Colts claim a first title after nine years together
After an unchanged nine years, the players and manager at SAHA Under-16 Colts have won their first title.
Mark Jones has managed the Colts from under-eights through to their title-winning under-16s. Five of his players have stuck with him through every season, having first played together in early primary school.
Two more have been involved with Shrewsbury-based SAHA since age seven, while assistant manager David Hammond has been alongside Jones for the last five years.
“Mark loves his football. He’s a really good coach.” Hammond said. “He always puts the welfare of the children first. He’s got the balance right between fun and enjoyable and is always considerate of children’s welfare.”
The team finished second in their under-14 and under-15 seasons, but finally broke the streak in their last year of junior football.
Hammond said: “We’ve always had a competitive team, but never won the league before so to finish with that was great.
“It was great, a really nice way to finish their junior football journey. We’ll more than likely will carry on playing next season.”
Matthew Jones, Freddie Sailisbury, Finn Jones, Cole Yates and William Cooke have all played together each season, while Joe Flynn moved from another SAHA club three years ago and Ryan Cumming left for one season but returned in time for the title-winning season.
Hammond says they’ve got strong friendships: “Some were at the same primary schools, some at the same secondary. Those friendships have kept them all together.
“Mark’s dedication is also a massive part of it.
“He’s always made it enjoyable and we’ve had an extremely supportive group of parents along the way.”
