This week has seen Oxford United’s young players getting a helping hand from the senior coaching staff at the club.
Pep Clotet, Derek Fazackerley, Chris Allen and Leon Blackmore-Such have all taken time out of their busy schedules to help coach the younger age group sides coming through the youth systems at the U’s. Leon and ‘Faz’ helped with the under 9s and 10s on Monday evening and then Pep and Chris coached the under 13s and under 15s on Thursday.
The sessions took place inside the dome and outside at the Oxford Academy and the coaches will be back to help the other age groups with further sessions over the next week or two.
Les Taylor, the club’s Academy Manager, told us:
“It has been great and it’s something we will hopefully look to develop further; I know the teams will be going to first team games soon to meet the coaches again.
“I watched the sessions and they all started a little slowly as everyone got used to the idea and the players got used to having a new coach in charge, but it wasn’t long until things got going and you could see that everyone was enjoying themselves; I include the coaches in that just as much as the players!
“I’d like to thank them for coming along and helping and it is great for the players and parents to see that the whole club is working together to help develop the best local young players.”
Chris Allen told us:
“I thoroughly enjoyed it. Back in Blackbird Leys where it all started for me, and seeing the reaction from the players was fantastic. You can see straight away that their usual coaches are doing a great job and they have that focus and dedication as well as the skills.
“There was loads of energy, lots of smiles and I think we have a lot of very talented players coming through the system right now, which is one of the great Oxford United traditions.”
Take a look at the FREEVIEW video from iFollow above.