It’s been a busy and rewarding summer for the Youth Academy section.

We had over 600 applicants wanting to join the Club’s Academy teams ready for this season, with trials beginning in April. Now every squad is full with over 150 players in the Youth Academy from Under-7s to Under-16s. It’s been lovely to welcome in the new signings.

We started pre-season at the end of July. Players have been put through various fitness drills and working on formations. The coaches all work to a Club syllabus, with the focus in these pre-season weeks on preparation for the season.

The Academy teams from Under-9 to Under-16 took part in our annual pre-season fixtures with Charlton teams over a number of days. We more than held our own with some brilliant individual and team performances and excellent results.

We have a new crop of Under-7s who will play friendlies this season and we are looking forward to our new Under-9s starting their first league matches in the JPL.

We have a few new faces on the coaching staff. We welcome Ben Edmead and Mucahit Cinar to the Club!

The season starts for us on the 6th September and we can’t wait to get going again. We are hoping to help bring through the next batch of players who make it into the first team and follow in the footsteps of the likes of George Whitefield, who was with us through every age-group and is doing a fantastic job in the first team now.

We wish all our teams, players and coaches the best of luck for the season.