In an effort to develop a club unity between both Select players and Recreational League players, the Nelson County Youth Soccer Association and Nelson Elite have joined to become the Nelson County Soccer Club (NCSC). Most of our select players have started out in the Rec League program and in order to continue to develop quality players, both leagues must be on the same page when it comes to player development and adopt a curriculum that will be beneficial to individual players. To be successful, it is important for players, Rec or Select, to have the camaraderie within their club and not just to one particular team.
To aid in the further development of club players, the NCSC announced today that they have partnered with the Sheffield Wednesday North American Academy. Sheffield Wednesday opened up their North American Academy back in May and NCSC is the first club in the state of Kentucky to partner with the European Club.
Sheffield Wednesday FC is located in the north of England. The club was established in 1867 and is one of the oldest football clubs in the world. Over the years, the Wednesday have won four League Champions (Premier League equivalent), three FA Cups and one League Cup. In May 2012, the Wednesday were promoted to English Football's second tier in front of 38,000 fans! The Sheffield Wednesday Academy continues to produce players for its first team.
Along with the prestige of being directly affiliated with Sheffield Wednesday, there are several benefits that come with the partnership. The coaching content of the professional club will be available to our club coaches as well as Coaching Education Opportunities (both overseas and in own country). Players will have unique camp opportunities from the Sheffield Wednesday staff and could have the chance to advance to a National Camp as well as visit the Academy overseas. Our club will also have the opportunity to travel to the partner club and get behind the scenes access to the professional football club. Through the Player ID Camps, players will have the opportunity to be "discovered" and signed by the Professional Football Club.
NCSC hopes that the partnership with Sheffield Wednesday will attract more area players to the club and continue to grow to be a premier football club in Kentucky. NCSC communications director Lee Mattingly stated, "We are excited about the partnership with Sheffield Wednesday and GIS. The Sheffield Wednesday North American Academy will provide opportunities to both our players and coaches that were not available before. We believe that the expertise of the Sheffield Wednesday staff will provide us the tools to develop our players and the camps will give us a chance to showcase our talent. We look forward to working with the Sheffield Wednesday North American Academy staff and GIS.