Academy Recruitment brochure first draft PDF

WE GROW TOGETHER Are you willing to challenge yourself every day to be better than you were yesterday? Do you have a burning passion for football and the drive required to set you apart from your competitors and earn a full-time contract? Link up with us and you’ll be joining more than just an Academy Scholarship programme. You’ll be joining a club, a community, a family. Where better never stops. HUMILITY | UNITY | INDUSTRY SOUTH SHIELDS FOOTBALL CLUB

BE PART OF SOMETHING SPECIAL A strive for continuous improvement is at the heart of South Shields FC Academy. We aim to provide a platform for promising local players to reach their maximum potential and progress towards our successful first-team, or perhaps to an even higher level of the football pyramid. Our teams are involved in a high level, competitive games programme designed to challenge them to their limits. It will be competitive and it will be tough, but be in no doubt that it will be fun, too. Players are under the tutelage of highly-respected coaches who have already helped to develop more than 20 players who have gone on to represent our first-team. We coach for the future, focusing our efforts on the development of skills that will serve players in years to come, while having a constant drive to develop them as good people too. The ‘South Shields Way’ is about so much more than our renowned playing style.

OUR VALUES We pride ourselves on our sense of family and community at South Shields FC. To be part of our club, three values in particular are non-negotiable. HUMILITY The acknowledgment to stay grounded and show gratitude towards the culture of our town. We seek to add value to the community through our actions on and off the pitch. We put others before ourselves. UNITY Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much. One community - One dream - One club. INDUSTRY The town of South Shields was built upon ship building and coal mining, two diligent, hard-working industries. We are persistent in our pursuit to constantly improve. Better Never Stops.

EDUCATION It would be a mistake to think our Scholarship programme is all about the football. We place just as much pride on the development of our players in their studies. Football and education are intrinsically linked at South Shields FC Academy; one does not work without the other. Our partnership with Sunderland College is strong, with all players able to study B-Tec sport courses at levels one to five, or three A- level subjects in tandem with their football training. Sunderland College has a superb reputation for its teaching and learning, and its students have exceeded the national average for achievement rates and high grades for the last seven years. We are committed to providing our players with the best possible platform to earn a career in professional football. It is also important to us that they are prepared for every eventuality at the conclusion of the Scholarship, which is why such strong emphasis is placed on their studies at the college.

SUCCESSES On the pitch, we have enjoyed some huge success since the Academy was launched in 2017. More than 20 Academy players have represented our first-team, which has it- self gone from strength to strength over recent seasons, with three promotions in four years. The ultimate goal of the first-team is to reach the Football League and our aim is to develop players who can represent us there. One of the first-team stars of the 2019- 20 season was Arron Thompson, an Academy graduate. Other Academy players including Will Jenkins, Sam Hodgson, Callum Guy and Kieran Charlton also made a breakthrough. Arron and Sam have within the last year signed first-team, professional contracts. In 2019, Academy player Will McCamley signed a two-year deal at then Premier League side Huddersfield Town. The Shields Academy team made an incredible, historic run to the third round of the prestigious FA Youth Cup in 2019-20 before losing to Fulham. They reached the second round the previous season. Mathew Wade and Joe Lockey were selected by England Schoolboys last season. The Academy won its first national title in the 2018-19 season with the National League Under-19 Alliance League Cup.

“At the end of difficult paths, you will usually find beautiful places.” In 2019-20, our players represented us proudly on the national and international stage, reaching the third round of the FA Youth Cup, starring for our first-team and representing their country with England Schoolboys. Now we’re looking for the next generation of hard-working, dedi- cated talented footballers who are ready to follow in their foot- steps. Have you got what it takes? Don’t miss out on this golden oppor- tunity. Email: [email protected]