New kids on the block: Derry's newest football club making big waves

Newell Academy has enjoyed a big start to life as a new club.

After just 18-months in existence, the club has grown from having just 12 players at one age group to having teams from U5 – U9 and U12 - U13.

The club’s Brooke Park base is a hive of Newell active every Monday, Wednesday and Friday night as well as on a Saturday morning. The club who have a large community ethos sing the praises of the Brooke Park staff and the Rosemount community in both helping them deliver and expand on their training programme and club plans.

Newell’s Head of Academy, Conor Loughrey, has enjoyed seeing the programme develop.

“We started out last February with 12 players in our 2004 age group,” he explained. “That group has now expanded to 20 players and the standard of their play has been high over the past 12 months. They have 6 training sessions per week, across four evenings and their attitude and application to those sessions has been the reason for the continued development.

“We challenge the players physically, psychologically and socially away from the pitch and they clearly understand now what we expect from them in terms of their lifestyle and their approach to training.

“The players in this group now act as role models for our younger kids and I think they really enjoy that responsibility”.

Loughrey believes the clubs growth in such a brief period of time has been remarkable.

“Myself and Paul Roddy sat down last February and outlined what we were going to do during the initial stage of getting the programme off the ground,” he reflected. “I don’t think either of us had planned for the degree of which we have expanded so soon. We now have players from 4 years old to 13 years old. We have around 70-80 players within the club.

“As a voluntary club we initially tried to set any available monies aside for playing kits but we are only now getting around to that as all available monies have had to go towards equipment to cater for the age and ability specific equipment required for the growing numbers.

“We now have fantastic facilities at Brooke Park from the artificial pitch to the grass pitch, the indoor hall and the gym area we have a set-up that will hopefully accommodate any further growth in the future.”

Loughrey also pointed out that the support of the local community has been essential in helping the club grow in its first year.

“Managing the growth until now wouldn’t have been possible without the assistance of the community. The staff at the leisure centre are brilliantly patient, particularly with our youngest kids, and they create a real welcoming, friendly, family atmosphere that really contributes to the footballing experience of the kids.

“Also, the Brooke Park Forum who represent the majority of the sporting community within Brooke Park have been a massive part of our success until now. The Rosemount Resource Centre and in particular, Dalton Kehoe, has been a great supporter of our club who has been advocated the work we have done to date in the community.”

In the club’s short existence, they have been busy, hosting their own Newell Academy Brooke Park Cup, as well as the Foyle Cup Mini-Soccer. Newell have run youth lifestyle education programmes and have welcomed teams from across Northern Ireland to the base at Brooke Park.

Later this summer they will run the Brooke Park Forum Cup which will run alongside the annual Rosemount Summer Festival.

Opportunities

It is in the clubs ethos to educate, help by giving opportunities and promote young people. The clubs coaching staff have several young coaches who are ambitious and keen to learn and develop.

“Paul Roddy holds the post of Head of Coaching within the club,” Loughrey continued. “In this role Paul will monitor, advise and mentor the coaches within the club. Paul will ensure firstly, that their behaviour, language and approach are age appropriate. Paul promotes the importance of organisation as a coach and ensures the coaches understand the importance of session planning and ensures their sessions are age appropriate and in line with the clubs curriculum and playing style. We have 16 year old and 18 year old coaches who have been given responsibility within the club and have really developed both on a coaching and social level as a result.”

Newell players have enjoyed great success on the pitch also.

The 2004 squad have won a Derry and District League and Cup Double as well as winning the Larne Youth Soccer 7’s, Antrim Rovers Tournament and the Brooke Park Cup, whilst the 2005 squad also enjoyed success in winning the Larne Youth Soccer 7’s and Antrim Rovers Tournament. The 2008 and 2010 squads have recently had their first tastes of tournament football and also enjoyed success at the Antrim Rovers Tournament.

Individually the clubs players have also enjoyed some fantastic experience as a result of their hard work.

With three players being part of the Northern Ireland Elite Development Programme, JD Club NI, they have experience playing Rangers FC at their Murray Park training base, with two of those players also enjoying European Tournaments through the same programme.

Recently the club had two players, Sean Roberts and Oisin Gallagher, spend time at Manchester United as a result of their performances. Oisin has visited the Manchester club regularly over the past two years. Whilst for Sean this was his first experience. Sean enjoyed games against Stoke City and Birmingham City during his time in Manchester, helping himself to a goal in both games.

Next up for Newell Academy is the Hughes Insurance Foyle Cup to be held throughout the North-West in mid-July.

The club will be represented in the U9 and U13 age categories. “We were a late entrant into last year’s tournament and had to play a year up,” Loughrey said. “That was a great experience for the players as they had to deal with playing against physically bigger, more developed players. Our 2008 squad will play in their first Foyle Cup this year and they are really excited for it.”

For more information on Newell Academy you can contact us on Facebook, through the club’s official website, Instagram or Twitter.