NEWS - NOVEMBER: 6 TOURS - 6 COUNTRIES - MAKING A DIFFERENCE

When developing a programme that would benefit our Development Centre and Academy Players, the subject of tours would create the biggest buzz, weather it be the players or the coaches. 5 tours so far in 2007 have seen a considerable amount of boys travelling with us and by the time we travel to France in December, some players will have been on 3 tours in 2007. All of the tours have carried massive educational benefits to them and created memories for both the players and coaches that will live for many years to come. Following all this, as Football Development Schools (FDS) plan for 2008 the experiences of 2007 should provide us all with a greater knowledge that means the next year should be a year to look forward to.

Enjoyable, challenging, developing life skills, becoming confident in 100's of new situations. These are just the off the field benefits of players travelling with FDS. The on field benefits are massive to with players learning lots of different tactical and technical habits as they play many games over a short space of time against opponents from all over the world. Along with this the preparation of diet and rest that helps players to fulfill their potential while away on tour.

2008 will be the second year of the FDS Academy and for the really dedicated few, certain players will again have the opportunity to travel extensively with the coaches. The boys who travel the most are those who work hard week in week out, work well at home and are excellent young players off the pitch with high professional standards. By doing this they improve massively throughout the year.

The high standards the regular tourist show have helped grow the professional culture the Academy aspires to and 10 months along from the formation of the Academy the quality on and off the pitch has been developed massively.

Growing the touring culture along with the growth of our programme on English shores can only be achieved by having a dedicated and ambitious coaching staff. 2007 has seen all of our coaches improve their qualifications along with adding some excellent experiences to their CV's. Moving forward our coaching staff are more equiped than ever to make the most of all tours and will help provide greater opportunities to all our players.

At home FDS's relationship with Grendon Hall continues to provide us with a great opportunity to hold residentials at home, and we are always developing ideas to maintaining the quality and diversity of the programme we offer at home.

In the coming month we look forward to bringing to you our programme for 2008 and hope that for our Development Centre players, the tours will act as a catalyst to help push them towards our Academy, while for our Academy players we hope the tours will be the spring board to helping the boys push forward in their quest for excellence and future success within the professional game.