It's the start of September which brings an end to the summer holidays. For most people this is viewed as the time to go back to school after a long holiday. However, for me, it means the start of the five-a-side adult league at my local sports complex.

My team, the NASC Five Stars, have taken part in this league for two seasons now (the long winter league and the short summer league). Now it is time for the winter league again and our aspirations are high.

We started competing this time last year and we were the youngest team in the league. We were the supposed easy game where people could improve their goal difference significantly against us. However we surprised many people by running the reigning champions close in our very first game. Our problem that season was consistency and we finished 10th out of 16, which was not a disgrace considering the age gap.

In the summer league we registered a new older player to enable to compete to a higher standard. Again we put in some good performances, including a 6-0 win against a top 6 team, but were undone by an unsettled team and inconsistency. Our final league position of 7th was an improvement, but we felt we could have done better.

This season we have registered another two players to give us the capability to cover for players being absent for a week. This issue is highlighted in the very first week as two of our players are missing due to work commitments.

We have grown more confident in the last year and have learned to cope with the physical side of the game. Our aim this season is to improve again on our final league position. This could well be the teams last year together due to some of the players going away to university this time next year so we are determined to put up a good fight right to the end, but most of all we are looking to enjoy playing as a team for the last time.