We catch up with the Boys Development Centre after the recent May Half Term fixtures.
Colchester United Football in the Community (CUFITC) Development Centre is an invitation only, individual coaching programme which sits within the Colchester United Academy structure. Invited players from local grassroots clubs attend weekly sessions at either of our Colchester, Tiptree or Heybridge venues and cover a range of different coaching topics to support all player’s development both on and off the pitch. Across our three venues, we had 280 players offered places this season who train from September all the way through to July.
The Development Centre have taken part in the South Eastern Development Centre Games Programme throughout the 2021/2022 season along with clubs such as Norwich City, Stevenage, Cambridge United and Luton Town. On Monday 30th May Development Centre squads were invited to compete in a triangular tournament with Brentford and Chelsea. Fixtures also took place at home as part of the final fixture of the South Eastern Games Programme vs Cambridge United with nine fixtures taking place throughout the day, at either Shrub End Community Centre and our Colchester United First Team Indoor Dome in Tiptree. All games were highly competitive throughout the week, with all players representing Colchester United to the highest possible standard.
The main reasons we put together Development Centre fixtures, is to provide all players with a fantastic experience representing Colchester United and to challenge all players against strong opposition. Within these fixtures we like players to be open minded, take on board information/challenges, be resilient and enjoy the experience with us. Within every Development Centre fixture, we ensure the below is prepared for our players:
- Colchester United full kit hung up in changing rooms on arrival
- Changing room visuals of Colchester United core playing values (Work Hard, Team Work, Love, Winning Ethics & Enjoyment)
- Changing room visuals of In possession challenges for a team focus throughout the fixture linking to our previous six weeks session syllabus. For example, our U8’s team challenges within our fixture vs Cambridge United were: 1. Look to support team mates where possible with clear passing lines. Can you see their feet? 2. How can we stay on the ball either individually, or as a team? 3. Can you find a position to help your team mates if they are on the ball?
- Changing room visuals of out of possession challenges for a team focus throughout the fixture, for example: 1. Can we look to steal the ball back quickly 2. Can we be enthusiastic within our 1v1 defending 2. Can we be hard to be either 1v1 or as a pair.
- Individual challenges linking to players individual learning plan (ILP)
Our full time staff are already planning our fixture programme for the 2022/23 season, which will include added teams to our South Eastern Games Programme schedule, Junior Premier League fixtures along with fixtures vs our CUFC Academy squads.
To view our upcoming Development Centre trials for the 2022/23 season, please Click Here, or email Mark.holder@colchesterunited.net (U6-U11’s) or Isaac.berry@colchesterunited.net (U12-U16’s) for further details.
For more information on CUFITC please visit - https://www.cu-fc.com/fitc/