Watch Boro's youngsters in action across the weekend!
This coming weekend Stevenage FC will be hosting its first Academy Weekend to raise awareness of the Stevenage FC Academy’s activities and its achievements.
As part of this you are invited to a free Academy fun day next Saturday 12th September from 10am-2pm at Shephalbury, where fans can participate in the STS Tyre Pros ‘Through the Tyre Challenge’ and Foundation speed cage, watch the Under-18s Youth Alliance game against Northampton from 11am and then enjoy a BBQ on site.
Later that afternoon at the first team game v York City, the Under-9 to Under-16 Academy teams will parade around the Lamex Stadium pitch and there will be plenty more focus on their achievements.
Academy Manager Robbie O'Keefe says, "The game against York is the chance for everyone to enjoy the success the academy has had over the past few years and celebrate not only international success stories but the continual improvement across all our age bands from Under-9 to Under-16 level.
"That includes the continued improvement of our shadow squads, our development centres and our Elite College Programme Schemes at Marriotts School and Cheshunt. It’s another thing we’re doing that shows everyone how close we now are as a football club to becoming one.”
Our Academy weekend doesn’t stop there either, as you’re all invited to watch the Stevenage Under-10, Under-12 and Under-14 fixtures against MK Dons the next day, Sunday 13th. All three games kick-off at 11am at Marriotts School and we’ll be focusing in particular on our Under-10s, providing full match coverage of their game.
“The Under-10s made their introduction into academy life last year,” explained Robbie. “Darren Sarll, Tom Hart, Ian Morris and I put in an enormous amount of effort in recruitment of those players. We’ve worked really hard with them on the pitches to show the mums and the dads that this is the club for their boys. We didn’t just settle on the fact we had them through the door, we worked incredibly hard with them and gave them a great coaching and games programme.
"They had a great year and only lost once all season. They’re a great group of kids who have done exceptionally well but they’re on step one of eight to become a pro. Each year is a step. We have to keep pushing them, encouraging them, coming up with new coaching and session plans to stimulate them to get better."
Tickets for this Saturday's game against York City range from £3-£20 in advance and can be purchased at www.borotickets.co.uk.