As you may already know, last year the team behind UK Football Trials came up with the new initative of 'UK Football Schools.' This was to find football programmes in the UK that were good enough to support aspiring footballers try and achieve the dream of becoming a professional footballer.
We were asked many times about the best football schools in the UK and what were the best football academies so if we were going to put our name on some recommendations, we knew they had to really be the best! Our trusted brand is worth to much to us to begin refering players to poor programmes or private football academies!
In September, we placed more than twenty five boys in a particular school, the school we still consider the best in the UK for football development and opportunities. These were boys of twelve years old, up to nineteen years old who were looking to progress their football to a standard that would attract scouts. At the time when we visited the school, met the key people involved in the school and academy, watched the sessions, saw how in depth the football analysis went, the strength and conditioning support, the links to clubs and how professional the football academy was ran, we knew they would soon be successful.
Eight months later, in May 2019, we were invited a guests to St George's Park, the home of England's football team, a multi million pound and prestigious venue where only the best are invited to play football. We were invited to watch the ISFA (Independent School's Football Association) National Cup Final for U16's (the last school year before college/ sixth form/ upper school). The two teams that were playing were made up of several of our players, one being the aforementioned school.
One team had to win and with three of our players in the line up, the school we knew would win, did just that, winning by four goals to nil. With around 200 spectators (many of which were pro club scouts!) the atmosphere was incredible as both teams played very good football.
The same team then went on a week later to win the National double when they won the ESFA (English Schools Football Association) Cup Final, held in front of a big crowd again at Manchester City's home! The game was streamed live over the Internet and was seen around the world by onlookers, many being parents of the players. What a fantastic achievement from the squad!
The three boys seen in the picture above made the move in September to the school and have all been delighted. Byron's family, who travelled from Australia to watch both finals, emailed the night after the final saying...
"Hi Chris, hope you are well? The boys have done it again, a 4-2 win at Manchester City. My husband and I can't thank you enough for helping us with this opportunity for our son. We can see how at ease Byron is with the transition in such a short time. We are heading back to Australia on Friday morning and wanted to let you know how happy and grateful we are. I'm hoping you and Byron will keep in contact with one another on this exciting journey together if possible. Next time we visit, I will bring a very nice bottle of Australian wine to show you our appreciation. Thank you again for introducing Byron to this whole new world of football. Regards J and C".
The other two boys in the photo are, Deniche Hill from Bermuda (he had been in the Bermudan national newspapers leading up to the finals on how proud the island was of his progress!) who has recently been on trial at Premier League club Huddersfield Town FC and Ethan Giles from Australia, again another player who has been on trial with Bury FC, Derby County and Northampton Town FC!
We can't tell you how proud we are of all three of the players for this fantastic achievement and we will be doing everything we can to support them over the coming years.
For your chance to develop and be seen as quickly as these young men, please drop us an email at info@ukfootballschools.com.
