After a well earned break and successful end of season tours which brought silverware for our U13/15’s teams, the academy welcomed back its squads for pre season (well done to Dan and Lewis).

I would like to welcome back our existing players and parents and also our new players and families that have arrived from the summer trials. The trial process was a huge success in attracting so many new faces to the club. We are still always on the lookout for new players so please get in touch if there are any more players out there that can fit the Weston-super-Mare Academy ethos.

I would also like to welcome some of our new coaches to the academy. I am very excited that we have some excellent coaches and Flexi-coaches (Nathan, Taz, Dec and Liam) joining our existing talented pool of coaching team for the upcoming season. Chris McLaughlin, Robbie Wilkinson, Chris George, Jamie Antony, Kodie Lewis, Benji King and Nathan Westcott have joined us and have settled in right away, bringing with them bags of experience and excitement that will help our young players in the foundation phase. We also have Tommy Tregale, a young coach who is beginning his journey with us and we welcome Tommy on board our team. Our foundation team is in a great place being driven by Paul White, his South West Minis connections and Rich Jones leading our U12s.

Craig Graham has been appointed the Academy Programme Manager and is continuing to head up our U16s along with the support of our highly talented existing coaches. Alongside Craig, we have Bridget Bolland who is our driving force behind the academy. These two drive the academy forward and continue to help shape the future. We also welcome,and are excited by, the addition of Joe Ledbury, our new GK coach alongside our current coaches Tommy Skidmore and Alex Matter. 

 We are extremely excited about the season ahead as we have and are continually trying to drive the academy forward. The senior phase continues to have its excellent link with Weston College which enables the players to combine their studies alongside a full-time football programme and have begun their pre-season friendlies. We have recruited over 40 players this season and are continually looking to improve which is headed up by our current first-team vice-captain Luke Coulson.

We have our younger coaches Ethan Reed and Ryan Ealden who are continuing to develop the development phase teams and have recently completed their B Licenses. A great accolade for the club and academy.

Another change has seen Dan Hartley work alongside Lewis McLean in the recruitment and media role. This combines with their lead coaching role for U14/16s. 

Thank you for everyone’s continued support of the Academy.