With representatives from over 60 youth leagues from across the country, the inaugural FA Youth Leagues Conference at St. George’s Park was always going to be a lively affair.
Delegates were treated to four different workshops and sessions in matters such as the introduction of Futsal, the importance of licensed coaches, utilising young volunteers and safeguarding youngsters.
And National League Development manager Andrew Hailwood believes the Conference has proved beneficial for the leagues in attendance and The FA.
The FAYLC was held at St. George's Park at the weekend
"We’ve been delighted with it, the enthusiasm within the leagues and individuals from the leagues and the way they’ve approached it," said Hailwood.
"They’ve been really open-minded to everything that we’ve suggested to them and what has been really exciting is that it’s the first time we’ve done something like this.
"A lot of these people would normally never come to St. George’s Park so I think they’ve arrived and been awed by the facility, but when we’ve gone into the content, they’ve really enjoyed that well.
"We’ve had a lot of positive comments from people, which is great, and we’ll evaluate the things we can improve on, but it’s nice to reward the people who maybe wouldn’t normally be involved."
The two-day conference brought up a number of issues which prevent many youth leagues from progressing, whether that is due to facilities, lack of volunteers, finance or even representation at County FA level.
And Hailwood says The FA will be taking everything on board and looking to improve the situation wherever they can.
"People have been very honest, and there are some things which we need to address," he added.
"There seems to be different quality in different areas of the country and we need to work with our Counties to improve that and work, support and improve the service with leagues.
"But there’s good practice that you hear of, which we would have been unaware of if we hadn’t seen everyone here together.
"If we’re hearing it for the first time then so are the other leagues.
"So to have someone from Cumberland talking to someone from Cornwall about their good practices, you would never have had that before.
"A lot of people have been energised by the sessions and hopefully they will leave and carry that into their leagues and implement some new ideas.
"So we might start seeing some more Futsal in leagues, we might see more age groups and some leagues might start doing girls’ football - the sky really is the limit!"
Click here to download the presentations from the Conference.
