THE CRAY WANDERERS ACADEMY

Wanderers Chairman, Gary Hillman (second left), with (from left to right)
Darren Anslow, Oliver Hobbs (Head of PE) and Shirley Puxty (Head of College)

Cray Wanderers Football Club is proud to announce that it has formed a partnership with Coopers Technology College in Chislehurst to set up a Youth Academy from September 2009.

Wands Chairman Gary Hillman told Forever Amber: "This is a very proud moment for the Club and also highlights the progress we have made over the last few years. Since the youth section was set up, they have developed every year and have become one of the most successful, biggest and respected programmes in the area."

Praising the youth team organisation , Gary said: "The encouraging aspect of the academy is that it isn't a surprise as the teams have got stronger and stronger year on year. It was inevitable that we had to set up the Academy as this has been shown in the last few months with youth players getting opportunities to play in the senior team."

Gary continued: "I would like to say a big thank you and well done to everyone involved with the youth teams."

Talking about why Coopers Technology College was chosen for the Academy, Gary added: "We had discussions with several schools that were very interested to host the 2 year BTEC Sports National Diploma (level 3) course, but were impressed with not only the facilities currently at Coopers but also their plans for the future . It's also ideally located as well.

"We have already had a lot of initial interest and if anyone who hasn't registered and is interested, they should do so as soon as possible," Gary confirmed.