SOME of the cream of the crop of Barrow and District Junior Football League talent have been taking advantage of the half-term break with the Barrow AFC Performance Centre.
Players from under-10s up to under-14s have taken part in special coaching clinics on the 3G pitch at Furness College.
Braving the bracing winter weather – which at time forced youngsters and coaches alike to take short breaks inside to warm-up as the wind bit hard blowing in from Walney Channel – members of both the Performance Centre itself, the new under-10s Talent Development Centre (TDC) and Emerging Talent Centre (ETC), and other JFL players took the chance to improve their game.
Performance Centre coaches delivered two days of development and game work, with 40 players taking part.
AFC Performance Centre assistant head Liam Reid, who was one of the coaches rubbing their hands warm after the sessions, was pleased to see all the youngsters working hard.
He said: “The camp provides players with the opportunity to practise their skills and gives us the chance to consolidate the core values and skills that we deliver at the centre.
“The weather has been poor this week, and the children have showed excellent commitment and a desire to learn and to practise.
“Players have worked on their individual movement and how to create angles; quality of their passing and attacking principles.”
The programme has been running alongside the Barrow AFC Community coaching – which has taken place both indoors and out at Furness College, see next week's Junior Sport – with Reid happy to see under-10s and under-11s players who might normally have been taking part in that scheme working with older players instead with the Performance Centre.
He added: “I really enjoy seeing the younger players mixing with the older players.
“It’s good for them to look up to the older players while giving the older players the responsibility of knowing that they are role-models to some players.”
Performance Centre teams have also been taking part in matches with other academy sides this week, putting their skills to the test.
The Performance Centre will hold more coaching clinics during the two-week Easter holidays, again on the 3G pitch at Furness College.
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