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Website Last Updated:
08 April 2008 |
'Investing in the future' |
Website First Published:
10 August 2001 |
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Hamilton Academical Youth Policy
Official Club Statement by
Les Gray
(From Season 2003 / 2004)
Since being appointed as “Director of Youth Football” only a few
weeks ago we have made great strides towards our goal of having one of the best
Youth Initiatives in the country. I have stressed to everyone that I have spoken
with that we are very much committed to our Youth Development Program. Mr. John
Bean has been appointed as Head of Youth Development and he now has his own
section on the Youth website where he can be contacted. I would like to take
this opportunity to urge any parent or player who has any points to raise to
speak with either John or myself directly.
It has, however, been very difficult to assess the existing Youth Coaches and
Players due to local council policy with regard to hiring football facilities.
Fortunately this situation has now been resolved and we have been able to have
three coaching sessions with each of the present under 13 and under 15 squads
and 2 sessions with the under 14’s. We have now sent letters to all boys in
the under 13’s and 15’s informing them whether or not they are being
retained and similar letters will go out to the under 14 boys within the next
week.
There has also been speculation that the WHOLE Youth Program from Clyde Football
Club has been moved to Hamilton and I must stress that this is not the case. I
have attempted to recruit several of the best and most sought after Youth
Coaches in the business and this includes a number of former Clyde Coaches who
we employed there.
It is my intention to create a youth Policy which can be the envy of most other
clubs in Scotland. Our remit will be to bring the best young talent to Hamilton
and I make no apologies for that. This is a professional club being run by
professional people who have a will and a passion to succeed from Ronnie at the
top down to the various unpaid Volunteers. At Clyde we had a proven track
record and this was recognised by the sports governing body, The SFA, by
awarding the Gold Award for Youth Development in each of the last four seasons.
Now at Hamilton Academicals we intend to take the Youth Development at the club
to a new level where it has not been before.
Hamilton Academical Football Club now has a vision to see home grown talent come
through our own youth system and with our professional approach and the
commitment of the coaching staff and young players, we are confident that this
vision can become a reality.
We are committed to providing the correct environment for young players to have
the best possible chance to succeed. It is important that young players enjoy
their football with no unnecessary pressures to distract them. We will have
support mechanisms in place with regard to educating the players on DIET and
NUTRITION, which will have parental involvement. We will also provide SPORT
SCIENCE support by introducing field-based fitness testing on a six weekly cycle
in order to determine the needs of the individual player. Monitoring and
evaluating players is an ongoing process within our program with players and
parents alike being given constant updates on development and needs. The players
will also have their height and weight analysed on a monthly basis in order to
determine growth spurts, which in turn will determine any adjustment to the
individual needs to reduce the risk of injury to the young player.
I would now like to outline the various teams, coaches and the various
conditions under which they will each play next season. It should also be noted
that the individual details for the Head coach of each age group is detailed in
the new Contacts section on the Youth Website.
It should also be noted that we will also have two Satellite centres operating
in Anniesland and Cumbernauld which will incorporate age groups from 8 to 12
playing both soccer 7’s and developmental football and these centres will also
feed into our Pro-Youth set-up. It is our immediate intention to open several
similar centres in various areas, which have yet to be finalised.
I am also in the process of setting up a professionally organised Scouting
system, which will be headed up by a Chief Scout who we hope to appoint in the
coming weeks. He will have 3 or 4 scouts reporting directly to him and this will
enable us to access all age groups in youth football across the spectrum of Boys
Club, Schools, Developmental football and Soccer 7’s.
Summary
As I stated earlier it is our intention at
Hamilton to not only coach young players but to develop them in order that we
can progress our home grown talent progress to our first team as soon as
possible. This vision can and will be achieved through time and no little
patience.
As you can imagine, the above plans can only be achieved by us committing a huge
financial resource to Youth Development and this we are committed to do. This
does not mean that we do not want to create links with local businesses and fans
alike, who would wish to either help or sponsor our initiative in any fashion. I
would be absolutely delighted to speak directly to any party in this regard.
Lastly, I would like to say that both John Bean and myself are always
approachable and available to discuss any areas of our Youth Program and trust
that the above statement will clarify a lot of the uncertainty surrounding the
future of Youth Football at Hamilton Accies.
Yours in sport
LES GRAY
Vice Chairman and
Director of Youth Football
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HAMILTON
ACADEMICAL
FC
New Douglas Park
Cadzow Avenue
Hamilton
ML3 0FT
Tel:
01698 368650
Fax:
01698 285422
E-Mail:
Accies.Youth
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