Academy Manager Michael Hamilton brings us up to speed with what’s been happening in our youth sector – including a paintballing experience to remember and our ever popular Goalkeeper Day!
Read Michael’s October update in full below.
EFL Champions
This month saw our Under-9s, Under-11s, Under-12s and Under-13 age groups take part in EFL tournaments hosted at various clubs across the South East region of the academy programme.
Each tournament had different scoring formats, all with the aid of maximising development and challenging players to support their long term developmental needs.
Our Under-9s, Under-11s and Under-12 age groups won their respective competitions, with the Under-13s falling short in what would have been a clean sweep for the Academy age groups.
Under-9s
Host club: AFC Wimbledon
Participants: Portsmouth, Sutton United, Oxford United
Under-11s
Host club: Cambridge United
Participants: Stevenage, Sutton United, AFC Wimbledon, Portsmouth.
Under-12s
Host club: Portsmouth
Participants: AFC Wimbledon, Sutton United, Forest Green Rovers, Oxford United
On Target
In amongst a gruelling October schedule, the Under-18s took part in an event that required them all to shoot on sight and display tactical plans of a different kind – paintball.
The focus of the event was to get the boys out of the training ground, develop their team bonding and of course, take out those on the other team.
The winning team was led by Under-18s Head Coach Simon Clark, with it coming as a positive social event before the FA Youth Cup tie vs Cambridge United.
Academy Goalkeeper Day
This month we hosted an event that has become a popular day of development for our aspiring goalkeepers in the Academy, ‘The Academy Goalkeeper Day’.
In the morning Academy goalkeepers, from various age groups, watched the first-team keepers being put through their paces by Ashley Bayes – giving them an insight into the levels and demands required.
It also gave the boys the opportunity to ask questions and learn first-hand from Alex Bass, Nik Tzanev and Ryan Sandford.
The afternoon saw the boys take part in their own session led by ‘Bayzo’ and Academy Goalkeeper coach James Eccle Bierley. The roles were reversed with the pros watching on this time, and giving the boys support and nuggets of information to add their game.