Rotherham United

Rotherham United’s Academy are set to launch a brand new initiative which is set to kick off at the end of April.

Academy Manager Garreth Barker has revealed plans for a Rotherham United ‘Community Coaches Club’ which is set to strengthen links and start new relationships with the local grassroots Junior Football Clubs.

“One of the things we are keen to do as an Academy is to build on our links with football clubs at grassroots level. The idea came from something similar which is practiced at another club but we have put our own stamp on the project which is set for launch on the 30th April,” Garreth explained.

“The plan is to invite 40-50 local grassroots coaches to come down to the club to talk about coaching philosophy and for the club to exchange our knowledge base and ideas from within the club’s Academy, whilst also learning some more about our local community clubs. 

“It is also vital for the club to continue to build our contacts with the local clubs so when we launch our initiatives for next season we can go to the clubs we have a relationship with, and invite them into the Academy system to work alongside us.”

The inaugural meeting for the ‘Community Coaches Club’ is set for 6.30pm on April 30th at New York Stadium, but Garreth explained that the meetings won’t stay in the classroom with a series of practical workshops also in the pipeline. 

“Anybody reading this in the local community who is interested can contact Chris Kirby at the Academy, and he will add you to the growing list of local coaches already attending,” he adds.

“The first meeting will be classroom based with some free resources to take away at the end of the night, but that will be followed-up by some practical events which will be covered by aged specific coaches for 9s-11s, 12s-14s and 14s-16s. 

“We are very much looking forward to getting the programme up and running.”

Anyone interested in signing up can do so by emailing Chris Kirby at ckirby@rotherhamunited.net