U6 Academy

Welcome to our Academy Page for 4 to 6yr olds (academy been running successfully since 1998 – this is our 27th season of offering such an opportunity !!).

Manager : Paul McMahon mob: 0780 777 8494 email: thedoc1959@yahoo.co.uk

Coach : TBA mob: TBA email: email: TBA

Support Coaches : TBA

Saturday Academy sessions on grass during the drier summer months at Myddleton Lane from April to October 9am to 10am at Winwick Leisure Centre, Myddleton Lane, Winwick. During the winter months at Rainhill High School Sports Hall from November to March/April 9am to 10am too.

Saturday 23rd Nov – POSTPONED

Saturday 30th Nov – POSTPONED

Saturday 7th Dec – Rainhill High School Sports Hall (indoors)
Saturday 14th Dec – Rainhill High School Sports Hall (indoors)
Saturday 21st Dec – Rainhill High School Sports Hall (indoors)

Christmas Break

Saturday 11th Jan – Rainhill High School Sports Hall (indoors)
Saturday 18th Jan – Rainhill High School Sports Hall (indoors)
Saturday 25st Jan – Rainhill High School Sports Hall (indoors)
Saturday 1st Feb – Rainhill High School Sports Hall (indoors)
Saturday 8th Feb – Rainhill High School Sports Hall (indoors)
Saturday 15th Feb – Rainhill High School Sports Hall (indoors)
Saturday 22nd Feb – Rainhill High School Sports Hall (indoors)
Saturday 1st March – Rainhill High School Sports Hall (indoors)
Saturday 8th March – Rainhill High School Sports Hall (indoors)
Saturday 15th March – Rainhill High School Sports Hall (indoors)
Saturday 22nd March – Rainhill High School Sports Hall (indoors)
Saturday 29th March – Rainhill High School Sports Hall (indoors)

Players wishing to train please email Paul McMahon using: thedoc1959@yahoo.co.uk

Parents very welcome to help and the Club supports all if they wish to become a fully qualified coach too. In fact we need parents to help, give it a go, its pretty enjoyable and I can assure you from first hand experience that the smiling faces on the kids when they learn something new is worth its weight in gold for well being if you have had a tough week yourself !!

All Year 1 players complete a Registration and Health Form in readiness for the start of the new season (the FA deem the new season to be from 1st July every year, with organised league matches from September of the Year 2 school year, when children have become the minimum age of 6 to be allowed to play in any organised game of FA sanctioned football in which all players are then protected by public liability and accident insurance cover. That is why Winwick Athletic FC will NOT play friendly matches against other clubs until after 1st July, when the children taking part are ALL 6, as otherwise it breaches FA rules and is exposing everyone involved without any insurance cover, including for the adults coaching such sessions).

Winwick Athletic FC Player Registration and Health Form 2024/25

SUMMARY: We train outdoors on grass every Saturday morning 9am to 10am from approximately March until mid- to late- October but then move to an indoor winter training venue for the winter (Rainhill High School Sports Hall). When indoors, clothing worn by players should protect knees and elbows from tumbles on the indoor hard wood surfacing, when outdoors football boots prevent slipping on wet grass. Shin pads should be worn to protect the children whether indoors or outdoors.

All children welcome once they are old enough to enjoy the sessions we put on. We cater for Pre-Reception, Reception and Year 1 Children, so bring your child down, either a girl or a boy, and see how they get on. No cost the first week, thereafter £3 per session attended.

We adopt an ‘age appropriate’ coaching approach and the sessions might look to a new parent a little ‘cluttered’ at times and often resembling very little what adults usually recognise as ‘football’. However this is all by design to provide the children with the essential agility, balance, ball-to-eye coordination, movement, awareness and other skills necessary to play football. This approach, along with creating a safe fun environment for the kids to learn by ‘playing’, sets the platform for every player to develop in a deliberate way that is fully recognised by the FA as enabling the children to become independent decision makers in the best way possible. Our history as a Charter Standard Community Level Club shows that we are totally committed to an age appropriate approach and want to engage with our local community to offer a valuable opportunity for local children to take part in sport and to make new friends.

We form new U7s Teams from 1st July every year but start to arrange the players into ‘squads’ of perhaps 5 or 6 from April / May, and form between 1 and 3 teams usually. The FA allow 5v5 matches at U7s and U8s on a 40m x 30m size pitch, after your child has reached the minimum required for insurance purposes of 6-years of age. The format of football played then becomes 7v7 at U9s and U10s; 9v9 at U11s and U12s and then 11v11 from U13s.