The Orange Soccer Academy, located in the North West of England, have recently added TopTekkers to their organization’s curriculum. Head of Academy, Josh Mountain, spoke to us about how TopTekkers will aid the development of their players, as well as describing the Academy’s own perspective on helping players reach their potential and what he finds useful about the app. 

Club name: The Orange Soccer Academy

Located in: Preston & Lancaster

Formed: 2015

Number of teams: 80 players

Kit Colors: Black & White

TT: How long has your club been using TopTekkers?

JM: We’ve been using it for two months.

TT: Which age groups/players in your club are using TopTekkers?

JM: Our U5-U16 players.

TT: How have you implemented TopTekkers in your organization? 

JM: All players receive free access and are grouped into their Orange Soccer ‘age groups’ (U5-U7, U8/U9, U10-U12 and U13-U16). They are set weekly learning plans based on our training curriculum - The Orange Soccer Skills Cycle.

TT: Why did you get TopTekkers for your players?

JM: We felt it was incredibly important that we continued to provide training opportunities and challenges for our players during the current situation, allowing them to keep training and challenge themselves!

TT: How will TopTekkers become a part of the coaching cycle or curriculum within your organization?

JM: Since its introduction TopTekkers has become an integral part of how our players develop and we have aligned the training plans with our coaching curriculum. 

TT: What do you personally like about the app?

JM: The app has also allowed us to stay in contact with our players and parents during this time and that is huge for us as our community is at the heart of everything that we do. The app is easy to use and navigate with a wide selection of training content for all ability levels.

TT: What’s your organization’s development philosophy?

JM: Our philosophy is to provide grassroots footballers with access to extra training in addition to their grassroots commitments. Our sessions are player-centered, targeted at helping each individual player progress depending on their goals, regardless of whether that is a player who wants to be a professional footballer or a player who lacks the confidence to join a grassroots team for the first time.

TT: Why is practice away from the training field important? 

JM: ”I trained 3-4 hours a week at Ajax when I was little but played 3-4 hours everyday on the street. So where do you think I learnt football?” - Johan Cruyff. 

TT: Describe the perfect Orange Soccer Academy player, a player that embodies your organization on and off the field. What does that player look like?

JM: An Orange Soccer player comes to training ready to learn, they aren’t afraid to take risks, especially with the ball at their feet and know that if you work hard, the sky is the limit!

For more info on The Orange Soccer Academy please visit www.orangesoccer.co.uk

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