“To everything there is a season…a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance…” Ecclesiastes 3

Winning the Midland Football Combination’s Premier division title in 2011/12 was the climax of a long journey and marked the beginning of a new era at Continental Star FC.

Continental has been a vanguard for nearly forty years providing a unique service for those living in the inner city areas of Birmingham.  Sure, I hear you asking what’s so unique about what Continental do, after all, there are several organisations working within the inner city that provide a similar experience?  Some would argue that some of these organisations have even gone on to be more successful; opening an independent ‘Free’ school for example.  But whilst this is a magnanimous achievement for an organisation that primarily started out as a sporting venture (led by Continental Star alumni) it doesn’t diminish the achievements that Continental Star has achieved year in, year out on a shoe string budget.

Over the years Continental Star has prided itself on being able to provide a sustainable service for young people that has been primarily free of charge.  In order to maintain this it was important that, as an organisation they built their capacity; simply put, the more qualified coaches that they produced the more young people they would be able to engage.

Ex-Birmingham City trainee, Delton Francis, had just completed his latest FA coaching award when a chance meeting with Continental Star’s General Manager: Lincoln Moses resulted in him being offered the vacant 1^st team manager’s post.  Delton was enthralled by what he had heard during their brief encounter and was eager to take up his first managerial post.  The next few months (and dare I say years) were to prove to be a sharp learning curve for the new manager as he came to terms with the Continental Star philosophy whilst attempting to stamp his mark on the club.  Delton recalls “…Lincoln and myself had lots of conversations regarding the issues at the club and we decided to have a massive restructure…”  Delton worked tirelessly as he set out to standardise the club’s coaching practices: this meant that the training sessions for the junior teams mirrored the training sessions of the 1^st and the reserve teams.  Consequently, this saw a positive change in the attitude of the coaches as they began to develop a more professional approach to their work. 

Delton’s relationship at a Continental Star could be best summed up as being a symbiotic relationship; he was mentored by Lincoln Moses throughout his tenure as he was entrusted with shaping and developing the club.  For some of us at the club it comes as no surprise that Delton has reluctantly relinquished his role at the club.  At the heart of Continental Star FC’s philosophy is a desire to make a positive difference in the lives of the people that it comes in contact with; be it helping a young person to refocus and therefore begin to engage better at school; be it providing opportunities to develop life skills for young people, or be it providing a platform for its coaches to excel.  Therefore it wasn’t going to be long before professional clubs began taking note of what was happening at Continental Star.  Not only were the young people being scouted but the coaches too.  The beginning of the 13/14 season saw five of Star’s coaches take up roles at professional clubs.

Continental Star is a family club and like any family it is never easy when one of the family members leaves.  Delton and his assistant, Darren Wright, have found it increasingly difficult to manage the demands of both of their roles at Continental Star and West Bromwich Albion and Walsall respectively; it was with deep regret and after much soul searching that they have offered their resignation.   The organisation will, as always look ahead beyond this period of uncertainty with a positive attitude that says: ‘The king is dead, long live the king!’  And in doing so, all those involved with Continental Star would like to publicly acknowledge and thank both Delton Francis and Darren Wright for all their hard work and endeavours, and we wish them all the very best in the future.

Under10s started their league season this morning. I’d meant to summarise our pre-season ahead of today but didn’t quite get round to it so here we go…

It’s been a great summer, a lot of work has gone in to get the players a lot of experience at 7-a-side and get the new players integrated. We’ve competed in two tournaments as well as friendlies against Sporting FC, Wednesbury Sports Union, Alverchurch Lions, Callowbrook Swifts, Harborne Hotshots and Football Futures. The talent and progression the players have shown has been really encouraging. We’ve also arranged opportunities for the players to be learning from FA coaches through the Tesco Skills programme. The huge squad is now ready and raring to go in the form of two teams of 10 in the SML…

Both CSFC Blues and CSFC Yellows started the season with great performances. While Yellows scored some great goals to win 9-4 against Singh Sabha, Blues played out a thriller against Smethwick Raiders in the end losing 5-4 after coming back from 3-0 down through some splendid football. Well done to the yellows for maintaining high standards whilst having to be flexible with positions due to some player absences. And well done to the blues for withstanding the usual physical battle of Smethwick Raiders playing by far the better football and almost snatching a draw at the end. A thoroughly enjoyable and encouraging morning.

Blog by: Patrick O’shea

Mention ‘Mind Games’ and anybody remotely acquainted with sport will begin to think about the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Usain Bolt, Mohammed Ali, et al and all of those that have fallen foul of such practices; Kevin Keegan, the ex Newcastle United manager famously succumb to this in a post match interview live on SKY, and Rafa Benitez had his infamous ‘Fact’ rant prior to an upcoming Liverpool versus Manchester United game.  But surely the concept of ‘Mind Games’ deserves greater consideration than generating sound bites for the media.

This time last season Star’s players were riding high on confidence having just won the Midland Combination premier division and then going on to lift their Charity Shield.  In doing so, Star had gone on a 12 game unbeaten run and had carried this on into the Midland Alliance league.  In contrast, Star’s second season in the Midland Alliance has seen them lose their opening four games; leaking goals at an alarming rate whilst at the other end of the field being profligate in front of goals.  What is frightening is the fact that with the exception of one or two players the core of the team is made up of the players who won the league two seasons ago.  So what has gone wrong?

Football is game watched by many, all of whom have an opinion on how to maximise the potential of the team.  Some would argue that the tactics being employed are not right or perhaps that the personnel being selected is not the right mix.  Others might suggest that the team is not fit enough and or, that there is insufficient strength in depth, and the opinions don’t just stop there, but for me, whilst those arguments have some merit they are not the main reason why this group of players who convincingly won their remaining games of last season (beating the league champions along the way) to avoid getting drawn into the relegation zone, are currently underperforming; there has to be a solution closer to home.

‘Form is temporary but class is permanent’ is a football cliché that suggest that good players don’t become bad players overnight.  One could argue that as well as being able to consistently perform at a high standard, elite performers possess an inner believe, a determination to succeed if you will.  It is here that the ultimate ‘Mind Game’ must be won!  So one can do all the fitness training necessary and work endless hours on honing their skills, but if the individual is not paying enough attention to developing his ‘mind game’ then everything else could be in vain.  The desire to succeed must begin with the individual aspiring to get in the team and then to remain there by performing at a consistent level that makes it difficult for him to be dropped.  Sir Alex Ferguson is reported to have once said that he looks at what a player does when he or his team doesn’t have the ball, when determining whether or not that player is going to have the attributes required to be a Manchester United player.

I would therefore like to suggest that until the players (and therefore team) begin to win their ‘mind games’ we will not see the standard of performance expected from the squad of players that we have assembled.  If the ‘mind games’ are not firstly addressed and then challenged the players will continue to make the wrong decisions and these decisions will be highlighted by others and then magnified by the player – who in turn will either deflect this by denying that the problem exist or they will look to find fault in others.  [Sounds familiar?]

Ironically, top Sports Psychologist, Jamie Edwards, has been working with Continental Star and has put on a number of workshops.  It is about time that some of the players began to put these theories into practice.