Peterborough United academy staff put on cookalong classes and quizzes to keep children engaged during lockdown

Posh’s Elite & Development Centre is usually open for anyone between the age of 7-16 and provides weekly training sessions alongside allowing players to continue to play for their grassroots clubs.

Being accepted into the Posh Academy is the first step onto a long road that could potentially end with playing for the senior side.

Inspiration is available in the form of first-teamer Harrison Burrows (19) who recently signed a new long-term contract with the club after rising through the youth ranks having joined the club almost 14 years ago.

Posh are also looking to improve their training academy in plans submitted last month having already received an upgrade to Category 2 status, the second highest, in August.

With the pandemic, however, face-to-face sessions are currently not an option and staff have been looking for creative ways to help the players develop and keep them active during the current lockdown.

These have included hosting online quizzes, homework clubs three times a week and cookalong classes every Tuesday, all held over Zoom.

Pre-Academy Phase Lead Coach Michael Fox said: “It’s been a bit of a challenge this time due to the weather and the amount of homeschooling going on but we’ve tried to come up with solutions to stay connected with the boys.

”We’ve done things like online quizzes, setting them running challenges to do with parents or siblings to get them out of the house as much as possible. 

“There’s been some ball mastery stuff as well as some circuit sessions. It’s about keeping them active but also bearing in mind there’s a lot going on with school work and parents working from home.”

Youth Development Phase Coach Elio Salerno added: “We’re trying to find ways to engage them for an hour and try and give them something different to think about so they can escape from what is going on in the world around them. 

“I think that’s what they’re missing from not being at training, when they come to football they get to focus on just their own world. 

“With the slightly older lads, sometimes they’re a little more difficult to engage with, they’ve got more distractions socially, want to escape the house and maybe spending an hour on Zoom isn’t top of their priority list but I think, even if they don’t find it the most interesting subject, the attraction is spending a couple of hours with the lads.”

The obvious concern for the older children in particular and the parents if what effect the enforced break will have on their on-pitch development.

Elio continued: “It’s a difficult situation because they won’t get that time back. We need to try and maximise the time we’ve got now so they will be able to maximise the time they have left when they are able to come back to us.

“We just have to try and take them through it the best we can and hope that it doesn’t effect them too much and they can still get the outcome they need from being with us.

Foundation Phase Lead Coach, Paolo Di Fabrizio said: “We’ve had a few positive messages saying thanks for what you’re doing. Ultimately, it’s a time for the boys to jump on and see everybody, we’re mixing under 7s and 11s, but also for the parents, they can go away and spend some time doing whatever they want to do.

“We know they sacrifice a lot and give a lot of time over to the football and their kids, which is fantastic, so hopefully this is our way of giving them a little something back.”

To listen to a full interview with Posh’s Academy staff, carried out by club Press Officer Phil Adlam, click here.