Don't miss the chance to impress...
THE WALSALL FC Talented & Gifted Development Programme is ever growing, both in statue and quality.Throughout the programme, over 200 players have the opportunity to enhance their skills playing alongside players of similar high standards within a professional, positive, learning environment over three different centres.
These sessions are held at the Banks’s Stadium, Shelfield Community Academy and Willenhall E-Act Academy on an invite-only basis as it is a sign-and-release programme.
At present, the Banks’s sessions are for players who are excelling within the Development Programme and at the top of our Walsall FC Development Pathway. This centre also acts as the official feeder to the club’s Academy, which currently has many T&G players within the Academy system.
The sessions at Willenhall and Shelfield are for players who are striving to improve and potentially develop up the Pathway to a standard required of a T&G Player or, ultimately, Academy level. This cannot always be achieved, however. being in this environment the opportunity is there for players from Under-7 through to Under-16 to enhance their development.
There are many young players excelling within the local leagues, many of which apply for trials on a daily basis. Due to the volume of interest and the limited places available, we are unable to give these potential talented young footballers the opportunity with our Development Programme.
With this in mind, the structure of Walsall FC Talented & Gifted is extending to a three-tier system, which will enable more young footballers to have the opportunity to be part of our successful Development Programme.
The new pathway will consist of the following:
• Elite Development (Banks’s Stadium)
• Advanced Development (Shelfield Community Academy)
• Development (Willenhall E-Act Academy)
Therefore we will be holding trial sessions during the Summer Holiday to give players from Under-7s to Under-14s the opportunity to showcase their ability for a place within the Walsall FC Talented & Gifted Development Programme.
The dates for these trial sessions are, as follows:
• Monday 5th & Wednesday 7th August – U7s and U8s
• Monday 12th & Wednesday 14th August – U9s and U10s
• Monday 19th & Wednesday 21st August – U11s and U12s
• Tuesday 27th & Wednesday 28th August – U13s and U14s
• Monday 19th & Wednesday 21st August – Goalkeepers
All of which will be held at the Banks’s Stadium from 3.30pm until 5pm. There will be a small cost of £3 per session to simply cover our overheads.
All potential trialists will need to email our Talented & Gifted Development Manager, Marc Wilkes at marc.wilkes@walsallfc.co.uk, to apply for a trial place. Please include Name, DOB, Current Team plus any previous Academy/District/County experience.
Please note all applicants will NOT be successful as it an invite-only programme. For further details see www.walsallfccp.co.uk/talented