Junior Academy

The Junior Academy is made up of players aged between 16 – 19 years who study on either an FE or HE programme.

There are 3 teams that play at junior level; The Academy Team, the Development Squad and the Junior 3rd Team.

The Academy Team is the strongest of the 3 and includes players who are able to compete at the highest level of college football; the ECFA Premier League.  A number of our academy players represent both England Schools under 18’s and England Colleges under 19’s. The Development Squad is made up of promising first year players who will hopefully progress into the Academy Team in their second year. The Development Squad play in the ECFA Regional League, one level below the premier league. Finally the Junior 3rd Team compete in tier 2 of the BCS West Midlands League and again comprise players who will hopefully progress up the structure during their time at Hartpury.

In addition to these 3 league sides, the Junior Academy also competes at U18 level in the ESFA Colleges Cup.  This team is made up of Academy league players who still are within the U18 age limit as well as players from the Development Squad.

The Junior Academy has been very successful in recent years and has grown a reputation as being the best premier college based teams in the country.  In 2008, 2010 and again this year 2011, the academy were crown ECFA national champions. In 2009 and 2010 the Junior U18’s won the ESFA national colleges cup.

Academy players train 4 days a week and receive the highest level of sports science support which includes the utilisation of a full time physio, fitness conditioner and also exposure to video analysis.