Under 11s Coach Paul Cottal had his say on proceedings with youth development at the step three side Bishops Cleeve.
Cottal is formerly a player of the under 18s team at Bishops Cleeve before playing numerous matches for the first team back in the 1990s.
One thing that is massively important to Bishops Cleeve and Cottal is the youth team development, ‘’Obviously you want that pathway, that’s one of the good things about Bishops Cleeve, is that it has that pathway with Cleeve Colts and then you have that pathway all the way through to the 18s youth team into the first team.
‘’A lot of what Cleeve Colts and Bishop Colts is about preparing the players for playing that type of level because I know from myself that it is such a step up from the under 18s football into the adult game.’’
Furthermore, football has evolved and changed through the years as the way it is played in England has changed massively.
‘’It is quite a big step actually, the biggest step is the physicality of the game, when you come out of under 18s football, there’s a lot about skill and possession but once you get into adult football, it’s all about the physicality and speed which you don’t necessarily see at youth level.’’
English leagues are renowned across the world for being the most physical and demanding on the body mainly because of Football being the main sport for residents in the UK.
The key for any academy in the football systems is to nurture young talents through to eventually push for first team meaning results as a team are not that important, ‘’ You’ve got to look at the way you play football, it’s not just the results, that’s not the only aspect of it, for a player to develop and for a team to develop you’ve got to consider the way that you play football. Football has changed a lot actually.
‘’I played for Bishops Cleeve Colts Under 18s and then I went into the adult game in the 90s, there was a lot more physicality to the game then, now you’ll see in the Premier League, the types of tackles that were allowed in the 90s would probably be a yellow card now, with follow-throughs particularly so what you want to look at is the way you play, the passing, the playing out from the back and that you’re building the team up as a whole, so when they do make their way up to adult football they’re prepared for it.’’
Certainly, an interesting topic as Bishops Cleeve look to weave their way up the football pyramid with an exciting youth project.
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