meet our teams
The perfect place to intoduce children to football. Our fundamental sessions are for U5 and U6 age groups, designed to introduce football for all.
Training sessions are provided by qualified coaches, with the emphasis totally on a fun and enjoyable introduction to kicking a ball around in a safe, positive and encouraging environment.
These sessions look to create the basis for a lifelong love of the game, setting them on their journey of being involved in team sports and active learning.
If you’re interest in bringing your child to our Fundamentals sessions or would like to find out more, please get in touch.
Fundamentals
Our U7s and U8s get their first taste of football matches in 5v5 format to start their footballing journey. Playing games within the Royston Crow Youth Football League, its a fantastic environment to play matches across Herts and Beds.
Weekly training by qualified volunteer parent coaches helps set the players on their way to falling in love with the beautiful game.
Children need to be in school years 3 and 4 to qualify for our U7s and U8s.
As well as match squads, we also offer some training-only spaces, depending on overall numbers. We currently have 2 x U7 teams and 4 x U8 teams registered for the 24/25 season.
At these age groups we welcome new parents to step forward to get involved as coaches and helpers, to ensure we can facilitate as many children as possible into their first chance to play organised football matches.
If you have a child looking to play and/or you’d like to get involved on the coaching side, please get in touch.
5v5 football
We have 10 sides registered for 7v7 football at Shefford Saints for the 24/25 season. These squads, spread across our U9s and U10 age groups, both of which include a girl’s team and cater for children in school years 4 and 5,
As player numbers and pitch sizes increase, our players start to develop additional skills and learn more elements of the game.
Both age groups play in the Royston Crow Youth Football League and play against local teams within Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.
Teams usually end their seasons playing in a number of tournaments. The perfect way for them to experience the excitement and thrills of fast-paced games and a fun carnival-type day of football.
7v7 football
9aside football sees the introduction of the offside rule, but without VAR! We have 5 x U11 squads registered for the 24/25 season, including one girls team. Our U11s are made up of school year 6 children.
Our U12 squads are school year 7, and we currently have 5 squads registered, 2 of which are all girl sides.
At U12s we see the first competitive football for Shefford Saints players, with match results being recorded and league tables produced for the first time. Cup games are also played at 9aside, with the chance to reach a final and try to bring home some silverware.
Our 9v9 teams currently play across Chiltern Junior 7s league, Chiltern Youth Football League, Bedfordshire Mini Soccer League and the Beds FA Girls Football League.
9v9 football
Our teams transition to 11aside football from U13s onwards, where we have multiple squads across each age group. For our U13s and U14s we provide facilities to cater for the smaller dimension pitches and goals, meeting the FA guidelines as players transition to the full-format game.
For the 24/25 season we have 4 x U13 teams and 2 x U14 squads. These are children from school years 8 and 9 respectively. In the full size 11aside game, we have 4 x U15 teams registered, 3 x U16s and 2 x U18 squads providing football up to young adults.
As part of our pathway we also look to identify coaches and players to enter teams into the Eastern Junior Alliance (EJA) from U13s, providing an academy-like experience for those teams and developing the players of the future for adult football..
With competitive teams across many leagues, our 11aside age group provides excitement, challenge and reward for all involved.
11v11 football
Pan-disability football
We currently provide 3 sessions for Pan-Disability football at Shefford Saints. Overseen by the very experienced Pan-Disability Football lead and his team. We provide football opportunities for players from 6 years old through to young adults in an environment that encourages the players to feel part of a group, and enables self-confidence and fun.
On Sunday mornings, our Tiger Cubs sessions introduce football to 6—to 12-year-olds alongside our Tigers, for 12—to 18-year-olds. Sessions are game-based and always tailored to capabilities, with some match play each week.
Monday evenings are set aside for ‘Jumpers For Goalposts’ for young adults, and is an hour of match play.
Our season runs from September to July, and we look to provide 3 match days per season jointly with other clubs.
For anyone interested in joining, or would like to find out more, please get in touch.
