Harrogate Town AFC inspires North Yorkshire’s next generation of footballing talent with youth coaching
The next Leah Williamson, Harry Kane or Warren Burrell could come from right here in North Yorkshire – thanks to the opportunities for youngsters to hone their footballing skills with Harrogate Town AFC.
The summer Harrogate Town has seen a host of new young talent taking to the turf through its summer soccer camps.
And now the new season is underway local youngsters are enjoying expert coaching thanks to the club and its youth football training programme, the Player Pathway.
Our vision is to have a youth setup that makes the local area proud by maximising the talents of the young players in our care. The aim is for our Player Pathway to be at the forefront in producing technically gifted footballers who will represent our teams in the future.
Town’s Player Pathway has already had something to celebrate this season, as 19-year-old Lucas Barnes became the club’s first homegrown talent to start a first-team league match when he played against Barrow last month.
Success in summer camps.
It was a record year for Harrogate Town AFC’s Summer Soccer Camps with more youngsters signing up than ever before. The Summer Soccer Camps also been nominated for two Harrogate Mumbler Awards: Favourite Kids Club or Holiday Camp, and coach Jess Leach for Favourite Teacher, Childcare Professional, Coach or Leader.
The club also hosted its first-ever girls-only camp for budding Lionesses, which proved hugely popular too.
More than 120 girls turned in just the first two weeks of the camp, which gave girls in school years one to eight a dedicated space to play, learn and grow their love of football.
“Following the success of the Lionesses, women and girls football has never been more popular. The surge in talent is increasing at a rapid pace. We welcome all abilities in to our youth coaching sessions”, says Kate Donnan, Head of Women’s and Girls Football at Harrogate Town.
And the opportunity for girls and boys to continue to perfect their passes, develop their defence, and finesse their football skills continues right through to next summer through the Player Pathway training opportunities.
Player Pathway
The club has a range of courses and routes to training for young people through its Emerging Talent sessions and Centres of Excellence, to suit all ages (under 7s to under 16s) and abilities.
The evening training sessions are split into age groups and boys and girls sessions, and take place at St John Fisher High School.
For more information on the sessions and times and to download a brochure click here.
The Emerging Talent (ETC) groups are designed to introduce players of all ages and abilities to the Harrogate Town way. ETC is for all abilities, and aims to make a positive impact beyond football through engaging and inspiring sessions.
Whilst the Centre of Excellence (CoE) is invitation-only, aimed at players showing high potential, either identified through ETC sessions or external scouting.
Far from taking away from grassroots football, the Player Pathway is designed to be extra training in addition to playing for your local grassroots club.
Josh Falkingham explained: “This is something I’m truly passionate about, creating opportunities, opening doors, and helping players grow both on and off the pitch.”
One for the goalies
Harrogate youngsters aspiring to become the next Mark Oxley can join the goalkeeping only sessions, and receive training from the UEFA A/B qualified coaches. The sessions focus on all areas of modern-day goalkeeping.
Growing girl’s football
Harrogate Town AFC runs its Girls' Pathway sessions every Friday from September through to June, from 6pm to 7pm at St John Fisher School.
“We'd love to see many of the girls from the camp continue their football journey with us,” says coach Tom Overton.
“Hopefully, over the coming years, we'll see more home-grown players progress through our pathway and go on to represent our Women's Under-23s and First Team. That would be a fantastic achievement for the players, the club and the Community Foundation."
How to join the Player Pathway
For more information about the player pathways, coaches, session times, kit and more read the FAQs here or download a brochure here.
You can contact Josh Falkingham, Director of Youth Football, on [email protected] or Dave Riley, Operations Director, at [email protected]