7 Ball Boys Football Trip

On Friday 21 April a group of year 7 boys gathered at the Memorial Stadium in Bristol during their Easter holidays. The youngsters were set to act as ball boys for an English Schools Football Association fixture between England U18 and Wales U18. It was fair to say that the boys were excited about the prospect of being a ball boy but also because they hadn’t seen their friends for 2 weeks.

Isaac ADEBO, Ben BOHIN, Abdi CULUSOW, Nana GYIMAH-SARPONG, Izaac OSBORN, Jody QUINN, Toby RICE, Jack ROSSITER, Calum STOCK, Leo WEST, Maxwell WILLIAMS

The boys arrived wearing their St Kath’s PE tops so that they were all in the same kit and were quickly put through their paces by John Martin who sits on the council for the ESFA in the South West of England. John explained to the boys what was involved as a ball boy and then about a special job that he needed 8 boys to carry out. These 8 were asked to act as flag bearers for the two countries, holding the national flags of England and Wales while the national anthems were played – a big responsibility!

The boys did a fantastic job of carrying & holding the flags so that the spectators could see them but they weren’t obstructing the view of the players as the anthems belted out. With the flag bearing over it was time for the ball boys to take their spots around the ground and get down to business. This was a real opportunity for SK students to showcase themselves and they all did a fantastic job. The ball boys were pro-active, attentive and really efficient at collecting the ball and getting it back ready for play while at the same time remaining almost completely inconspicuous. The job is a really tricky one and there was a lot for the boys to contend with. The two stands behind each goal mouth were closed so every time the ball went behind the four on the ends of the pitch had to do some climbing to retrieve it. The boys on one side had the ground covers to wade through while on the other side there was the busy dugout to negotiate. On top of all of that they had to hold position and deal with some friendly banter from some of the younger members of the crowd. At half time they all gathered behind the goal at one end of the pitch to collect the ball for the half time penalty shootout before it was back to business as usual in the second half.

The entire group did a fantastic job on the evening and were a real credit to the school. They were really professional in their work and took to the role brilliantly. Work aside it was a fantastic opportunity for the boys to get front row seats for a clash at the highest level of representative schools football. England needed to win to retain the Centenary Shield and they set about it in impressive fashion running out winners 5-2. The boys had the closest view of anyone in the stadium of some brilliant goals and were never short of great football to watch. The game was streamed live on YouTube so it’s possible to watch all the action back again – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtbaYcFow7k

Great work boys – well done!

Mr Cook