Congratulations to my brother...

[Brovion]

Who has just been signed by the albion at the tender age of 8, a very long way to go but i sincerely hope he's able to walk out a Falmer some day. What makes it even better is the fact that he's an avid Brighton fan aswell unlike half the kids in the team. I'm not sure whether it will interest anyone, but seems to me like NSC has been a breeding ground for negativity of late.

All the very best to him but remember the Albion, I guess like all clubs, do look at an awful lot of boys between the ages of eight and sixteen (not surprising really as boys develop at different rates) and they can be quite brutal at letting boys go. My friend's son was picked up by the Albion at eight and is now a first year scholar - and he's the only one of his original intake left.

Just tell him to enjoy it and make the most of it. After all, most lads never even get considered.

EDIT: Beach Hut and Big Gully both make good points.

 

[Commander]

You can look forward to NSC slating him and saying he should be sacked and he doesn't care about the club when he hasn't scored 6 hat-tricks for the first team in 3 weeks time.

 

[honey boy zimba]

Good luck to him mate BUT,iF THE CHANCE COMES TO GET HIM AWAY TO ANOTHER CLUB DO NOT HESITATE ,i spoke to the dad of the boy who has gone to chelsea he said the Chelsea experince is the complete oposite to the way the boys the parents are treated at the albion .HINCHELWOOD is feared by the boys and at no time do parents get any feedback until they ask them to leave by then its to late .The worst thing is the way boys get in based on who their dad is ex players and money men lots of good players are lost to other clubs because they are so unwilling to develope raw talent coaches from the lower ranking soccer schools get very frustrated that they send good boys up who are clealy better than whats at the center of ex.but the powers that be are always looking for the finished artical.Another parent also told me that they strongly discourage boys taking on players and dribbling the have even asked a player to leave because of this . the parent told me he was the most talented boy in the team consiquently his own son did not want to play for the albion any more .I dont think Tony Bloom really kwows whats going on at kids\ youth level and is only told what they want him to .he needs to get someone in there to talk to the parents and som e coaches without fear of reprisala for there kids or coaches who are afraiad to speak up.

 

[supaseagull]

Best of luck however I do feel this some what takes the whole enjoyment out of football at such a tender age where he cannot play for a local Sunday Youth club.

I don't dispute that but I just feel kids should have the freedom to enjoy football. The lad two doors away got to U16s at BHAFC then did not get a scholars contract and believe me he was distraught, all that effort for nothing in effect.

I can't agree with you more...Kids are being plucked from an environment where they're having fun and enjoying playing football with their mates and are being put into a controlled environment where parents can't even cheer their own kids on in a game. From my own experience, the standard of coaching is absolutely no different to that in many youth clubs now where a vast majority of coaches are qualified at minimum level 1 and all that's going to happen is that youth clubs, who are run by people giving up their own time, are going to become fed up with training and developing children, when a pro club comes along and nicks their decent players.

Children are being burnt out at the ages of 8, 9 & 10 and being given promises of being a professional footballers when in fact, the truth is that only a very select few will actually make it.

Parents are also given false expectations that their kids will one day play for professional clubs and to me that is wrong.

I think that the FA should stop professional clubs taking players out of the environment where kids are enjoying playing football with their friends until at least Under 12's.

You simply cannot tell at 8 years old whether a child is going to be any good in 10 years time and clubs like Chelsea & Brighton should be ashamed of themselves.

Sorry Haydn... I wish your brother all the very best. But I do think that he should be playing with his mates at 8 years old.

 

[honey boy zimba]

bha youth

sory mate but yuo miss understand me Chelsea pompey millwall even palace treat the kids and the parents well its our own team who fall very short of the mark Tony Bloom please sort it !

 

[BigGully]

Good luck to him mate BUT,iF THE CHANCE COMES TO GET HIM AWAY TO ANOTHER CLUB DO NOT HESITATE ,i spoke to the dad of the boy who has gone to chelsea he said the Chelsea experince is the complete oposite to the way the boys the parents are treated at the albion .HINCHELWOOD is feared by the boys and at no time do parents get any feedback until they ask them to leave by then its to late .The worst thing is the way boys get in based on who their dad is ex players and money men lots of good players are lost to other clubs because they are so unwilling to develope raw talent coaches from the lower ranking soccer schools get very frustrated that they send good boys up who are clealy better than whats at the center of ex.but the powers that be are always looking for the finished artical.Another parent also told me that they strongly discourage boys taking on players and dribbling the have even asked a player to leave because of this . the parent told me he was the most talented boy in the team consiquently his own son did not want to play for the albion any more .I dont think Tony Bloom really kwows whats going on at kids\ youth level and is only told what they want him to .he needs to get someone in there to talk to the parents and som e coaches without fear of reprisala for there kids or coaches who are afraiad to speak up.

I dont think that is a fair representation of the Centre of Excellence at all, its seems a more of a view of a deeply disppointed parent/child that has been released.

I think it is critical that the players when originally asked in to the Centre should be a of a level that is likely for them to be retained for a few years at least.

Too often players of only average to above average ability are asked in for a trial or even signed when it is always likelythat they will get released at some stage which hurts the player/parent and maybe the reputation of the Centre.

As for feedback to the boy's strengths and weaknesses, this surely is an ongoing process that forms training and matches, there is a continuous dialogue between coaches and player and ultimately the player must impress enough to be retained or signed.

It just isn't feasible to think that the club in someway ignore the best players whilst signing lesser players, thats a warped view.

As for Chelsea, I have no doubt that they have the resources that might offer many parts to the development process that Brighton cannot, but please remember they as a club have a greater turnover of invites for trials and therefore the inevitable dropping of youngster's in the Country.

To try to unearth the best talent Academies must trial, assess and disappoint, there is no other way, maybe the parents need to temper their own expectation's and views of their own Son's ability before entering this extremely competitive system.

 

[Brovion]

sory mate but yuo miss understand me Chelsea pompey millwall even palace treat the kids and the parents well its our own team who fall very short of the mark Tony Bloom please sort it !

I think individual experiences are going to differ. Tom Fraser was originally at Portsmouth and his dad moved him to Brighton as he said Brighton was streets ahead of Pompey in the way it treated the youngsters and their families. You could argue that that was ten years ago under Wilkins and things are different (worse) now, but I have another friend whose son was at Pompey recently and he said much the same. It was so bad that his son wanted to leave and he's now at Chelsea, where, yes, the set-up is apparently extremely good. (As an aisde I'm not sure how good it is for English football in general as a lot of the boys are foreign, French especially).

 

[Acker79]

Make sure you insult him, and slate him plenty, so he can develop a thick skin. Get all your friends andall the kids at school to yell abuse at him, just to prepare him for the crowds at games.

Good luck to him!

 

[Brovion]

I can't agree with you more...Kids are being plucked from an environment where they're having fun and enjoying playing football with their mates and are being put into a controlled environment where parents can't even cheer their own kids on in a game. From my own experience, the standard of coaching is absolutely no different to that in many youth clubs now where a vast majority of coaches are qualified at minimum level 1 and all that's going to happen is that youth clubs, who are run by people giving up their own time, are going to become fed up with training and developing children, when a pro club comes along and nicks their decent players.

Children are being burnt out at the ages of 8, 9 & 10 and being given promises of being a professional footballers when in fact, the truth is that only a very select few will actually make it.

Parents are also given false expectations that their kids will one day play for professional clubs and to me that is wrong.

I think that the FA should stop professional clubs taking players out of the environment where kids are enjoying playing football with their friends until at least Under 12's.

You simply cannot tell at 8 years old whether a child is going to be any good in 10 years time and clubs like Chelsea & Brighton should be ashamed of themselves.

Sorry Haydn... I wish your brother all the very best. But I do think that he should be playing with his mates at 8 years old.

I do agree with a lot of what you and Beach Hut say and as well as the raising of unrealistic expectation in eight-year old hearts some of the pointless regimentation at the Albion is beyond belief (making boys wear collars and ties for example). But surely they can still play with their mates? They can still turn up for training, play school games and they can still play for their junior clubs in the summer tournaments - and of course they can still play down the park with jumpers for goalposts in the time-honoured manner.

 

[Franks Wild Years]

Wow, good work that lad.

 

[clippedgull]

When kids of this age get signed, does it involve payment to the kid/parent?

 

[Acker79]

But surely they can still play with their mates? They can still turn up for training, play school games and they can still play for their junior clubs in the summer tournaments - and of course they can still play down the park with jumpers for goalposts in the time-honoured manner.

They were discussing this on talksport a while back, and while that is supposed to be the case, many of the schools won't play you if you played at school. Forcing kids to choose between playing with their mates at school and being seen as uncommitted to training, or missing out on fun, and committing to their school of excellence. Or so several callers reported.

 

[Beach Hut]

I do agree with a lot of what you and Beach Hut say and as well as the raising of unrealistic expectation in eight-year old hearts some of the pointless regimentation at the Albion is beyond belief (making boys wear collars and ties for example). But surely they can still play with their mates? They can still turn up for training, play school games and they can still play for their junior clubs in the summer tournaments - and of course they can still play down the park with jumpers for goalposts in the time-honoured manner.

Not so I know of a situation where a player on the books of BHAFC isn't even allowed to play in a training game at Saturdays training session.

 

[Beach Hut]

When kids of this age get signed, does it involve payment to the kid/parent?

Not as such however the player can have a value if they decide to change clubs, it is a very murky world hence all the recent issues about poaching young players around Europe and indeed Brazil as well.

 

[clippedgull]

Not as such however the player can have a value if they decide to change clubs, it is a very murky world hence all the recent issues about poaching young players around Europe and indeed Brazil as well.

Cheers.

 

[grummitts gloves]

Who has just been signed by the albion at the tender age of 8, a very long way to go but i sincerely hope he's able to walk out a Falmer some day. What makes it even better is the fact that he's an avid Brighton fan aswell unlike half the kids in the team. I'm not sure whether it will interest anyone, but seems to me like NSC has been a breeding ground for negativity of late.

Just out of interest, how did it come about that he got selected by the Albion? I have asked around before and it all seems very shady or difficult to find out exactly what the youth policy is and how the Albion go about finding these kids? I would be really interested to know.

 

[BigGully]

I can't agree with you more...Kids are being plucked from an environment where they're having fun and enjoying playing football with their mates and are being put into a controlled environment where parents can't even cheer their own kids on in a game. From my own experience, the standard of coaching is absolutely no different to that in many youth clubs now where a vast majority of coaches are qualified at minimum level 1 and all that's going to happen is that youth clubs, who are run by people giving up their own time, are going to become fed up with training and developing children, when a pro club comes along and nicks their decent players.

Children are being burnt out at the ages of 8, 9 & 10 and being given promises of being a professional footballers when in fact, the truth is that only a very select few will actually make it.

Parents are also given false expectations that their kids will one day play for professional clubs and to me that is wrong.

I think that the FA should stop professional clubs taking players out of the environment where kids are enjoying playing football with their friends until at least Under 12's.

You simply cannot tell at 8 years old whether a child is going to be any good in 10 years time and clubs like Chelsea & Brighton should be ashamed of themselves.

Sorry Haydn... I wish your brother all the very best. But I do think that he should be playing with his mates at 8 years old.

I share some of your sentiments, but some of your points are bourne out of a prejudice.

Coaching is of a good standard at the younger age groups, not brilliant but appropriate for players so young and each age group is overlooked by senior coaches that are undoubtedly of a higher level than can be offered by most Sunday League Teams.

Parents cheering is ok to a point, but parents coaching or offering an opinion to theirs or other children as well as questioning decisions by referess are rightly discouraged.

8 year old's players are not being told by the club they will be professionals, more likely parents and friends.

Some 8, 9 & 10 year old's are being disappointed by rejection ( thats why the initial scouting must include only those that have a realistic chance to stay in the system for at least a few years ) but why would they be burnt out.

The centre offers first class medical facilities and personell and the fixture lists are reasonable and coaching user friendly without any great emphasis on results.

The Framework at the Centre is of a good level and in line with most clubs it has an obligation to be so.

 

[Beach Hut]

Just out of interest, how did it come about that he got selected by the Albion? I have asked around before and it all seems very shady or difficult to find out exactly what the youth policy is and how the Albion go about finding these kids? I would be really interested to know.

From what I understand they do go out and look at players recommended by scouts however I also think there is a certain element of who you know, what connections you have with the club etc etc.

I also know that scouts from several clubs attend League play off days and tournaments.

 

[BigGully]

From what I understand they do go out and look at players recommended by scouts however I also think there is a certain element of who you know, what connections you have with the club etc etc.

I also know that scouts from several clubs attend League play off days and tournaments.

Brighton currently have a good sized scouting system.

They will be at league matches and tournaments and representative games.

If they see an outstanding talent, they will be asked in for a trial, if they see very good players they will try to monitor those kids.

By the time a local Sussex player reaches 14 years old he has probably been watched 10 times by a scout of a professional football club.

 

[folkestonesgull]

They also watch a lot of youngsters on the books of teams like Eastbourne Boro. A friend of mines kids play for Eastbourne Boro and have had trials to get into the BHA youth set up