Holmfirth Town
Junior Football Club
Under 3

Gross Motor Activity is well developed at (age) five

Dr Louise Bates Ames

We have booming numbers from Under 4 to Under 13 and are always looking for more children to join the club! Boys and girls of any ability are welcome. We also have children with us from every single school in Holmfirth!

Your child might be slightly too young to join us at U3, but I thought it would be worth providing the advice on what you can do in the meantime to get your child ready for a lifetime of football and sport, and to start with us at U4, or when sport ready.

There are only two things that matter in the pre-school years; falling in love with football; and motor skills development.

Motor skills (agility/balance/coordination) are well on their way to being formed between the ages of 0-5 (see the quotes) and essentially formed by age 11.

Without the love of football and motor skills a child will simply never be the best they can be at football. With them the world is their oyster!

To develop the love of football; play it, read it, and watch it!

The best thing you can do to develop their motor skills is to have a football, and a multi-sport and activity programme. The government recommend an hour a day of activity.

There are some great sporting organisations around Holmfirth

During the first years of life the development of motor skills is rapid and very important.

Pedro Gil Madrona et al

The Club’s Formation

Having formed Holmfirth Town in 2010 as my project for my beloved Holmfirth community, and having taken the full UEFA B coaching licence to be the best I can be at coaching football and teaching children, I am on a continuous journey to educate myself, and therefore our coaches, in coaching children.

Despite playing professionally for five years (Huddersfield Town and Exeter City) and spending 17 years in the professional game, working my way up to be chief executive at Huddersfield Town, it is the magnificent FA (Football Association) coaching qualifications (and Barcelona FC!) that provide the real education to coach at this level.

Academy Standard Coaching

Our USP is UEFA B standard coaching for all our age groups (the qualification that professional academy coaches have to earn) and these are the qualifications I have gained and that you therefore are bought into through our coach education programme:

  • FA level one
  • FA level two
  • FA youth modules 1, 2 and 3
  • FA psychology level one
  • UEFA B
  • Barcelona FC’s (quite magnificent) three month coaching qualification

Level one is the standard qualification you will see in local football; we are striving to be the best we can be at coaching junior football at Holmfirth Town.

I oversee the U4-7 intake, taking the children through their first year of ‘league’ games at U7 (and friendlies at U6), and Shaun Weatherhead (also an ex professional footballer who undertook his UEFA B licence many years ago in preparation for growing his own community project) coaches the U8-U13s.

Club Administration

Dr. Andy Williams, one of the outstanding head teachers of his generation, heads up the administration set up, after taking early retirement from Holmfirth High School where he was head teacher for many years, and where he assisted in the formation of Holmfirth Town Football Club back in 2010. To be the best we can be we have a quite superb club management team; all professionals in their field and all doing their bit voluntarily for their beloved Holmfirth community.

We want to be the best we can be for Holmfirth children.

Andrew Watson
Chairman
Holmfirth Town