Over 200 attend two free sessions
The Carlisle United Academy open days held in west Cumbria and the South Lakes recently reported over 200 players in attendance as young football hopefuls answered the call to pop along for free trial sessions.
Academy coach Ben Benson said: “We were delighted with the turn out and the quality was fantastic.
“We have now selected 40 players to undergo Development Centre training. This will be a great opportunity for the players involved to continue their football development with both their grassroots team and the Development Centre.
“The intention is to link the three Development Centres together and to organise games against our other development teams. If the players involved continue to progress, which we hope they will, then their next step will be into the foundation phase at our academy.”
And more exciting news emerged for the Carlisle United Academy this week when a link with Carlisle City Football Club was revealed.
“We are delighted to announce a link between Carlisle City and the Carlisle United Academy,” Ben told us.
“We will be linking our foundation phase (8-11yrs) with the Carlisle City 5-11's programme. This link will be of huge benefit to players from both organisations.
“I am keen to vastly improve our relations within local grassroots football and this link will certainly allow us to do that.
“Carlisle City is one of the biggest youth clubs in the city and this link will allow us to grow our relationship and potentially provide a pathway for all players concerned.
“As part of the link we will be offering consultancy to coaches and our academy staff will be delivering sessions for the players. In return we will be able to aid in the development of some of their players, offer friendly fixtures throughout the season and give our players the opportunity to compete in the Carlisle City annual tournament.
“Over time we will also help to develop a coaching programme similar to the one we use in our Academy. This should help when players do join the academy as the transition will hopefully be a little easier for them to make.
“We genuinely feel that links such as this are crucial to the long term success of our academy programme. We also hope to announce a link with another club in the Carlisle area, as well as a club in west Cumbria, in the very near future.”
