Maidstone United Football Academy has places available for the 2013/2014 season.
If you’re doing your GCSEs next summer and are looking to continue your studies while playing football – this is the course for you.
The football academy is based at the club’s £2.6million Gallagher Stadium. It boasts three classrooms for learning and a 3G pitch for sports coaching all year round. The club has teamed up with MidKent College, one of the leading providers of post-16 education in the county, to run the academy.
Academy students spend five days a week at the stadium, studying for a BTEC Level 3 in Sport and a range of vocational football-related qualifications, while learning more about the game, training to play and competing in one of three leagues.
If you’re interested in joining, please email info@maidstoneunited.co.uk.
Academy staff
The club has been successful in recruiting a very high calibre staff to work with the players.
Alan Seamons will be the lead tutor for the Academy, bringing to it a wealth of experience and expertise accumulated over the years in his work at various clubs, schools, academies and colleges, including QPR, West Ham and Crystal Palace. Alan will also act as the Examinations Officer for the Academy, another role for which he is brilliantly qualified. As well as holding the UEFA ‘A’ Licence for coaching, he is qualified to teach in the lifelong learning sector, and holds a vast array of awards as an assessor. His knowledge of the qualifications and how to achieve great results makes him a fantastic asset to the Academy.
Jim Bodle, a qualified teacher, will support Alan with the academic aspects of the programme. Jim comes to us having spent a year working as a full-time coach. He is also the reserve team manager at Maidstone United, which provides us with a direct link into the most senior teams in the club. Educated and trained locally, Jim is very committed to producing and growing talent in the hope that young players from the Academy will rise through the ranks to represent the club at the highest level. Jim knows what this is all about. He joined Maidstone U13s and played his way up through the system, eventually representing the club in the same first team as Chris Smalling, currently MUFC’s most famous old boy. One of the reasons for building the Academy is to tap into the rich vein of talent that exists in the mid-Kent area. Some of our players are already on the verge of breaking into the senior adult teams and the potential is there for the most successful or gifted players to be selected as full-time apprentices within the club. There is literally, a lot to play for.
Jack Parkinson, the youngest ever UK holder of the UEFA ‘A’ Licence, and youth international experience, will lead the coaching aspects of the Academy. Currently signed for Woking FC of the Blue Square Bet Premier League (5th Tier of the English Leagues), Jack is the inspirational role model of the Academy. He recently joined Woking from Welling FC where he had been club captain for two years. He has been working with the current crop of players at Cobdown, manages the Cray Wanderers U.16s and has a number of other football-related business interests. Jack has a knack for talent-spotting and has already attracted a number of young players to the club to join the Academy.
Helping to make you a winner
The programme of study
In addition to the BTEC Level 3 award in Sport which will give the learners 1, 2 or 3 A Level equivalence at the end of two years, the programme will also enable learners to gain:
- Qualifications in First Aid
- FA Level 1 Coaching Awards
- FA Level 2 Coaching Awards
- FA Level 1 Refereeing Awards
- QCF Level 2 Award in Leadership Through Football
- Level 2 Sports Injury Treatment Award
- Level 3 Sport Injury Treatment Award
Entry requirements
To be considered for the Academy, you must be able to show us that you can:
- play at an appropriate standard, judged at a trial
- provide evidence that you have achieved or are about to achieve four A*-C grade passes at GCSE – it is helpful if you have maths and English, though we can help top these up if necessary
Selection for the Academy is controlled by a strict process which includes, as mentioned above, a trial with other players and as part of a training session and a formal academic interview with a panel from the team.
