With the season now in full swing, I wanted to welcome all the new players and parents to Hove Park Colts. For 23/24 the club has expanded to 25 teams and 372 players – including 130 girls – which is a fantastic achievement.

50 years of Hove Park Colts
You may have noticed the club badge on the website and social media has changed slightly. We’re delighted to be celebrating 50 years of Hove Park Colts in 2024, which is quite an accomplishment for a grassroots youth team. We’re planning a celebration in Hove Park on Saturday 6th July and want to involve the whole club, which could mean over 1,000 people attending!

We’ll share more details soon, but if you have event-planning expertise you can offer or want to get involved by helping on the day, donating raffle prizes, etc. then please email Di at membership@hoveparkcoltsfc.org. We’d also love your HPC stories and photos from the 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s so please send them through.

Winter training
Most teams have started their winter training on the 3G pitches. This is without doubt our most expensive outlay during the season, but worth it as it’s the best place to train during those long winter evenings. We also think it’s pretty special under the lights! We train during the week rather than Saturdays because I personally don’t think it’s fair to expect coaches to dedicate their whole weekend to football (unless of course they want to!)

Kits for coaches
Talking about the coaches, I think a lot of parents don’t realise they give up their time voluntarily. They’re not paid by the club to coach your child and it’s a huge commitment – it’s not just rocking up at training and games. A lot of thought and planning goes into everything during the week, and on Sundays they need to set up and put away goals and other pitchside equipment. Any help that parents and carers can offer to lighten the load is always welcome.

If you’re considering a gift for your Team Coach this season then we have hatched a plan to help – look out for information about our ‘Kits for Coaches’ matched giving campaign coming soon!

New team kits
Many of you will have seen the new home and training kits the club has developed along with TAG, which are unique to HPC and give us continuity. Those of you who’ve been with the club a while will have seen the effect of the two-year lifespan of most commercial providers’ kits – teams can end up a real mish-mash of styles and designs. Having our own design means we can control any changes we make in the future. Our kit and training gear is all bought at cost. We don’t make any mark-up on the prices, as we try to keep everything affordable.

If you’d like to sponsor a team please let us know! You can sponsor shirts, full kit, jackets or tracksuits, and it’s great promotion for your business.

Grassroots clubs like ours are ‘not-for-profit’ and completely run by volunteers. We’re always looking for parents and carers who can offer some time to help the committee. If there’s anything you feel you can do, please get in touch.

Enjoy the season!

Mark Sessions
Chairman, Hove Park Colts FC