Durham City Juniors
Durham City Juniors
FOLLOW US ONLINE TWITTER.COM/FOOTYFOCUSMAG
Durham
City Juniors
FOOTBALL CLUB
Durham City Juniors were originally established in 2008 as Sacriston
Community FC, however, in 2016, merged as the youth setup to ex
Newcastle United defender Olivier Bernards Durham City AFC. The
club has grown from 3 teams to 18 in a very short space of time, having
at least one team in every age group from under 7 through to under 18,
with our players having a pathway through to senior football with the
Durham City AFC first team.
We have various training venues
in Durham, but we are based at
Meadowfield Sports Centre in Durham
where the vast majority of our teams play
and train. The location offers a fantastic
full size 3G pitch and we are hoping to
invest and develop the facility in the
near future to match the clubs ambitions.
38 Issue 74
The club have been able to grow year
on year due to our brilliant set up with
the youngest of children, with the focus
on technical skills and having fun with
the ball. Once the children establish
these skills at the foundation stage such
as close control of a football, running
with the football and striking a football
they graduate to team football at under 7
level. We believe it is this method which
sets us apart and gives our children
the best possible start to the game and
allows our players to express themselves
at a very young age.
The focus always remains on
development and our current U10
City team have followed this pathway,
playing in the highest division since
under 7’s, winning leagues
and trophies along the
way. However, the
biggest
success
for the coaches,
Colin Soulsby
and
Paul
Clark,
has
been having
a part in
developing
players
to
b e c o m e
b e t t e r
players while
t e a c h i n g
important
life
skills. The added
bonus of this success
is having two players
accept full time academy
positions with Sunderland and
Middleborough.
The most challenging aspects are
keeping up with the regulations and
raising funds for the club, but we have
some fantastic volunteers and parents
at the club who keep it all going. We
are a Charter Standard club and all of
our coaches are qualified and highly
motivated individuals, with our Under
10 coaches currently working towards
their UEFA B badges and a successful
career in coaching with the club.
It can be difficult finding training
facilities and providing new kit for
our players. However, the rewards
outweigh the challenges when you see
a player take onboard skills you have
coached them in training and take
them into a game, while seeing them
becoming more confident as
a person and hopefully
a better player who
is enjoying playing
their football the
right way.
The mood
in our club
is
always
fantastic. We
feel that we
have
only
just begun
in a lot of
aspects and
our ambition
is enormous.
We
have
t e a m s
competing
at every level
in every age
group and the
future is bright
with
so
many
talented players at the
club.
There is no such thing at
Durham City Juniors as an off season,
we train and play all year. We do lots of
tournaments and trips away with all the
money generated being invested back
to our players and teams and playing
football, what else is there?
Within the next five years the club
hope to have a club house, new sets
of goals, storage facilities, improved
changing facilities, regular tournaments
and an enhanced reputation in our area.
The biggest challenge will be to
raise the funds and recruit volunteers to
help achieve these goals. Our focus has
always been on the local children so we
very much consider ourselves to be a
community club.
We have only just arrived at the stage
where our teams have reached the end
of the youth stage at under
18, but we are already
fully integrated with
adult football. The
players from our
current under
18 teams, one
of which will
compete at
the
very
highest level
on Saturday
afternoons
have
the
opportunity
to
progress
into the under
23 team and/
or the first team
as Durham City FC
attempt to climb up the
leagues.
www.footballfocusmag.com
39