The college's Football Academy has set-out ambitious plans as it moves into the 2019/20 season.
The academy is one of the longest and most successful football programmes in the East, with four top table finishes in the last five years. The college's U19 men’s team currently competes in the EFCA (England College Football Association) League Eastern region, with hopes of promotion in the upcoming season.
Head coach, Daniel Buhlemann said ‘As we enter our 20th consecutive season, our goal is on promotion next year. We have a strong side and we are focussed on ramping up our training programme and recruiting new talent to add to our existing squad to ensure we achieve the best possible outcome next season.’
Daniel Buhlemann
The Football Academy, based at the college's Sports Campus at Lynnsport, opened its doors nineteen years ago and since then it has gone from strength to strength, housing two squads; the Elite and Developmental, who train twice weekly, alongside participating in weekly match fixtures across the Eastern region.
The academy offers a year-long programme in addition to full-time study, as well as boasting state-of-the-art training facilities including 3G, futsal pitch, fitness centre, sports science equipment, video analysis and player profiling.
Sports’ Programme Manager, Scott Leadley, said: ‘The college's Football Academy develops players into all-round athletes through a combination of education and play. We focus on players’ fitness, psychology, nutrition and performance profiles. Our staff are also qualified lectures who all have sport and leisure industry experience and our coaches are all minimum UEFA B Licence. The intensive programme we offer ensures our players have the best possible chance of gaining scholarships with top universities, higher education opportunities and high-level coaching roles when they leave us.’
The academy also offers excellent career opportunities, with many of its alumni being offered US Scholarships to leading universities, pursuing coaching and teaching qualifications, as well as roles within the sports science field.
Recent alumnus who have found success across the pond, include US Major League Soccer (MLS), Dom Dwyer, who has played for the US Men’s National Soccer Team as well as Sporting Kansas City and more recently, Orlando City SC and Shaun Stocker, who currently plays for Liberty University Soccer Team. Ebony Wiseman, Bethan Jones and Nikita Morris have also gone on to take up scholarships stateside. Other notable successes include Mark Heath-Preston, who has gone on to become head coach of the Bellevue University Men’s Soccer team in Nebraska, US.
The college's Sport’s Campus is home to basketball and netball academy, as well as football. If you are a year 11 and are looking to join the college next year, you can try out for the football, basketball and netball academies at our Player Evaluation Day on Tuesday 28th May 2019 at the Sports Campus, Lynnsport Alive Leisure. To register, please visit: https://www.cwa.ac.uk/sport/sports-academies-registration/