Games Programme

Academy Games

As we control the fixtures on a Saturday and we have oversized squads on a Sunday it enables us to create an additional games programme against Professional Football Academies, Welsh Premier League Academies, Private Football Academies and high level grassroots teams.  

When we have invites on a Saturday we are able to suspend our own fixtures and with invites on Sunday having oversized squads means we can take players to fulfil these invites.  We have 3G facilities on Sunday’s to arrange home games too.  We can also accept game invites midweek either at other locations or our own facilities.

We have a large list of clubs who have already agreed to work with us on our games programme which will see us playing Category A, B and C Professional Academy teams as well as Centre of Excellence teams, Welsh Premier League Academies and Private Football Academy groups.

Why are we doing this?

This is aimed at footballers who have maybe just missed out on academy football or haven’t had the right opportunity to showcase their ability.

A regular games programme that incorporates Academy games and grassroots football is a rarity and it will all be ran in the best environment possible for young footballers.

We want this initiative to bridge the gap between Professional Academy football and grassroots football, our methods have been really successful with over 40 players being signed by professional clubs. We want to give many more players the opportunity of academy football and broaden their chances of showing their capabilities at a good standard.

Our philosophy is to let players learn through their football, they shouldn’t be instructed, they shouldn’t have decisions made for them on the pitch they should be free to play and enjoy football without any interference.  We won’t stand for any ‘joystick’ coaching, pressure or premature professionalism (expecting 9 year olds to play like men).  We feel that a good level of players with different strengths training alongside each other, great coaches to guide players and providing a variety of opposition therefore variety of challenges is the perfect environment for young footballers trying to get themselves in to professional academy football.

We won’t be telling players to pass or telling them to dribble, we won’t be playing set positions, we will be allowing our players to learn. This programme is to allow good players to play together with an initiative aimed at improving the individual not the scorline at the weekend.

Players to be encouraged to be competitive but they won’t be playing to win at the expense of their development.

Commitment!

The level of effort and commitment that will be put in to running the initiative must be matched by those attending.  We can’t have players attending just one day and missing sessions on a regular basis, a set attendance percentage will be expected to remain part of the initiative. 

Unfortunately we can’t have players playing for other teams whilst part of the programme, we will gladly see players enter trial periods with professional clubs but we don’t want players playing under the guidance of other coaches, teams or clubs.  Put simply not many teams or clubs are solely focussed on the development of every player, there is a clear emphasis on the team not the player so we don’t want players having conflicting messages.  We are focussed on improving and developing individuals. 

We will request players attend Saturday, Sunday, their main midweek session and potentially a selected session we feel is more individual to the players needs – for example a player with high levels of physical attributes would do a more technical session or a high level technical player may benefit from a series of more physical activities.

Selection Criteria

As always we are looking at a wide range of attributes linked to current and potential development.  There is no set ‘tick box’ criteria but a willingness to learn, confidence on the ball, previous commitment and clear love of football are important. 

Players D.O.B is something we factor in when making decisions and we will analyze what type of player they are as most importantly we are looking for a variety of players for the group to work with and against (in training) to broaden their learning experiences. 

If we feel at any point this programme is being used for just the games programme and there is a clear lack of support from a parent to the philosophy this will impact on retaining a place.

Where does this lead?

The programme will be continued throughout the 2020/21 season when the players are U10. 

At U11 the squads will enter the Junior Premier League a Northwest Competition played by a lot of private academy set ups, some large grassroots clubs and some professional academy shadow squads.  This will continue through to Under 16 and then depending on development we would expect players to be working towards playing semi-professional/non-league football.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

If you feel your child is suitable for this programme please complete the form below and we will contact you to explain the next step.