Your Local Club: Brent Cross Football Academy

Brent Cross Football Academy is a hive of fun, but more than that it’s a place that nurtures, develops, and instills life skills… just don’t tell the kids who are there purely for the kick-about. Here we have a club focused on the most formative of age groups: kids from age three all the way up to 14. Coaches are focused on helping each one of them progress holistically, from a fitness perspective but also from a social and psychological one too. Here Co-founder and head coach Jamie Kavanagh tells us how they ensure Brent Cross Football Academy kids have the time of their life…

Can you tell us a bit about your club?
Myself and my business partner Antony Wardrop started the club at the beginning of 2017. We’re teachers and had about 10 years experience coaching grassroots football. Our very first session only had six children but four of those original kids are still with us now, five and a half years later.

We are now a club for girls and boys aged three to 14, with 110 children playing for our teams and then a further 70 children training with us each week. We are lucky in that we have kids coming from all over north west London; from Hampstead, Cricklewood, and then from further into Wembley and Neasden.

Where is Brent Cross Football Academy based?
We’re at Whitefield secondary school in Brent Cross, near the big Tescos, just over the flyover from the shopping centre. We have an astroturf pitch at the back and although we are very keen to have our own facility, we make it work for us – it’s convenient for parents and, as I said, we’re well placed for lots of kids to come and join from many of the surrounding areas and that inclusion is important to us.

When do the kids train?
We have Tuesday and Saturday training sessions. On a Tuesday between 5-7pm we’ll have all the different age groups training for an hour each and on a Saturday morning too. 

For our teams, Saturday is match day where they take part in the Regent’s Park League. They’ll play fixtures against lots of other clubs from different areas all over London. 

How big is your team of coaches?
We have 10 male and female coaches in total, and we all work with the girls and boys teams as well as the mixed training sessions across every age group. We find mixing up the coaching allows kids to learn from different styles and personalities.

 I can’t do the same session with the under fours as I do with the under twelves for instance. We’ve got children coming from three years old who have never kicked a ball before and they’re not in school so they don’t have that detachment from their parents yet. We work really hard to encourage and support them – and all of our kids – making sure everything is age-relevant and caters to their budding personalities.

What are the values of your club?
Teamwork, togetherness, and a drive for progression. When a child comes through our doors, we want them to leave feeling like they’ve learnt something. Not only in their football ability but actually progressed to find a real – and hopefully lifelong – enjoyment in sport, also to have matured and honed their social skills.

So much of what we do is taught on a subconscious level, without actually being told it the kids get a huge amount from the social and psychological side of being in a team. At our club, there is a huge drive for teamwork and for the kids to take ownership and encourage one another. We’re not instructors, we’re developers. We’re there to develop them as a whole, holistically.

Do you find that the girls are just as excited to get involved as their male counterparts?
Absolutely. Our girl’s side started about four years ago and it actually came from one of our parents whose two sons were with us and her daughter was desperate to play too. 

The passion for girls’ teams has exploded across the country and brilliantly there’s a lot of funding going into it. There are now 16 teams in the London girls league, whereas when we started there were three teams that were playing friendlies every week. We’ve increased our intake up to year nine and we have girls all the way down to age three coming to train with us. The smaller ones will start in the mixed training sessions and then if they want to move into the girls’ team they can.

Why is a club like yours needed and what does it offer in the way of community spirit
As I said, bringing kids together to represent one club from different areas of north London was really always the plan from the start. In addition to that, it’s a safe place where kids can try their hand at organised, competitive football and train in a sport to a high level. Our coaches are highly qualified, with many having worked in professional clubs. We take those children on a positive journey while they’re developing, helping them make memories and feel good about themselves.

The parents also love it! On match days they all come together to support the kids and there’s a great sense of camaraderie. We have tournaments every weekend in the summer throughout May, June, and July which the parents all come along to. We encourage them to car share or travel together to matches, so many have their own friendships in and around the club too. We’re always grateful to parents; they put in hours of traveling time over the season, no matter the weather, to support their kids’ development.

If someone wants to get a flavour of your club, how can they do that?
Every first session is free. We call it a trial but we make it clear to parents that it’s not a trial for us to see if your child can play, it’s a trial for your child to see if they enjoy it. 

Our Instagram (@ brent_crossfa) is a good place to get a flavour of what we get up to. Many parents contact us there as well as through our website where you have all the info about the club you could hopefully need. 

Are you offering any sessions for kids over the summer holidays?
Yes, throughout each school holiday we put on a camp for kids. It runs from 9:30-3:30, for both girls and boys from reception age, right up to 14 years old. Unfortunately, due to a lack of facilities out-of-term-time our holiday camps are not at Whitefield School, we’re a bit further out towards Hornsey.

We have a football camp and a multi-activity camp. In the latter they play loads of different sports including dodgeball, cricket, and tennis, then they also have a challenge every day. So, they might do an egg drop challenge where the team has to build a protection package and then drop an egg off the roof without it cracking. They also have talent shows, singing contests, and dance-offs. It’s action-packed.

That is £30 for a day or if you book for the full week you get a day free, so £120 for five days. 

Do kids need any equipment in particular to join Brent Cross Football Academy?
Nothing at all, just the sportswear and trainers they’d typically have for PE at school.  For a match, there is a kit that can be bought on our online webshop and we’re also in a fortunate position to be able to donate kits to the kids who need them. We’re sponsored by Nike so there’s a 25% discount too.

Lastly, are there any future plans for the club we should know about?
The one thing we would love is our own facility. We’d love to have a clubhouse because that would allow us to really expand into older teenage groups as well as into adult football where we could enter into tournaments. It’s definitely something we’re keen to do so watch this space!