Episode 3 - The Pros & Cons of Academy Football

Again, awesome PodCast gents. My boy (now 8) was invited to a professional development academy at 6 years old. He enjoyed it for 6 months, until I made the decision to remove him. He was playing too much football and started to show a loss of interest. So, IF your child is in some kind of "academy" then the very first thing ANY parent should do is treat it as "extra training". Nothing more, nothing less. If they fall asleep in the car on the way over and *sigh* when they wake up, pull them out. If they (the academy) demand more money, pull them out. If they're not enjoying it for whatever reason, pull them out. Don't be afraid to allow them to be kids and play our beautiful game with their pals.

Wednesday Apr 01, 2020

MrsD

Well done both. Another really enjoyable podcast giving listeners lots to think about. Totally understand the hope that an academy tier will remove a lot of the problems associated with poaching, elite teams and developing stronger players at a different level, but hope that it starts at a later age than grassroots so that kids can enjoy a kick about, make friends and grow into themselves before such big decisions are made about their ability. My son doesn’t go to school locally but has lots of buddies nearby through playing football for Ystrad, which was the reason he joined them and not a club nearer his school. Definitely the best decision.

Saturday Mar 14, 2020

coombesy

Really enjoying this pod cast lads. I do believe there should be an age limit across all sport and not just football. For me this should be last year of primary school. I think this is a more sensible age. The same goes for school boys/girls and district / county level. Speaking from a girls perspective as that’s what I’m involved in I like some ,others no. School girls is a great introduction the games program is excellent and there is also a large emphasis on fun. The performance centre I also think is excellent. The quality of football is fantastic the goal keepers have their own coaching and also a decent amount games. Now my last vue on what I call girls academy football. I have had 2 experiences in this ,one excellent and one for a which I think is a money making scheme that is useless. MPA is one academy which I think is excellent it’s is reasonably priced and great young and experienced coaches with excellent feedback after each session and are easily approachable and know each kid and parent by name. The other swans academy. At girls level what a load of rubbish. No specific training for goal keepers more interested in taking the money and a very poor games programme. My daughter played in goals and had one GK session in a year. To be fair Steve the coach was excellent and my daughters footwork came on excellent with him and was gutted to see him go. But there was no feedback whatsoever. Promised 6monthly and yearly reports, didn’t happen and turn up for training and coaches hadn’t even been told that it was off or venue unavailable. I know a girl who is recently giving it up as she knows exactly what she is doing for 2 hours as each session is same. All about the money. Should get some guests on guys maybe from other clubs coaches / explayers but really enjoying so far

Wednesday Mar 11, 2020

Episode 3 - The Pros & Cons of Academy Football

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