Football & Education Academy: The Relaunch
We are delighted to announce the relaunch of our Football & Education Academy. Our new partnerships with Handsworth FC and University of Sheffield have allowed us to not only improve the quality of programme we offer, but provide us with locations that are commutable for more students/players in Sheffield and wider areas such as Dronfield and Chesterfield with direct bus routes to our Norton site from these areas.
Joe Williamson, Education Manager, is looking forward to being able to offer more students/players the opportunity to play and study with the Foundation.
“Since 2018 the Football & Education Academy has seen a 200% increase in the number of students.
“The biggest challenge of this is maintaining the quality of programme we can offer to develop the players academically on their BTEC Sport course, personally with their life skills and also from a footballing perspective.
“By securing these partnerships we have secured two world class facilities right across the city that provide us with state-of-the-art training and classroom facilities.”
Handsworth FC and the University of Sheffield have worked very closely with us over the last few months to ensure we can maximise the experience for the students/players who will be using their facilities. They have shown an incredible amount of passion and desire to hold our programmes at their prestigious facilities.
Steve Holmes, Handsworth vice chairman, is looking forward to a fruitful partnership between the Foundation and his club.
“It’s a fantastic move for the Club and for the Community Foundation,” he said.
“This offers a pathway for our 500 players that can come through and continue with their education whilst enjoying their football.
“It’s a win, win all round, and we’re hoping this will be a long and successful partnership for everybody.”
It is with great pleasure to announce that across the two sites we now have the capacity to host up to 120 students on BTEC Sport courses across the two sites per day. The new elite football development centres will allow players to access an elite football programme with a pathway through to Handsworth FC first team, but also keeping with our Community vision these centres are open to players of all abilities with 7 squads competing every week in a league suited to their ability.
Sheffield United Community Foundation has invested heavily in the experience we can offer to our students/players both from a resources point of view, for example all students having their own laptop but also from a staffing point of view, and it is for this reason we believe we can now offer an experience like no other within the region. From September each student will not only have access to these incredible facilities but also the following network of support from their Education Staff team:
Education Manager
Curriculum Leader
Head of Football & Recruitment
Fully Qualified Teacher with relevant industry experience
Teaching Assistant
Personal Learning Mentor
UEFA B Coach
Physiotherapist
Performance Analyst
Strength and Conditioning Coach
The Football & Education Academy staff are extremely excited for the new academic year/Football season to begin, and if you are interested in joining us in 20/21 or 21/22 please email enquiries@sufc-community.com.