understanding as I managed to find a football match to watch, just 5 minutes from our hotel!! It was a Spanish 3rd division game and despite the poor attendance apart from some Brits like me, itching to see some football having not witnessed much back home it was nice to watch a game.

On my return on Christmas Eve we had to acclimatise back to the freezing cold conditions of England, but once home we settled in for Christmas during which we had a good time. Last Thursday the weather had cleared up enough for us to finally play our league cup game with Hungerford for Cirencester where I'm part of the coaching staff so it was good to get back out on the grass and strike some balls at Bully (our keeper at Cirencester). Yesterday on the eve of our game with Swindon Supermarine we had a light snow flurry and it does seem cold again but i'm just praying that the really bad weather has gone so I can concentrate on getting back into my coaching routine.

This week should see me back in after the Christmas break with the goalkeepers at the Centre of Excellence at Swindon and on Monday (10th) it will be the first session back for "Steve Hale Goalkeeping School" so i'm looking forward to that.

With regards the recent "Save for Robbie Appeal" event which took place just before Christmas, I would ask that all members who took part collect and bring in their sponsor money to that session so that I can work out the final total at which point I will make an announcement. Initial figures from what I already have in look good so fingers crossed and I will shortly have pictures of the event on the gallery page for people to view.

I currently have for my Monday night sessions 4 spaces available in my younger age group and 2 spaces available in my older age group. If there are any budding goalkeepers out there who would like to improve their goalkeeping techniques please make contact with me as soon as possible to reserve a place.

Proud Blog!

I want to start this blog by thanking all parents and goalkeepers for making Monday night's "Save for Robbie Appeal Event" a good evening. It was a great effort from all concerned on a cold evening. Thanks go to Mr & Mrs Strange for helping sell raffle tickets and putting all the tickets in Pete Matthews hat (good of him to let us use it on such a cold evening!) Thanks also to Pete himself for taking photographs and thanks to the parents who stayed and watched and also encouraged and applauded the goalkeepers themselves who put alot of effort in. Also special mention to George Burr and his mum who were struggling to get there due to George's sister being late back from a school event. George came out from Wantage just in time to take part in his "20 Penalties" which I thought was a great effort to participate in the event.

I'm trying not to go into too much detail about the event in this blog because as soon as Pete has the pictures organised and the monies are all collected in there will be a full piece on the main site. Suffice it to say I am very proud of all involved with my goalkeeping school for their efforts.

Once again the bad weather has struck! Just as I got to Greendown this evening for a session with my goalkeepers at Swindon Town we were greeted with heavy snow. This made it a non event because apart from being extremely cold to the point of not being able to feel my fingers or toes, the poor lads had a job to catch the ball as it just kept picking up snow and bits of the rubber crumb off the surface!

With more snow forecast I am glad I am jetting off to the sun this weekend as me and my good lady take a 5 day trip to Tenerife (providing we can get to Bristol Airport ok!). Current temperatures in the Canary Islands are 25 degrees so it will be a nice respite from this horrible weather.

Latest Blog

For the past two weeks this weather has disrupted football in general and me in particular! I have lost the last two regular Monday night sessions (which included my "Save for Robbie Appeal event"). Also some sessions with Swindon Town Centre of Excellence goalkeepers and the last two sessions I do for "Lions in the Community" down in Andover. As a Self Employed football coach its costing me money and at this rate the size of my turkey on Christmas Day is rapidly decreasing!

Last Saturday we (Cirencester Town) did manage to play our latest league game down at Bashley. All the way there on the coach I just couldn't see the game going ahead as we were surrounded by snow on both sides of the road but eventually when we got there some late night rain on the Friday had cleared the pitch of snow and it was playable much to our surprise. Thankfully we made the most of it and secured an excellent last minute 2-1 win.

Last night (Thursday) I was with Swindon Town Youth team for our FA Youth Cup tie at Championship side Watford at Vicarage Road. We prepared the lads well leaving early afternoon and travelling down on the First Team coach to a hotel near the ground for a pre-match meal. It was good for the lads to sample what it could be like as a professional footballer if they work hard enough and earn that first contract. I will say though that the Hilton Hotel chain need to invest some money in their toasters as the toast for my beans on toast took longer to cook than a Sunday roast!

We reached Vicarage Road and apart from one side of the ground which is tatty the rest of it is excellent and again it was great for the lads to experience playing at a stadium like that. It was always going to be a tough game as being an Academy side Watford have greater resources such as better training facilities, bigger squad size and will have had more actual coaching time as they have come up through their system. We lost the game 2-0 and they were the better side. However our lads did very well and a few things went against us in the game such as losing one of our influential midfielders in the first ten minutes to a bad head injury, then having a debatable penalty given against us with fifteen minutes gone. In the second half we forced their keeper into two great saves but then late on a bit of naivity by our full back cost us when he gave away a needless free kick and they scored from the resulting ball into our box. Overall the lads did well and maybe if a liitle luck had gone our way the result may have been different but importantly it was a great experience for the lads and one with which they can learn from which will help with their development.

Back to the weather and over the last 24 hours there has been an improvement in the temperatures and having driven past Ruskin School this afternoon I could actually see the green of the astro turf not a glaze of white. Providing temperatures don't plummet again over the weekend all should be well for the "Save for Robbie Appeal" event on Monday evening (13th). It would be great if we can make the evening a success and raise as much money as possible for Robbie and his family.

February Glove Offer!!

Special price on "Ultimate Grip" gloves

Blog Number Two

This weeks blog has to start with the news of our "Save for Robbie Appeal" which is an event I have planned and started to put into place this week.

"Save for Robbie Appeal" (Updated 6th Dec)

Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of everyday life we can forget how fortunate both we and our children are.

Wilts FA GK Course

The Wiltshire FA are running an FA Level One Goalkeeping Award course which starts on Saturday 4th June and have 8 spaces to fill. The hours are as follows:

Saturday 4th June 2011 - 9.00am - 4.30pm

Sunday 5th June 2011 - 9.00am - 4.30pm

Monday 6th June 2011 - 6.30pm - 9.30pm

Tuesday 7th June 2011 - 6.30pm - 9.30pm

Cost of the course is £100.00

My First Blog!

I write my first blog sat in my hotel room late at night while in the middle of a three day FA Course.

Two Day Goalkeeping Course 2010

Saturday 22nd & Sunday 23rd May saw the latest Two day course take place at the Corinium Stadium, home of Zamaretto Premier League side Cirencester Town in what were tropical conditions!