Finding the right local football academy for your kids is absolutely essential for their relationship with the game. It can really go either way – either sparking a lifelong passion that provides community and health for years to come, or becoming a stressful experience that puts them off sports altogether.
There are certain things that you can look for in academies to help ensure that their experience is a positive one. From accredited coaches to enough game time, these are a few things to keep an eye out for when choosing an academy.
Accredited coaches
When looking for a football training academy, one of the easiest things to look out for is how their coaches are certified. Look for places like Pro Football Academy that ensure full UEFA / FA accreditation, rather than somewhere that takes too relaxed and unstructured an approach.
Additionally, it’s worth looking into the academy’s overall training philosophy. You want to choose somewhere that aligns with your own kids’ goals, whether that’s to have a bit of fun or to try out with a professional football club at some time in the future.
A positive environment
The most important thing in most cases is that your kid finds it a positive environment. That means finding somewhere with other kids who are on the same level as yours, and a safe, friendly coaching environment.
You should be able to get a good idea of this from the initial visit or taster day, but it’s also something you’ll need to judge as time goes by. If your kid loves it, then great. If they need a bit of time to figure things out, then make sure you’re able to provide them with the right support, even if that means changing to a different academy.
Practical considerations
You also need to go through some basic practical issues. For example, do the available training sessions align with your kid’s existing schedule? Can you easily get them to and from the training grounds, or will you need to arrange for some kind of carpool system with other parents? These practical issues can often be worked around if the academy is otherwise perfect for your kid, but they’re still important to consider early on.
Play to training ratio
Ultimately, your kid needs to enjoy their football experience to get the most out of it. Unless they’re absolutely obsessed with technical development, that means that the academy you choose needs to find a healthy balance between skills training and actual play time.
Ask the coaches about how they approach this, and about how it changes depending on the kids they’re training. Ultimately, your kid will have to try out the academy to see if the ratio is right for them – if training is approached in the right way, it can even be equally enjoyable to game time in some cases!
It’s really important that you take this process seriously, if you want your kids to have a positive experience. Go through the questions above, listen to your gut feeling, and ask the kid for their input on the places you go and visit together.
