LIJA/ IKLIN FOOTBALL YOUTH NURSERY

c/o 47, Mon Rêve, Triq Ċensu Busuttil, Iklin.

TEL: (00356) 21435747. FAX: 9003560  21445467.

Some information about the Lija/Iklin Nursery - Founded 2002

→ Lija/Iklin F. Y. N. Committee for the season 2007/2008 ←

• The new committee of the Lija/ Iklin Football Youth Nursery for the Season 2007/2008 is made up of the following members:

→ President - Peter Galea,

→ Secretary - Joe Buttigieg,

→ Treasurer - Joe Cremona,

→ Members - Lawrence Borg, Carmel Cilia, Samuel Cutajar, William Mintoff and Saviour Sammut.

New members

• The Nursery will be receiving applications from new entrants, starting from the age of 5 (Age 5 - before the 6th of September 2008). Applications may be collected from the Iklin and Lija councils respectively. They are to be filled as required and submitted back at the respective Council offices together with 2 passport size photos and an original birth certificate. Moreover a health certificate is to be filled by the family doctor and submitted together with the application form.

Parents and Helpers sub-committee

• The Parents and Helpers sub-committee which has started functioning two years ago, has shown a great deal of enthusiasm in satisfying the aims of the main committee for the good of the Lija/Iklin Football Youth Nursery. In the first meeting, after the short summer break, an outline of a programme for the next 3 months was drawn up. Any parents who would like to volunteer as helpers are cordially invited to contact any committee member of our Nursery. The committee members are: TBA. The secretary is Mr. Joe Buttiġieġ.

Lija Women's Team

• The Lija/Iklin Nursery has a considerable amount of female football enthusiasts having regular training sessions at the Lija Training Grounds under the guidance of Mr. Felix Camilleri - a trained coach and the Nursery's technical director. Although their ages vary considerably, the Nursery (with the help of the Parent club) has established a new women's football team. In fact, this year the women's team are competing in the National Women's League for the first time after an absence of nine years, since Lija Athletic already had a women's squad back in the mid-nineties which also peaked when being crowned Malta champions back in Season 1996-1997. Those girls who have football as one of their hobbies and are interested in starting training with the Lija/Iklin Nursery, are requested to call at the Nursery's premises in Iklin or the training grounds. Alternatively they may call at the Lija Athletic Football Club - 73, Bakery Street, Lija.

Football Licence "A"  ( Season 2007-2008 )

• The Nursery has made a huge effort in trying to match stricter requirements applied by the Malta Football Association, and to keep up to the standards reached previously. It should be noted that this year the Lija/ Iklin Football Youth nursery has achieved another milestone, after being notified by the Secretary Amateur & Youth Committee that a Licence Category "A" has been issued for the very first time since the nursery's foundation. This is a very important achievement for the nursery itself and the parent club. Being granted a Football Licence "A" is considered to be a huge step after only five years since the project for the betterment of the nursery started. The "A" licence, is also a certificate that shows that our nursery is working hard to reach the highest possible levels of quality in the service that is offered to all of the members within this organization.

Training Schedule ( All Nursery )

All training sessions are held at the Lija Training Grounds or new synthetic turf mini-pitch, unless stated otherwise ...

:: Under 6 to Under 10 ::

→ Under 6 - 10 »  Summer Training Programme - Wednesdays from 17.30 till 19.00hrs. - @ St. Martin's College training grounds.

:: Under 12 to Under 17 ::

→ Under 12 - 16 » Off training for summer break ...

Web-Site Updating - Lija/Iklin Nursery Section

• The underneath section of this web-page is reserved for monthly updates, about our active Nursery. Through this section we shall try and keep everyone updated as much as possible with all the events and activities that our Nursery would be going through. One would hope that such information would be found interesting and useful. We would like to remind also that one may leave his comments about the Nursery or the Parent club (Lija Athletic FC) in the website's Guestbook or Forum. Sensible comments will be duly appreciated.

Calendar Of Forthcoming Nursery Activities - June - July - August 2008

    25 June 2008 till 30 July 2008 :: The Nursery will be running a Summer Training Programme for boys in the Categories Under 6 till Under 10. The programme starts on Wednesday 25th June and comes to an end on Wednesday 30th July for a total of 6 sessions. Each session will be from 18.00hrs. until 19.30hrs.. The training will take place under the supervision of the Nursery coaches at the St. Martin's College Grounds in Swatar. The Nursery Head-coach will be also in attendance during the sessions. Fee: €15 incl. transport from Iklin Square & €10 without incl. transport.

    26 June 2008 till 31 July 2008 :: The Nursery is also offering the possibility to interested parents of Swimming Lessons to boys from the ages of 6 up to 10 years, under the supervision of experienced coaches at the Indoor MFA pool in Ta' Qali. The lessons will start on Thursday 26th June, until Thursday 31st July 2008. All lessons are of 1 hour duration - from 17.00hrs. to 18.00hrs.. There will be 6 sessions. Fee: €30 incl. transport from Iklin Square & €25 without incl. transport. The first 20 applicants will be accepted as there are two lanes for use and only two coaches. The boys shall be accompanied by parents appointed by the Nursery.

   July 2008 News Update

• The Lija/ Iklin Football Youth Nursery continues with its activities, even during the 'rest' period from the end of the previous season until the beginning of September when the new season begins. The scope behind these activities is twofold: (i). They will give a sense of continuity, as the young players will continue to practise and receive training in their preferred game and (ii). These activities serve to keep up the contact and strengthen the relationship between children, parents, coaches and officials, who together make up the big family of the Lija Nursery. It is the hope of the organizers that these activities will help in bolstering the link that exists between all concerning members. 

 

• This year, similar to previous years, the Nursery is making use of the St. Martin's College grounds for the football training session on schedule. The College authorities have laid a new carpet on the existent pitch and this provides an excellent surface for football. Circa seventy (70) players have applied for the Summer Training Programme and are being coached by a group of six (6) professional coaches from within the Nursery itself. This year, the Nursery launched a new summer activity. A group of kids are attending Swimming Lessons at the Indoor M.F.A. Pool in Ta' Qali. This group is very enthusiastic and they are being very ably trained by the professional staff at the M.F.A. pool.

 

• Meanwhile, the Lija/ Iklin Under 17 team shall play a friendly match against an English squad on Friday 25th July at the St. Aloysius football pitch, (kick-off 21.00hrs.).

 

• Hereunder are some photographs taken during summer activities organized by the Lija Nursery. Click on photos to view enlarged version.

Photos © www.lijaathletic.com

• The Lija/ Iklin Nursery intends to participate for another year in the forthcoming season's Women's National Football League that is run by the M.F.A.. The Nursery has a good group of young enthusiastic girls ably coached by Senior Coach and Technical Director, Mr. Felix Camilleri. The Nursery feels that it is prepared to reach another milestone with the Women's team, and is also doing its utmost to strengthen the present team and make it more competitive. Lija Athletic F.C. had competed in the Women's Football League during the nineties, whereby the squad of that time had also clinched to win the title during the memorable season of 1996-1997.

 

• This year, following the insistence from UEFA, the Nurseries will be promoting and emphasizing the Football for Girls. In the Junior categories, girls will be training with boys of the same age while in the Senior categories, girls will eventually be having separate training and participate in competitive football for girls' only. This is a break-through and a very important development for football in Malta. The Lija Nursery is very enthusiastic about this new aspect and new responsibility for Nurseries. Our Nursery is very ready to take up the challenge. Parents should not hesitate to come forward and enlist their young girls, if they have the love for this beautiful game.

Joe Buttigieg - Lija/Iklin Football Youth Nursery Secretary.

Double-click on this tool-bar to see about the Presentation of Awards Night and Trip to Manchester in pictures ...

Season 2OO7/2OO8

Category Under 6

Under 6 Coach: KAREN CAMILLERI

Under 6 Assistant Coach: MARIA BORG

Category Under 7

Under 7 Coach: KAREN CAMILLERI

Under 7 Assistant Coach: ANDRÈ SCICLUNA

Category Under 8

Under 8 Coach: ELTON AZZOPARDI

Under 8 Assistant Coach: MARK CREMONA

Category Under 9

Under 9 Coach: JOHN AQUILINA

Under 9 Assistant Coach: DANIEL CREMONA

Category Under 10

Under 10 Coach: ŽELJKO ANICIC

Under 10 Assistant Coach: IVAN SCICLUNA

Category Under 11 / 12

Under 12 Coach: RAYMOND FORMOSA

Under 12 Assistant Coach: JOHN AQUILINA

Category Under 14

Under 14 Coach: ŽELJKO ANICIC

Under 14 Assistant Coach: LAWRENCE BORG

Category Under 16

Under 16 Coach: SANDRO GATT

Under 16 Assistant Coach: PAUL MANGION

Category Women

Women Team Coach: FELIX CAMILLERI

Women Team Assistant Coach: MARTHESE MAMO

The Lija/ Iklin Nursery has this year broadened its horizons to reach also those females who love the game of football. Lija Athletic F.C. had a strong female Squad in the late nineties, that also managed to win the National League during the season of 1996-1997. Nevertheless, this squad had stopped competing some years later due to financial limitations of the parent Club. This year, the Lija Nursery have re-grouped a group of some 25 girls whose ages range from 8 to 28 years. The girls who are under 10 years of age, train with the boys' categories. The other girls who form part of the now called Women's Category have this year been left in the hands of Senior coach and Technical Director, Mr. Felix Camilleri.

 Lija / Iklin UNDER 14

 Lija / Iklin UNDER 16

 Lija / Iklin WOMEN

::: REVIEW By The SECRETARY :::

• This was the second festival organised by the Nursery during this season. It was as usually sponsored by our major sponsors, Eurosport and Powerade. This festival was for the categories: Under 7, Under 9 and Under 11.

• This festival was honoured by the participation of established nurseries such as Birkirkara, Ħamrun Spartans, Balzan Youths, Melita, Naxxar Lions and Sta. Venera United. Four teams participated in each category and each team played a 40-minute match against the other three participating teams. The matches were controlled by adult officials of the organising host Nursery.

• The organisation of the festival was very smooth and to the satisfaction of all the participants. A sizeable number of parents were present throughout the whole morning and highly enjoyed the keen games going on in the three different categories. The competition was overall balanced, nevertheless quite obviously Ħamrun Spartans in the Under 9 category and Birkirkara in the Under 11, showed their superior qualities.

• The festival was also to the satisfaction of all those involved. A big thankyou goes to all the individuals involved in the preparation and running of the festival, namely the Lija Athletic F.C. and Lija/ Iklin Y.F.N. committee members, the coaches, players and parents; particularly those parents who are members in the Parents’ sub-committee who run a very successful catering service.

• This festival continued on the excellent series of previous tournaments that the Lija/ Iklin Nursery has been holding. Such festivals are particularly renowned for fairness, sporting spirit, down-sizing of excessive competition as well as the enjoyment derived from this beautiful game, among other positive qualities.

• We hope that in the near future, we will consider the possibility of offering other forms of entertainment throughout the festival considering it is a long event, starting from 08.30hrs., until 14.00hrs., to keep everyone interested and involved throughout the whole session.

Joe Buttigieg   

Secretary.   

Application and registration sheets for children that have never been registered with the Lija/Iklin Nursery, are to be collected from Lija Athletic Football Club, the Iklin Local Council or visit the Nursery premises in Robert Mifsud Bonnici Street, Lija. The Nursery premises are open in the evenings on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. These sheets are to be filled up and then taken to the above mentioned destinations, together with 3 passport size photos, and an original birth certificate.

No date is to be submitted. That would be left in the hands of the Nursery later on, when the registration sheets would eventually be going to be submitted to the Youth Football Association.