THE League recently held its latest managers/coaches meeting in the Platinum Suite at the Macron Stadium and were honoured to have Pete Ackerley, the Football Association's head of football participation, and Jack Walton, FA regional coach development manager, as guest speakers providing invaluable information to the packed audience.

Pete gave a passionate and enthusiastic insight into the FA Strategy for the next 10 years and gave confidence to all the volunteers and grassroots workers that their work is valued at the very top of the game.

He praised the work of all the volunteers, clubs and teams and in particular gave credit to the work of the BBDFL which had developed a model which was a shining light in the game nationally.

He did, however, challenge the BBDFL to continue to improve and enhance the whole game for all – a sentiment to which the attendees certainly gave their thumbs up and were happy to take on the challenge.

Jack had recently delivered a coaching course for the league and outlined the vision for development, the coach mentoring scheme and the bursary programme.

He said he had recently read a book by Simon Sinek called "Start with why?" and asked the audience a number of questions including "why do children play football for their team?", "why do you coach?" and "why do some children misbehave in training?"

The audience were given time to consult then come back with answers and they were enlightening with the majority stating kids play for fun, they want to play with their mates and they love football.

None in attendance said the kids want to win trophies or they want to win the league.

Asking why can have a profound effect on those posing the question and those responding to it.

It made me ask myself why? Why do I do this?

The answer? Simply, there are around 8,500 youngsters involved and the vast majority will have their lives enhanced through sport and add a positive value to the community.

That is all I could come up with off the top of my head, but I think that is reason enough.