Gosford City Football Club has established an extensive Football Academy Program thanks to financial support from the Wyong Leagues Group.
The not-for-profit initiative is the most extensive Academy Program ever run by a local club within Central Coast Football.
The academies cater for players aged five to eight in MiniRoos, nine to 11s in Skills Acquisition and 12-18s in Game Training.
There is also an all-female football academy, believed to be the first of its kind on the Central Coast, and a Goal Keeper Academy.
All academies are run in line with Football Australia’s National Curriculum, and all coaches hold the appropriate qualifications.
Players attending the academies are not charged any fees and are able to attend the academies in addition to their own team’s training sessions.
Gosford City FC President and Football Manager Youth, Cameron Bradley, said Gosford had run its academies for a number of years.
“But I’m proud that this year, with the help of our major sponsor Wyong Leagues Group, the club has been able to offer an academy program open to all our players from under-fives to 18 years’ teams,” he said.
“Our young Dragons’ enthusiasm to develop their skills is inspiring and seeing them loving their football and having fun with players across age groups is fantastic.
“Connections are building across teams and between our youngest players and their older youth players who have become their coaches.
“This is what we love seeing in grass roots football – we are one club, we’re all on the same Dragons team.”
Football Manager Nicole Stammers said she was excited the club had been able to offer girls’ academies this year.
“We are a club who loves our female footballers and we hope to see many more girls taking up this great sport, particularly as they see our Matildas competing in the World Cup this year,” she said.
“We have encouraged our local girls to join a team and we’ve seen many of them playing this year for the very first time.
“Our girls’ academies help to build their confidence and football skills, and seeing our girls loving their football is the best reward.
“We are very thankful to Wyong Leagues Group for supporting our girls at Gosford.”
Club Coach Gavin Drummond said Gosford City had always looked to be the “little club that could”.
“And now we are the club that will develop the standard of our junior and youth footballers,” he said.
“Rather than seeking to attract players from other clubs for our top football squads, we are looking to predominantly develop from within.”
Brock Molan from Wyong Leagues Group said supporting excellent grass roots programs like Gosford City FC’s Academy was a “fantastic alignment” with the group’s overall community engagement strategy.
“With our funding we believe the academy program will enhance the playing experience of young players which will positively contribute to players remaining in the game for longer,” he said.
“We would hope that is also could lead to the discovery of more homegrown superstars on the Coast in the future.”
Source:
Gosford City Football Club