Under 7 Academy Tournament
May 2010
Under 7 Academy 2009
For the new 2009 season Portmarnock AFC's new committee and the football sub committee undertook a review of the way our children were progressing from the Nippers academy run on a Saturday morning in Paddy's Hill. The nursery provides an introduction to football for the 5-6 year olds.
We felt that the normal route of 7 and 8 year olds going in to competitive teams and leagues is something we should review and with that in mind we set up an Under 7 Academy where we coach the children for 1 hour on a Wednesday and 1.25 hours on a Sunday, all in Paddy's Hill astro pitch.
Brian Irwin and ex first team player Brian McWilliams are the coaches and they are assisted by Craig Bolton.
The coaches have the FAI coaching program Kick Start qualification's and a number of the club's Under 16 players who wish to get involved in coaching with the academy have already started assisting in the practice sessions.
We are concentrating on getting the children to understand the basics of the game by working on first touch and passing. We feel this approach will give the children an excellent grasp of the basics of the game, which also is all about enjoyment at this stage the winning and losing can come later! The plan is to get the graduating class of 2010 to also follow in to the senior academy setup from September 2010 and monitor the progress of this class also.
We want ALL kids strong and weak at this stage of their football lives to be able as a minimum, control, kick and pass the ball and not get lost in a team system where the stronger come to the fore and the weaker fade in to the background.
We will be updating the website with more info and photos from time to time so drop back in and have a look.
Yours in sport,
Brian Irwin, Brian McWilliams
