Think Fathers...KickStart

The Think Fathers Campaign campaign is aimed at making the world a more father friendly place. The campaign is aimed at encouraging public, health and family services to be more ‘dad-friendly’ and inclusive of fathers. What a good idea! For further information take a look at www.think-fathers.org

And whilst we're at it - KickStart will be kicking off again on Saturday 19th September at GL1. Six potential teams have been identified as wanting to participate. If you're interested please contact the KickStart email address at kickstart@topmail.co.uk. Thanks!

Kick off...September

For people wondering what happened to the good intention of a KickStart summer league, a volunteer issue has prevented this running... however, the intention is to kick off again in September. We'll keep people posted and will be in touch just as soon as details are finalised.

All Stars V Team Brown - plus All Whites Champions!

For people wondering about the result of the final league encounter of the season - and the revelation of which team won the KickStart dads men's health and parenting 5-a-side league, it's ironic that a health issue prevented posting the information; but wait no more!

The final match on March 21st saw the prolific footballing skills of All Stars see off Team Brown. Whilst All Stars have won all of their matches it's a shame that they could only score 18 points from the final round of health activities - not enough to lift them off bottom position in the table. Better luck next time...Whilst Team Brown scored no points for football - a paltry 6 health activity points was just enough to lift them above Pro Team in the final table.

All Whites - CHAMPIONS!

Therefore, All Whites, despite winning only one match, by dint of their active involvement in the health and parenting activities, are this season's Champions, scoring almost 60 more points than second placed Old Guns - congratulations to All Whites! Commiserations to the rest of the teams involved - it's worth taking note that All Whites have shown that the more activities you do - the more you learn - and the more points you'll score!

All Whites will be presented with the KickStart shield at the start of the next season at the first match registration event.

Next season

The court is booked - and finance secured to continue running KickStart for the next year. We'll be in touch ASAP as we want to kick-off the new season as soon as possible.

Score: All Stars 19 Team Brown 9

Week 10

Pro Team V All Whites

The penultimate game of the season - and one that had been eagerly awaited by both teams involved (well, that's as polite as we can be!). Given that this is possibly the nearest thing KickStart has to a derby match ( although others may disagree) it was played in good spirits and only marred by the restricted time available at GL1 - something we will need to resolve prior to next season. A close fought match ended up with All Whites narrowly beating Pro Team, although given the limited time, further time may have seen a different result. But there's always next season...

In terms of activity points scored on the day, All Whites were the clear victors, scoring 6 parenting activity points - and 54 health activity points using the Mental Health and Stress and Sexual Health activities.

A glance at the league table shows All Whites taking what appears to be an unassailable lead - but figures can be deceptive - there is still a chance for other teams, but only if activities are downloaded from the blog, completed and handed in either next weekend to Lloyd or Lou - or sent to/handed in at Bartongate Children's Centre marked for the attention of Mr Ismail Ginwalla. You can also score extra points by attending the Dads and Kids Club at Bartongate Children's Centre. The cut-off date/time for all activities is 12.00 on 21st March.

The final table will appear after this date once we've had a chance to get all the relevant information together; the KickStart shield will be inscribed with the name of the winning team and presented to the winners at the registration event at the start of the new season.

Score: Pro Team 13 All Whites 15

Week 9

Final Whistle - activity forms!

The final game of the KickStart winter league will take place between All Stars and Team Brown on March 21st.

All teams still have a chance to add to their points total by undertaking further health and parenting activites - and by attending Bartongate Children's Centre's Dads and Kids Club on a Saturday morning.

12.00 on March 21st is the cut-off date for acceptance for completed activity forms.

These may be handed to one of the KickStart facilitators present on a Saturday morning ( Lloyd or Lou) - or sent to/handed in at Bartongate Children's Centre. Please mark these for the attention of Mr Ismail Ginwalla. Thank you.

The KickStart Team

Old Guns V All Stars

A triumph of 'young guns' over tired old legs? Old Guns met their first football defeat in their last game of the winter league - being overrun and soundly beaten by All Stars; in terms of the health activites Old Guns demolished All Stars, scoring over 4 times as many points - a haul of 52 points from the Smoking Cessation Activity and the Mental Health and Stress Activity. All Stars could only manage 12 points from the Sexual Health and Smoking Cessation Activities by way of reply. We are aware that team members did take home activity forms - so the points haul may well change for - both teams.

The result leaves Old Guns at the top of the table by virtue of the points scored from their activites - 4 points clear of All Whites who are due to play Pro Team on Saturday. Old Guns have played their last game however, meaning that if other teams can overtake them in the remaining games - Old Guns will need to score more points from activities (available to download) to stay on top of the table. All Whites have been the only team to get involved in the Parenting Activities, and score extra points - a lesson that other teams may be wise to heed...

Score: Old Guns 5 All Stars 16
Week 8

Mental Health and Stress - activity

We understand that there may be an issue regarding the 'MEN-tal' posting and the new Mental Health and Stress activity; this has affected both the Boxnet account we use to host files, and posts on this blog.

Whilst we are aware anyone may view this blog, it has been created to support a group of fathers involved in the Gloucester KickStart men's health and parenting initiative.If anyone has an issue with any of the postings, or the activities provided for participants involved in KickStart, we would be grateful if instead of anonymously attempting to interfere with our material - and hence disrupt the running of the KickStart programme, that they could contact us using the KickStart email address at kickstart@topmail.co.uk . We are happy to listen and address genuine issues.

Thank you.

The KickStart Team