Youth Team Development

MARC WILSON and Stuart Wild are the Youth Coaches for Kilmarnock U17s and we thought as we are doing so much for the Killie Trust’s Fifty for the Future initiative it would be interesting to find out a bit more about Youth Development at the club so they sent us the following…

“Kilmarnock Under 17’s start their week on a Tuesday night. The "Ayrshire Lads" in the squad meet at Rugby Park at 6pm with Coach Marc Wilson to travel on the Kilmarnock FC mini-bus to Barlia sports complex in Castlemilk. The other half of our squad is based in Glasgow and surrounding areas so we train there so everyone can be accommodated. We meet around 6.45pm and discuss any events or concerns that arose from the game on the Sunday prior. We start training at 7pm. The lads in the squad routinely go and prepare themselves with a team warm-up and are ready to begin around 7.15pm.

As you are aware training varies and we only train two nights a week and every aspect of football has to be covered. Depending on what we see on match days we work on aspects of play that we didn’t perform well at. In training we have to vary practices consistently to keep the players' attention. After a disappointing result the previous Sunday we work on defending as a team and team shape when we don’t have the ball. The first team has shown us how to do this very well this season so we try to take a leaf out of JJ's book! We train until 8.30pm and once we gather up the equipment we leave Castlemilk and return to Rugby Park around 9.30pm.

On a Wednesday we are timetabled to attend, with the other squads (Under 12’s, 13’s, 14’s and 15’s) a sports scientist whom assists the players with fitness and flexibility exercises. Sports scientists are becoming an essential aspect of football from first team players all the way down the ranks. If good habits can be established early our players have a better chance of improving. These sessions rotate so we attend once a month.

Thursday nights and the players from the Under 14’s, 15’s and 17’s whom require transport meet at Rugby Park at 5.40pm to travel to Beith Astroturf. We begin our sessions there at 6.30pm with the three squads sharing the park. There are two coaches for each team and the camaraderie begins by comparing results from the previous weekend! Due to limited space it is difficult to work on shape with 19 players so passing, possession and shooting drills are the order of the day. We finish up at Beith at 8.15pm and by the time the players have showers and the equipment is packed safely away we return to Rugby Park around 9.15pm. On a Thursday we are given precise details of our venues and kick-off times. Before the players depart we make sure our squad knows when and where we meet.

A Sunday is match day and is what we prepare all week for. Our full-time Under 19s squad and Under 12’s play on a Saturday and the Under 13’s, 14’s, 15s’ and 17’s, play on a Sunday. Over the past few years I (Marc) have assisted the Under 19’s team and watched several players from this team make a breakthrough at first team level with Kilmarnock and other Scottish clubs. The Under 19’s play their home games at Auchencruive just outside A*r, usually with an 11am kick-off so we leave the stadium at 9.30am for a 10am meet. The match usually finishes around 12.45pm and by the time we reach Rugby Park we can enjoy the first team game if they are at home. If we are away from home we travel back to unpack the kit.

On a Sunday two of the youth teams play home fixtures and the other two play away from home. Under 13’s and 15’s play home games at Irvine Vics, Under 14’s at Saltcoats Vics, and the Under 17’s at Ardeer Juniors. However with being away at Livingstone (last week) we left Rugby Park at 12pm to meet through there at 1.15pm as we had a 2.15pm kick-off. The game finished around 4pm as at youth level we play three periods of 30 minutes instead of two 45 minute periods. When a game finishes we have a talk after the game and have to travel back to Rugby Park with kit etc. I finally reach home around 6.30pm on Sunday night. Obviously depending on your fixtures it can be earlier or later. Then all thoughts are turned back to a Tuesday to see what we need to improve on.

All the Youth team coaches have to attend SFA in-service days, SFA coach development courses (as you have to have certain qualifications to coach at this level) and also first aid courses to help in injury prevention. On behalf of all the Youth team coaches I would like to pass on our thanks to the Fifty for the Future Board and the Killie fans who are supporting it. We truly appreciate all the hard work and effort that has gone into making sure that the club’s youth policy stayed intact this season and we will continue to put the hours in to make sure that the club has a bright future.”

A ‘big up’ to all the coaches from B&H, we don’t have to look any further than Steven ‘Kid Goals’ Naismith to see that they are doing sterling work and we are sure that they will continue to produce talented players to swell the ranks of Ayrshire’s finest.

Killie Snippets

The Killie Trust did superbly well at the weekend to organize the bucket collection for Heather Hird. Thanks to the generosity of all you Killie fans we raised a total of £1573.52, a fantastic effort by everyone. It only proves what we always preach…… Killie fans ARE the best in the world.

Young Killie are also fundraising for Heather and if you donate you can win the biggest Easter egg we’ve ever seen. It’s a monster and is approximately the same size as Fenwick! You can donate to any of the Young Killie troops and Hippo has a sheet as well.

Congratulations to our friend David “the doomed” Woodison (right) who recently celebrated his 21st birthday. He is, and always will be the finest no.50 in Killie’s history. It’s an incredible coincidence that David was born on his dad’s 50th birthday!

Finally our progress in the Coca-Cola competition continues to amaze us and we are now the top team in Scotland....we always have been! We now sit proudly in 19th place (out of 84 teams) with over 9,500 entries. Keep up the good work folks and remember you can submit a vote every single day - to enter on your mobile simply send "Kilmarnock FC" to 88555 or submit your daily entry for free on the website www.coca-colafootball.co.uk.

Read the B&H column in the Kilmarnock Standard every week