Introduction to Watford Football Club’s Community Sports & Education Trust

Watford FC’s Community Sports and Education Trust is a registered charity (Charity No: 1102239), having gained charitable status in April 2004.

Being registered with the Charities Commission the Trust is governed in accordance with charitable law.  A board of Trustees exists, further details of which are given under the heading ‘Patrons and Trustees’ which forms part of the ‘About Us’ section of the website.  The Trustees form an integral part of the Trust moving forward in relation to both decision making and in meeting its operational aims and objectives.

Due to the success and popularity of the Trust’s work it now employs twenty full time staff and in excess of fifty sessional staff.  This has enabled the Trust to strengthen and broaden its partnerships with a wide variety of individuals and organisations.  The Trust currently runs activity programmes within Hertfordshire and its surrounding areas, as well as in the London Boroughs of Harrow and Hillingdon.

With a dedicated, committed and extremely passionate team of staff the Trust is able to not only develop a wide range of creative projects but also deliver them to a high quality.  As a Trust we currently focus on four key themes which are Sports Participation, Social Inclusion, Health and Education.  Each of our community projects and activities fits under one of these themes or cuts across a number of them.  In addition to this we are also involved in and are able to help organisations who are developing local community facilities.

Although we have traditionally been seen as a purely football provider, this is certainly no longer the case (as you will see under the ‘Sports’ section of this website).
Major accomplishments over the past three years include Community Club of the Year 2008, double Sportsmatch Award winner, Crimebeat Awards 2008 (Positive Futures), Services to Sport in Harrow and a commendation for bridging cultures.

www.watfordfccsetrust.com

Are you finding that you are getting through too many pairs of goalkeeper gloves in a season? Want to find a few ways to keep the amount of pairs you through down to a bare minimum and save yourself some money? Here I give you a few tips about how to do this.

1 - Pre wash your goalkeeper gloves - One of the first things that you should do when you get a new pair of goalkeeper gloves is always to prewash them.

Unpack your goalkeeper gloves from the packaging and wash them gently in luke warm water. During the manufacturing process, chemicals are put into the latex to preserve it. The only way to get rid of these chemicals is to pre wash them.

I personally recommend goalkeepers to wash their gloves twice prior to using them. The latex will only function properly if these chemicals are removed.

2 - One thing that a number of goalkeepers do after a game is they forget to take them out of the kit bag after a game or training. Especially if they are wet and dirty, do not leave them wet in your bag.

Take them out of your bag and store them in a cool dry place – not next to any direct sunglight and not next to a radiator – before you get a chance to wash them.

3 - Wash them again in luke warm water after a match or training. Especially if the gloves are dirty, then it is important to wash the latex, otherwise it will become impaired and therefore will not last as long.

4 - Improve your technique – goalkeeper coaching by experts such as Just 4 Keepers will help you to catch the ball using the right technique.

If you are not catching the ball using the correct ‘W’ shape then you may well find that you are pushing the ball away more than you need to. This means more wear and tear on the latex palms.

5 - Learn about using the right latexes for right circumstances. There are many latexes that are designed for different conditions.

For instance you can buy goalkeeper gloves with an aqua foam latex palm that are designed specifically for wet conditions.

You can also buy goalkeeper gloves with a contact lite or contact foam palm that are designed specifically for dry conditions.

The most widely popular type of latex is called supersoft latex – and this can be used well in both wet and dry conditions.

Flat palm cuts are recommended by some professionals during the summer months as they can prove to be more durable.

6 – Buy a pair of goalkeeper gloves for training and a pair for matches. Many goalkeepers buy a pair of goalkeeper gloves for training and a more expensive pair for match play.

When training you nearly always use the palms of your goalkeeper gloves more than in a match situation.

You will often find that more expensive goalkeeper gloves will wear more quickly as they use more expensive and softer professional latexes.

After you have been using your match gloves for a while, you can switch them over to your training gloves – and get a new pair for matches.

7 - Do not wash your gloves in the washing machine. Goalkeeper gloves are not designed to be washed in a washing machine – and doing so may ruin a number of features on the gloves.

They certainly will not last as long as if you hand wash them in luke warm water.

On the same note do not dry them in a tumble dryer as they may shrink.

8 - Do not dry or leave your gloves in direct sunlight as it will cause the latex to crack.

9 - Do not dry or leave your goalkeeping gloves on or near to a radiator as this will also cause the latex to crack and they will lose their functionality.

10 - Store your goalkeeper gloves in a cool dry place – with the palms not touching on the back (i.e. not the palm side).

Do you find that you get through too many pairs of goalkeeper gloves each season? Want to know how you can save your hard earned cash by reducing the amount of gloves you get through? Here I try to give you a few tips on how to do this.

One of the first things that you should always do when you get a new pair of goalkeeper gloves is to prewash them.

Pre-washing goalkeeper gloves involves unpacking the gloves and washing them in luke warm water. The reason behind prewashing the gloves is to get rid of the chemicals that are used during manufacture to preserve the latex.

I personally would recommend washing the gloves twice prior to their first use.

Never wash your goalkeeper gloves in a washing machine as this may well destroy any printing on the back hand (i.e. not the palm side) and may also impair stitching and the velcro strap over time.

If your gloves have been personalised, i.e. you have had your name printed on the velcro strap, the printing could well come off if you wash your gloves in the washing machine.

When drying your gloves – and this is very important – you should never dry them in direct sunlight, i.e. do not hang them out on the washing line; you should never dry them on or near to a radiator; and you should never dry them in a tumble dryer.

Using any of the methods above to dry your goalkeeper gloves could well dry out the latex completely, causing the latex to crack and therefore prove to be ineffective during further use.

Once you have used your gloves in a match (or training), you should always wash them especially if the ground is wet and therefore your palms have become dirty.

Many goalkeepers buy a pair of goalkeeper gloves for training and a more expensive pair for match play.

When training you nearly always use the palms of your goalkeeper gloves more than in a match situation.

You will often find that more expensive goalkeeping gloves will wear more quickly as they use more expensive and softer professional latexes.

These more expensive goalkeeper gloves will offer better adhesion and gripping properties on the ball when catching, but will last less which is why you should only use them in a match situation where you are using them less regularly.

Expensive professional latexes include Mega Grip, Giga Grip, Contact Lite, Aqua Foam and SuperSoft foams.

I have written this article to give everyone a guide to the various cuts available on the market for goalkeeper gloves. I have tried to cover the main glove cuts - but of course glove manufacturers are constantly developing new cuts and styles for their gloves – and then each glove manufacturer may have a variation of the particular glove cut.

As I see it, there are currently three basic cuts. They are roll finger, flat palm and negative cut. There are various adaptations of these three main cuts.

The Flat Palm Cut

The flat palm cut was the traditional cut for goalkeeper gloves when they were invented. Flat palm gloves have the gussets (or seams) stitched on the outside (rather than on the inside like negative cut gloves).

The flat palm is probably the most popular glove cut internationally, although this has been more and more rivaled by the increasingly popular roll finger cut.

Because the gussets on the flat palm cut are stitched on the outside, it makes each fingers look like a box. Another name used by some goalkeepers for the flat palm cut is the ‘box cut’. The back hand is stitched to the palm of the glove by attaching two side gussets either side.

The flat palm cut usually doesn’t give as tighter feel on the ball as the roll finger cut, as it has less of a contact area with the fingers. The fact that the gloves are slightly looser than other cuts, is why this cut is the most popular cut used for finger spine gloves, that usually make goalkeepers have to go up at least a half size if not a whole size.

The Roll Finger Cut

The roll finger cut has become more and more popular over the last 5 years especially in Britain, but is now an internationally recognized cut.

This style does not use gussets unlike the other 2 main cuts (flat palm and negative cut) - and in fact the palm is directly attached to the backhand, wrapping the latex palm around the fingers giving a better all round ball contact and feel on the ball.

This cut is definitely a more snug fit (or tighter fit) than the traditional flat cut palm. Due to this, goalkeepers get a better contact and feel on the ball especially when catching or throwing.

Negative Cut

A popular glove cut choice in Europe, especially in Germany. The negative cut is very similar to the flat palm cut in that the palm is made of a single piece of latex – and that there are gussets between the palm and the backhand.

The difference is that the stitching that attaches the latex palm to the gussets is done so that the seam is on the inside of the goalkeeping gloves. As a result of this glove style fits snugger than a traditional flat palm, many consider it offer better ‘feel’ when catching and throwing. It fingers are not prone to twisting which results in better latex to ball contact when catching.

Those with thinner hands may prefer this cut. In fact, this style has been known to be marketed to the women’s market as it fits slimmer hands better than the traditional flat palm cut keeper gloves.

Having said this more and more of the male goalkeepers in the premier league are beginning to use this cut as their preferred choice.