U11s trip to England
Modern football thinking places huge emphasis on working with players at earlier and earlier ages, developing good habits and instincts, “contact time” being a particular buzz phrase south of the border. With this in mind, the Aberdeen U11s recently travelled to England to play against some of the country’s elite academy teams. Gavin Levey, Head of Junior Academy, told us about the trip south.
“It is the first time we travelled with a group that young. Every year we go away for what is known as “the Derby trip” at the end of the season and we take the U12 and U13s. The event is organised by the Manchester United youth coach Tom Statham. At last year’s trip, we were having breakfast with Tom and said we would like our younger squad to come down to an event, so he agreed to organise something with some of the teams who normally go to Derby. From that conversation he put on a festival for us in Oakham in the East Midlands.
“The trip was only made possible thanks to our Youth Academy Sponsors and the sponsorship and generosity of BPD Zenith. With their backing, they gave the youngsters an experience they will never forget.
“There were a lot of teams involved in an intense two day programme, including Leicester City, Sheffield United, Watford, Millwall, Leyton Orient, Derby County, Peterborough and Birmingham City. We took two seven-a-side teams and played a total of 14 games, each boy playing seven. It was a great trip and it was all about development football. To take a group away as young as that, where you had some as young as nine, it sets them up for future trips and a future in the Youth Academy by giving them incentives. They now know that the harder they work, the longer they will stay in the system and the more experiences like this they will get.
“We always do well in England playing against teams like that. They play a slightly different style on a matchday. There is more emphasis on passing and movement and teams are a more technical. The games in Scotland are more hustle and bustle, the games up here are played at a frantic pace. We do very well against the English teams and we had some exceptional performances on this trip.
“The great thing about the festival is it is not a tournament. If a team decides they have some boys who are a year older who could really benefit from the experience to get their confidence up, then they will play them and no one cares. If they wanted to bring a younger side to play us because they are a real quality U10s side, they can do that. There are no team lines. With development football, there is no shouting at referees. It is just a really good environment to try and develop kids in, and the facilities were absolutely first class.
“We said to the parents before we went that we would learn more about their child in the two or three days that we are away than we would for the whole of the season. It is not just about the games, it is about how they conduct themselves off the pitch. They were excellent to take away, a great group.
“When the kids come into the Academy, it is not just about getting them to be the best footballers they can, there are life skills to teach them as well. We expect every player to say please and thank you in the canteen. They all have to go to dinner looking exactly the same with their shirts tucked in, because this is our image. All the players are told to respect the referees. We want everyone to remember Aberdeen FC positively. That gets recognised by these tournament organisers. It is an invitational festival and we have been lucky enough to have been invited every year, and that is in part because of the behaviour of our boys.
“Full credit must go to the coaching and backroom staff who were there and gave these kids a lasting footballing memory. I’m there to oversee the whole trip but it was the U11 coaches Steven Sweeney and Liam Duncan who took a team each and did a fantastic job. Liam McGarry, who is currently our U10 coach, was there as goalkeeping coach and kit man. Liam had to step in last minute when Shaun Beattie was injured at Ibrox at the Scottish Cup semi-final the day before, taking part in the half-time ten second challenge! Many of the Aberdeen fans will have seen Sean being stretchered off! Emma Fisher also stepped in at last minute as physio and she was also there in a sport science role. They were all fantastic.
“Our Academy is thinking about long term player development but each coach should just be concerned about coaching each player to their best potential and getting them to the next year. That is each coach’s objective and target. When you are working with kids this young, the environment that we have to create is simple, it is serious fun. It has to be fun for the kids so they can express themselves. It has to be serious because it is an elite programme at the end of the day and the purpose of it is to get the best kids through the system but the environment we create has got to get the balance right. Every training session and practice and game we take part in has to be serious but it has to be fun as well.”
