ELITE PROGRAMME

Firstly I think it’s important to understand why we are creating our Elite Programme. We have wanted to do this for some time but lockdown delayed this massively. Our philosophy is developing confidence on the ball of all ages and abilities and our development centres are perfect for this. Our fantastic facilities, coaching, equipment and sessions are the perfect combination to achieving our goal; and we will never come away from this.

Every player that attends our development centres will be given the maximum amount of guidance, coaching and developing to progress in their career. However, we wanted to provide a ladder and pathway for everyone, giving them a target to aim for, but also a chance to be spotted by a professional football club. With our contacts in football we wanted to showcase the talent we have at Football Icon, and our Elite Programme will be the perfect stepping stone for this.

Important details of how it will operate:

The programme will run in the school holidays (October and February half term, Easter, May half term, and Summer). We aim to have at least 1/2 maybe 3 training sessions depending on how long the holiday break is and at least 3/4 games per year against a pro club.

In the build up to each school break we will pick a squad for U7’s - U15’s. The squad will be announced to parents and players on a set date.

Leading up to the announcement of the elite squad, we will be watching players every week and planning our next game against a club.

Each school holiday, different players could be chosen. This will be based on: performance, form, attitude, attendance, work rate, talent, commitment, desire and application. Once chosen we want players to keep their shirt! If not chosen, we want players working harder at our development centres every week to get the shirt! This now gives every player, boys and girls a target to aim for. As well as the reports and player of the week, we feel this should inspire and motivate your children to the next level.

From this, we also want attendance rates at our development centres to improve. We understand people go away etc but attendance varies too much. As well as this we hope that our players application to the development centres improves. We want every player boy and girl striving to get into the Elite Squad and working hard at our development centres to do so.

The games will be a fantastic showcase for your children to be spotted by a club. Our aim will be to get 10 players signed into a Pro club in the next year from our showcase games.

Players who are picked for the Elite Squad will need to have the Football Icon training kit and will also be asked to pay £10 per training session and game. This will pay the coaching staff and facilities used. Parents will be notified by email and message and we will aim to do this every holiday.

In addition to our Elite Programme we will continue to run our Elite Clinics, Camps, 1 to 1’s, Tours and the Development Centres will run week to week. From September, correct football kit and football footwear is to be worn at the development centres and everything will continue as normal. Only change is players now have a target to aim for.

We understand that you as a parent want the best for your son/daughter. The decisions made will solely be ours alone by coaches who have a wealthy experience of coaching and playing. Please feel free to ask questions but we politely ask not to question what we do or question our methods.

Simon Clarke who worked with Watford U18’s last year will be a huge part of our programme. He is a pro license coach which is the highest possible calibre of coach anyone can be. He will be working closely to Adam on the Elite Programme and developing the players, coaches and Football Icon as a company.