Despite what some of the GRM team may suggest, we do let them go home every now and again! We have therefore decided to run a series of articles that showcase some of the activities that our team get up to away from the office.
And to kick things off (quite literally) we are shining the stadium lights on football fanatic Liam Atkin-Press. By day Liam is a Senior Field Technician who is coming up to his tenth anniversary working with GRM (and he has the scars to prove it!). In the evenings and at weekends he gives up much of his spare time to coach a Woodville Rangers U8’s football team alongside his wife Liz and two assistants.
Woodville Rangers is an established football club with 18 junior and adult teams competing in various local leagues. The Under 8s football team are newly formed and are playing their first season in the Burton Junior Football League. Liam is the Head Coach along with his wife Liz who is also a qualified coach. The team also has two assistant coaches, Mark and Anthony, who Liam says have really helped to progress all the players during this first season.
We asked Liam to share some information about the team and what he gets out of it: “At this age group all the matches are 5v5 and take place every Saturday morning at Marston Sports Club in Burton. I have a squad of 10 players, and it is important that they all get equal playing time.”
“They are all loving it and playing some good stuff, we are progressing every week and scoring in every game. We are putting in the work every training session too. It is really important to try and make each session as much fun as possible, for me that is a MUST! I just love seeing them having a good time and bonding with each other. The parents are very supportive too, and the club have a fantastic turn out every week encouraging the players and giving them positive praise.”
“We have five games left and are hoping for a couple more wins before the season ends. Then we start preparing for next season which increases to 7v7 a side. That will be a big step up for the players, so we will work hard to prepare them and hopefully recruit a couple more for the squad too!”
“And a final note of thanks to the Directors of GRM who have kindly sponsored us this year. We are very grateful as a club for their kind donation, and we will do our best to make them proud!”
