A full uptake of Under-9s signed on to Fleetwood Town's Academy in the last week in a brilliant day at Highbury Stadium.
The Academy is thrilled to have such a group of players advance from the Under-8s age group after challenging themselves and performing throughout the last year, with all of the players and families deciding that they would like to stay on the Fylde Coast.
Fleetwood prides themselves on progression through the Academy and it has gone from strength to strength recently, with a number of players getting professional deals, multiple first-team debuts, and the Under-18s winning the North West Youth Alliance last season.
With the mantra of ‘develop the person, challenge the player’, the staff are able to help maximise the development of each player, and this is why they are so happy with the uptake of players for the Foundation Phase group.
Here are the New Under-9s for the 2021/22 season: Ellery Gardner, Joseph Parkes, Jude Whitehead, Mylo Deery, Rory Campbell, Ethan Robertson, Jaxson James Richards, Joseph Weston, Rhys Cooper, Freddie Gallagher, Alfie Kippax, James Faulkner.
Mike Hall, Lead Foundation Phase Coach at Fleetwood Town, said: "Our Academy mantra is ‘Develop the Person, Challenge the Player’, so we hope to use football as the vehicle to develop them as people across their academy journey, providing an additional positive childhood experience that lots of boys across the country don’t have an opportunity to experience.
“Although we are keen to manage expectations of ‘becoming a footballer’ at such young ages, we equally want to first and foremost have a love for the game, which is paramount to maintaining the dream of becoming a football player is still possible, particularly at Fleetwood Town, where the Academy is so well supported by everyone connected to the football club.
“We have received some fantastic feedback around the Academy environment from parents and staff of both our Academy boys as well as visiting teams, so we are confident that this will form the foundation for our new Under-9s to express themselves and play without fear and we look forward to supporting them on their journey!’’