MONTHLY UPDATE – NOVEMBER
Following a busy schedule in November for Cambridge United’s Academy Schoolboy age groups, Academy Manager Richard Meek pens the first of a series of monthly updates.
We wanted to bring all our followers a monthly update on life in the academy with a particular focus on our younger schoolboy activities, of which there are many!
Our CUFC Academy programme consists of players from the age of 6-16 years and consists of the three key phases:-
1) Pre Academy phase (ages 6/7 & 8)
2) Foundation Phase (9-12)
3) Youth Development Phase (13-16)
We currently have 100 + young players in our Academy Programme and 200 + in our Shadow Academy training 2-3 times per week (Monday, Friday & Saturday) and playing games at weekends.
During November our boys have experienced games at Fulham and Chelsea (pre academy phase), Tottenham, Norwich, Northampton, Leyton Orient & Leicester (Foundation phase) and for the Youth Development phase the month started with an exciting trip to play Liverpool at the u15/16 age group.
A big part of our Academy philosophy is to develop our players as people, so we took the opportunity to take the boys to Liverpool after an early morning training session, on the Saturday afternoon, for an overnight stay prior to a 12pm kick off on Sunday 1st Nov.
The players were excellent in their behaviour and application, coming away with an excellent draw at one of the country’s best academies.
Meanwhile, our older players have also had games against Norwich, AFC Wimbledon, Northampton and Leyton Orient during November, highlighting what a varied and exciting games programme they have. The staff are always striving to deliver the best development programme possible for all our young players across all age groups.
Coming up this month, the games continue to come thick and fast, as we play Chelsea, Peterborough and Derby amongst others, so look out for the next update in the New Year.
May I take this opportunity to wish all our supporters a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.