Match Fit Chelsea U12, U13 & U14 Teams at Chelsea Academy in England

The Match Fit Chelsea U12, U13 and U14 boy’s teams recently completed a nine-day trip to Chelsea FC in London, England. The trip was a wonderful opportunity for Match Fit teams to train in an environment experienced by their Chelsea Academy counterparts. The trip was organized and administered by Adidas Travel and all players were treated as top English Academy players. This ranged from training, competition to the fact that the hotel served food based on Chelsea FC nutritional guidelines. The whole experience benefited the development of the player and their awareness of what it takes to make the grade at the European Academy level.

The trip began with double training sessions at Chelsea FC’s famous Cobham training ground. Cobham is equipped with 36 grass fields, state of the art sports science facilities, medical facilities, fitness facilities and much more. All Chelsea teams train at Cobham, including the first team and the unity this provides enabled everyone to feel as though they were part of the Chelsea culture, including the boys from Match Fit. The training sessions were conducted by Chelsea FC Academy coaches and overseen by the Chelsea FC Director of Coaching Neil Bath. The sessions conducted were challenging, intense and educational as the boys prepared for games against leading English Academy teams. The players were allowed access to all facilities used by Chelsea FC Academy players. There were further double training sessions on the second and penultimate day of the trip.

Match Fit Chelsea coaching staff were able to interact with Academy coaches during their sessions and picked up invaluable information that will be passed onto the whole coaching staff.

The competition in terms of games were excellent and again developed Match Fit Chelsea’s players psyche in terms of what it takes to play at the top level. Match Fit Chelsea played Fulham, Brentford, Crystal Palace, Reading and Chelsea Academy teams. All games were played intensely from a defensive standpoint and with speed of play from an attacking view. The physicality of the game was obvious and the boys soon had to come to terms with the increased pressure and speed of the game. The players however most importantly developed lessons from the games and had some notable successes with the U12’s beating Fulham U12 Academy and the U14’s beating Crystal Palace U14’s.

Many players were identified by the Chelsea staff as having the potential to play at that level. However, in the final U14 game Elijah Macdonald from the Match Fit U14 team was identified by Reading FC Academy Director and invited back to London for a month long trial in August. Elijah is pictured and we wish him the best in August when he returns for his trial.

In general, the trip was a powerful developmental tool for all our players as they experienced the training, competition and lifestyle of a European Academy player. We hope that this transfers to their ability to impact the United States youth game in our area. We look forward to further trips to Cobham with teams from U11-U15 next year.

Comments from players:

Zachary Pereira (U12):

’I learnt so much from my trip to Chelsea. I was really impressed by how physical and quick all of the English Academy teams were. We had to try and match them and got better with each game’

Chase Covello (U12):

‘The facilities at Cobham were unreal. There were messages all over the changing facilities from Chelsea players about the mental aspect of the game. We asked our coaches what some meant and he explained and said they are reinforced in every practice’

Ryan Cerqueira (U14):

‘The trip was brilliant. The coaches constantly told me what it took to be an Academy player. It was not that complicated but helped me understand what I need to do to go to the next level’

Tom Norton (U14):

‘The English teams played so much one and two touch and made triangles with the ball all over the field. It helped me understand that at the top level your first touch and one time passing are crucial elements of play’