Thank you for your interest in the Development Centre, as you can imagine we get a lot of interest from parents requesting trials at the centre. We appreciate every young person who shows an interest in our programme and therefore want to make sure that every player gets an equal opportunity to join the centre.

Whilst not "elitist" in our approach, we trial based on a number of factors at different age groups, often the centre will take on late developers, late growers and players which show great athletic potential but maybe are struggling here and now with the technical detail. This of course varies based on ages as we look to take players through the Development Centre and potentially support them with an opportunity for a full Professional Academy, or to the best standard possible for our young players.

Once a player is accepted into the Development Centre, there is no "re-trialling" process, we accept that some players may need more support longer or that some have hit a bump in the road (school challenges, injuries etc) and therefore need more support than before. Therefore we do have limited spaces in the programme and try and ensure that each and every athlete we support is given the same opportunities, this means that we keep limited squad sizes in the centre to support this.

If you would still like to request a trial to join the centre please fill in the form below, one of our staff will be in touch with an appropriate date to come in for a one-off trial session. We do ask for a fee of £5 to those requesting a trial as this helps us firm up numbers making sure we have the right amount of staff on hand to support any trialists.

https://forms.gle/115cApdFMrL6ZhDa8

What Happens Next?

Should your child be succesful in the trial day they will be offered a 2 week full trial with the main group, training and playing alongside the centre's players. After this the coaching staff will meet with the player and parent to discuss whether an offer of a space in the programme is appropriate at this time. If you are offered a space in the programme we ask parents sit down and speak with their child on whether they would like to accept this space, we do not ask players to leave their Grassroots Clubs and at all times its at a parents discretion whether they feel the centre is suitable for their child.