Rob Williams and the Salop under 18's welcome Polish trio Coach Pro, The Performance Academy and APN Talent to Shropshire for a study visit.
From 23 - 27 November Shrewsbury Town's under 18's hosted a study visit for six coaches from three organisations (Coach Pro / The Performance Academy / APN Talent) in Poland.
The visit was organised and hosted by our Head of Coach Development Rob Williams with a number of objectives:
• To share content and ideas
• To showcase our programme
• To develop our network and provide an opportunity for our staff to meet with coaches from overseas and other coaching environments
• To Identify further development opportunities
During the visit the coaches had the opportunity to watch all of our age groups practice, including the youth team each day as well as watching the U9, U10, U11, U16 and U18 teams in games.
Throughout the week they also had the opportunity to attend presentations from Salop staff including our Head of Analysis, Head of S &C, FDP and PDP Lead Developers and Head of Coach Development to gain insight into each area of our programme. Alongside this, there were multiple opportunities for informal discussions with PT staff as well as discussing a players journey with Callum Wilson, one of our current scholars who has been involved with the first-team team.
As part of the visit, they also watched the first-team team games v Sunderland and Charlton. The visit proved to be a real success and the coaches shared with us some of their feedback and observations:
"Shrewsbury Town Academy - a place where the player really comes first. Here, openness, creating optimal conditions for development and a family atmosphere are noticeable at every step.
"Individual goals and taking care of the appropriate level of education mean that players know what they should work on on a daily basis." - Krystian Lamberski
"Impressed with an open and positive approach, but also how the Shrewsbury Town Academy wanted to take advantage of our study visit to get better themselves." - Wojciech Falenta
"Time at Shrewsbury Town Academy introduced me to many new possibilities. During the week we could talk to many coaches, thanks to whom I think that I have gained a lot of valuable experience that I will try to apply in my teams.
"Shrewsbury Town Academy is a very well organized academy with the player being the most important character." - Kamil Łukojć
We look forward to developing further opportunities in the future.
