First the importance of playing with high quality team mates.
Often the players who we help into football schools here in the UK have come from backgrounds where they have been the best player in their team for many years. As a result, they are used to being the stand out player in nearly every fixture, and are seldom tested against players who are as good, or even better, than they are. When these players join one of our football schools they soon realise that in this new and exciting football environment, this is no longer the case. The quality of the players in the specialist ‘football academy’ at our UK football schools is very high indeed. It is very rare for one individual to be able to stand out immediately. So, when they have their first training session, before they have even kicked a ball in a match, all our new player realises that he or she is going to have to up their game to even be selected for the first team.
The importance of playing high quality opponents.
Having said that, the quality of the fixture list at a school is massively important. The England Schools Football association, or ESFA, is the national Governing Body for school football in England. It runs over forty national schools and college cup competitions. One of the most prestigious competitions that our schools take part in is the Independent Schools Football Association cup, which is a national competition runs for Under 13, under 15 and under 18 school teams. It is a universal truth that a team comes together and collectively learns a huge amount during a full on competitive match. The competitive environment created highlights a host of very important attributes within individual team members. These include, but are not limited to, characteristics like a player’s attitude, leadership, communication skills, work rate, and body language through the good and the challenging periods in the game. Only by playing against these top quality opponents will a player gain that vital “Game Time”, that gives a player the experience that is so vital to a player’s development.
So please be assured that all of our partner schools have a highly competitive fixture list. What is more, increasingly, professional club scouts are aware of the excellence of the players in these fixtures, and so there is a good chance that the players will be able to showcase their skills in front of these scouts.
There can be no doubt that the fixtures at UK Football schools represent an outstanding testing ground for aspiring professional footballers.
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