A Life-changing day

Welcome to the YBFA blog - brought to you by our founder - Shaun Burgess.

Shaun is a lead scout at a Category 1 professional football academy and has worked there for almost 4 years. In that time he has scouted over 100 players with around 20% of those currently signed with the club he works with.

Shaun has an extensive network of players, parents and people in the game. He prides himself on his work with players of all ability - not just academy level players.

Shaun will naturally talk about the academy journey as he helps players navigate this. He will also spend a great deal of time chronicling the inspirational stories of other players who aren’t at academies but have perhaps made it into their school team/district or other stories of progression. Shaun will also cover stories around others whose main benefits may have been “off the field” but are still equally significant.

All views and information shared within this blog are the views of Shaun himself and should not be considered the views of any organisation/s that Shaun is associated with.

A Life-changing day

On a glorious Friday in July 2021, as usual there were a few “single day” bookings one of which would prove to be life changing.

A 6-yr old child who attended for his first ever session at YBFA (with his shin pads on top of his football socks if memory serves me correctly) and did exceptionally well. As coincidence would have it, it turned out that I remembered the mother of the child from 20 years earlier at college!

Fast forward just over 2 years and he has just signed for West Ham Utd Academy as an Under 9! One of probably 15 boys selected from across the capital and surrounding counties.

Proud is an understatement! The boy’s journey, and that of his family has been an emotional one! Over the coming days/weeks/months we expect to delve further into this amazing story (& lots of others) in various ways.

He is a role model to so many at YBFA, someone who is looked up to by his peers and I have even told him how fortunate he should feel for being able to keep up with his Academy peers when he has played so little football to them relatively speaking.

I call him my “football son” and throughout will refer to him simply as “C”.

C is a special child. From the first day I ever met him I saw a twinkle in his eye which he still has every time he steps on a football field; whenever he sees a ball, an opportunity for any type of play, he is a naturally competitive child - sometimes too much so! One thing we are working tirelessly on at the moment is his Emotional Intelligence and Awareness.

Having the ability to compete with the most talented children in his age group from across the capital is no mean feat and is exceptional in itself. Having a “super strength” is something that scouts, talent spotters and coaches alike all seek to identify and nurture in the lives of our young players.

It isn’t enough to be able to run (or dribble) as fast as lightning, or to have incredible physical strength. The most talented players are those capable of controlling their emotions and excelling in areas not associated with physical ability or tactical awareness.

The social and physiological attributes of a player are invaluable, and I’d argue are as, if not more important than the physical attributes outlined above.

I often say, that thus far in my life God hasn’t blessed me with a son so to be able to impact the lives of young people through football is truly fulfilling.

Having played to a good level as a youngster myself, I strongly and firmly believe that if whilst I was still playing had had a figure such as myself coaching/pushing and motivating me - I may have indeed ended up turning pro. Instead, my story is that I have been put here with a purpose - a purpose of ensuring an entire generation of “would be” young footballers fulfil their full potential, by hook or by crook/by any means necessary.

I really hope I can find the time to continue to share these stories & thoughts with you.

It is not easy trying to find the time to successfully deliver on all the moving parts required to run a thriving community-based football academy in East London boroughs with some of/if not the highest levels of social and economic poverty in the UK.

Written by Shaun Burgess, November 2023