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

End of one season - and the start of another!

We're getting close to the end of the KickStart winter league season; it looks as if All Whites may have the title sewn up - but there are still last Saturday's results and activity scores to post, which will be done ASAP - and two more matches left to play,so it's not over yet! There's still time to catch up on completing health and parenting activities you haven't attempted. The dads and kids club at Bartongate Children's Centre will also be open this weekend if you want to pop along with your child - and score extra points.

Following the end of the winter league, a summer league will kick off - hopefully in April; the facility is booked - we'll need to ascertain how many dads/teams will be taking part before we publish a fixture list. Once we're aware we'll let people know.

It's looking very likely that a new hosted website will also be provided to support KickStart - and potentially other work with fathers; this should hopefully overcome any problems we have recently experienced using the free blogging platform we currently use. We'll let dads know as soon as it becomes available.

MEN-tal

MEN-tal

A new health activity has been added to the blog - all teams will get a chance to undertake the activity on a match day - but you can also download this from the blog and complete it beforehand if you wish!

The activity is Mental Health and Stress and looks at coping with stress and overcoming or managing this. We all experience mental or emotional distress at sometime during our lives.

One in four of your friends or relations will have some sort of mental health problem over the next year. It may be feeling worthless or hopeless, anxious, stressed, or panicking so much that they get no happiness or pleasure from life. Just like the lottery - it could be you.

And as the strapline on the new activity states: 'Just because you're a man doesn't mean you have to cope on your own!'

There are lots of places where help can be found to sort out problems – on the net, by telephone, from community groups and especially from friends.

Sadly, half of men with a mental health problem wouldn’t want anyone, not even their mates, to know about it. Your GP or organisations such as Samaritans aren’t there to judge you – they’re confidential - they’ll listen to you and try to help you.

Other activities? Keep an eye on the blog - we just might add a few more health and/or parenting activities to catch you out before the end of the season.

The KickStart Team

All Whites V Old Guns

A match that almost didn't take place due to injuries ( sustained elsewhere...) went ahead to avoid fixture congestion. All Whites didn't succumb easily, but were overcome eventually by Old Guns.

On the health activities front, All Whites were clear winners - but only because they had downloaded and completed their Smoking Activity forms prior to the match - their completion of the Sexual Health Activity is still outstanding. Old Guns have yet to complete the Smoking Activity ( one Old Guns player did hand in a Sexual Health Activity form from a previous game...)

Due to the 5-a-side court not being available at the agreed time - and hence having a limited amount of time available to play football, players therefore took their forms away with them to complete. We await the results with interest...

Score: All Whites 10 Old Guns 22

Week 7