It’s been a busy and fruitful lockdown for the Montpelier Villa committee and management. Not only have we launched our new website and academy, but we have appointed former Crystal Palace, Watford, Lewes and present Whitehawk commercial manager (freelance), Kevin Miller, as well as securing a tenure for our mens 1st team, u23s and u18s at Culver Road, Lancing.
Where to start?! Well, as you’re reading this, why not with the website! It’s thanks to Pleece & Co for their time, dedication and creativity for bringing our new website to life. Our last one was looking a little bit tired and jaded, like an out of condition Villa vet, so needed a bit of a refresh.
We will be adding to the site as we go, so look out for videos, more blogs and, if you’re part of the Villa Academy, an online learning platform for players to develop their game away from the training and match day ground.
We’re also really excited to announce the launch of our new, professionally structured academy for the 2020/21 season. The academy is for Villa teams from u7-u16 and we have 10 youth teams participating in the first year. We also run individual academy sessions on a Tuesday night and if other teams want to train with us, we’re open to that too. We want to encourage the best coaching practice across the region and we are open to consultation, sharing ideas and generally doing what we feel is best for our youth players from a coaching and personal
development point of view.
The aim of the academy is to get three hours of training a week working under a 40 week programme which is 9 months of football. The main overall objective is to meet the EPPP programme. Read more about the Montpelier Villa Academy here
Kevin Miller joins us after lengthy negotiations - well an afternoon in the pub! Kevin has a wealth of commercial experience both at professional and semi professional level and he really fits the culture of Villa. He’s also been working with our Chairman, Gary Pleece, on the rebrand of Whitehawk FC over the past couple of years and they’ve developed a good working relationship.
Kevin is our conduit between fans, business and teams, bringing together beneficial packages for those who want to join the Vila family and also setting up a new business networking WhatsApp group so sponsors can network and do business together. We are looking to do things differently at Villa and Kevin really buys into that ethos. We’ll also be holding networking evenings before u23s games at Culver Road as well as a host of other good things happening . Watch this space…
Lastly, we’re delighted that our first team, u23s and u18s have agreed to move to Culver Road, Lancing, home of the Sussex FA for the 2020/21 season. Negotiations started at the end of 2019 and we’re delighted that we have signed a contract for two years, initially, with an option to renew.
After the first team’s brilliant season ended in disappointment with no promotion despite being well clear of the chasing pack in Southern Combination League Division Two when lockdown came, the ambition of the management and committee was to ensure that, firstly, the facilities we have met the ground grading needed to progress, but that they also met the ambition of the club as we look to climb the leagues.
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