Some of our BA (Hons) Football Coaching and Talent Development students have enjoyed several recent trips to Football League clubs, getting an insight to life in academy football.
The First Year students visited Oxford United’s U18s and Watford’s U21s in the last few weeks, as part of their study visits to talent development environments.
UCFB students have previously visited the academies at Crystal Palace, Reading and Queens Park Rangers.
Dominic Haynes, programme leader for BA (Hons) Football Coaching and Talent Development, spoke about how important it is for the students to see how academy football runs first-hand.
He said: “The insight provided into the day-to-day life of academy football is vital in preparing our students for the industry as well as creating placement, internship and employment opportunities.
“Our students are challenged to apply theory and research to the real-world realities of developing future professional footballers and we are proud to be able to support them in gaining access to observe and learn from the professional game.”
At Oxford United, students were given the opportunity to observe match preparation before their FA Youth Cup quarter final vs Manchester City U18s.
Training took place alongside the first team, so students could observe the alignment between both senior and academy training, whilst having incredible access to interact with all academy staff and players.
Students were also treated to a fascinating presentation on the coaching methodology and philosophy by Nick Adkins (head of academy coaching).
Then at Watford, students observed training before watching the U18s and U21s matches against Reading.
Students were set a player profiling task to analyse and measure performance against the academy’s values and philosophy, before hearing the U21s head coach, Omer Riza, reflect on the game.
Jimmy Gilligan (head of technical development) then presented on the clubs coaching methodology and held a Q&A with students on how they can achieve their future aspirations as professionals in football.
To find out more about our undergraduate coaching degree options, click here.
