Rotherham United welcomed their latest Academy prodigies to the football club with a ‘signing night’ at AESSEAL New York Stadium, which took place on Tuesday.
Eight players were joined by their parents at the Millers’ home to ‘officially’ join the U9s setup for next season. As ever, the youngsters were given a presentation which included a compilation of goals from last season and a message on what it means to be part of the Academy.
The youngsters were then given the opportunity to take pictures and were presented with their own Rotherham United shirt as a keepsake, which was signed by all parents and staff to mark the occasion.
“It was nice to have that end of season celebration, to reflect on last season and look forward to the next one,” Lead Foundation Phase Coach Dave Atkinson told www.themillers.co.uk.
“We’ve got a lot of kids that are local to Rotherham and some beyond. Our ethos for the younger kids is that they are brave, they want to get on the ball and take risks.
“We’re not ‘result-driven’ as our aim is to develop individual players throughout the system. With the likes of Nat [Ford], Joel [Holvey] and Hamish [Douglas] all signing pro deals, it gives the lads a clear pathway and something to look up to. They know that with a lot of dedication and hard work that it could be them one day."
“We’ve got our last training session on Thursday which will be a tournament style and then they have their final games of the season on the AESSEAL New York Stadium pitch, which will be a good way to culminate the season.
“Our local grassroots partners are coming to play us, which will be great because a lot of the kids involved won’t have the same opportunities to play at the stadium as we have. It’ll be a good way to wrap up a successful season.”
With the 2022/23 season drawing to a close, Atkinson reflected on another positive campaign, whilst looking ahead with excitement to the next one.
“From my phase point of view it has been an excellent season,” Atkinson declared.
“There are always challenges which are presented to us, but that always gives us things to improve on. Another important thing is that we evolve each year, we don’t want to stand still and keep doing the same things, so we’re looking to add something different to our programme each season."
“The standards across the whole Academy are improving and we believe that will in turn ensure we get a better calibre of player coming through. This season we have piloted futsal, which has been really well received by both players and parents, we’re hoping to expand on that.
“We’re also looking to improve on our coaches programme so that the sessions that they deliver to players continue to be innovative for the children.”