We'd like to thank McDonalds for their support, as McDonalds are our official development centre partners for the 2013/2014 season.
Our development centre philosophy is: "We endeavour to create a fun environment within the boundaries of discipline that allows the boys to demonstrate flair and individualism without fear of criticism."
During each training night, we aim to work towards the following guidelines:
• We aim to create individuals and not teams.
• We encourage flair and creativity.
• We allow the players to make mistakes as we believe this aids learning. If the mistake is repeatedly made then intervention and help may be needed.
• Our coaches are constantly set new challenges to challenge both individuals and the group as a whole.
• We use a guide and discovery delivery style – encourage questions and encourage the children to get to the answer themselves, through demonstrations and prompting from the coach.
• We strive to use of positive language – instead of "don’t do it like that" use the phrase "can you try it this way". Instead of “weaker foot”, suggest using “their other foot”. Even the smallest of changes in our language can make a big difference to a child.
The ultimate end goal is for boys to attend our centre and then progress into the clubs academy. Recently we have had five or six boys from across the different ages successfully being signed to the OAFC academy, of which we are immensely proud about. Attending the development centre however offers no guarantees of getting a trial or being signed. What it does offer is high quality training (that's in line with what is delivered at the OAFC academy) and the best possible chance to then progress within OAFC.
Our aim is to help develop each and every individual – both in terms of their footballing ability and also in terms of their individual development as a person. We aim to instil a confidence and discipline that will help each child throughout life – if we are successful with this then for us the training has been a worthwhile exercise. We are constantly monitoring the training and in regular discussions with the academy around trials and squads – when and if we feel it is right for someone to progress the pathways are there. We additionally aim to work with grassroots clubs and not against them. We encourage them to aid their players development and see our training nights as an additional night to receive coaching.
Our training focuses solely on individuality – we feel we are quite unique in this as most other training will focus on team play. We never play small sided games that are larger than 5v5. The smaller the number of players per game, the more touches each child receives, meaning an increased rate of development. Whilst we can't offer guarantees, we do genuinely feel that the training sessions we provide give your child a great platform on which to develop.
Our Development Centre's currently run across two nights at different locations, providing training for over 80 young footballers per week from the ages of seven to twelve years old. We are in the process of starting up a brand new under seven training night, we hope to bring you information on this session soon.
The cost of training is £10 per month.
U8 Friday 7-8pm Failsworth Sports Centre
U9 Monday 4:30-5:30pm Chapel Road 3G
U10 Monday 4:30-5:30pm Chapel Road 3G
U11 Friday 5-6pm Chapel Road 3G
U12 Friday 5-6pm Chapel Road 3G