Award winning Llay United scores success amongst local youngsters

An award winning Wrexham football team is scoring huge success with hundreds of young footballers across the county after a blockbuster season of achievements.

The 2010/11 season saw Llay United FC Juniors win a double header of awards, picking up Community Club of the Year at the North East Wales FA McDonalds awards before going on to beat the rest of Wales for that same accolade at the FAW's main awards ceremony.

Just desserts for a club that has grown to 13 teams - from under fives through to Under 16s - including two girls only teams, with more than 220 young players on their books.  Llay are also one of Wrexham's Silver Accredited1 Junior Clubs and one of only four teams in North East Wales to retain that standard this year. They also work proactively with local schools to introduce them to coached football and make the jump to club football easier.

Llay United Club Secretary, David Adams said: "Seven years ago we changed the set up of our teams to make sure we had pure age group teams. We got the compass out and targeted schools within a two mile radius of the club. So rather than wait for young players to come to us, we went to them.

"We've also made sure that we have three coaches per age group, to make sure that if we lose any, for whatever reason, we always have coaches available to look after that team. The FA Accreditation scheme has pushed us along to get more coaches and Community Chest grants from Sport Wales have helped us to pay for the training."

Llay United has been at the forefront of developing mini-football in Wrexham and organises annual football festivals and a mini-kickers programme, enlisting new coaches from their Under 16, to help kick-start interest in football amongst younger boys and girls.  

The club also works with Llay schools to give all children access to free curricular and extra-curricular coaching sessions. They delivered 85 extra-curricular coaching sessions for primary school children at Park CP Llay, Gwersyllt CP and Heulfan last year with 39 children signing for the club to play in the Wrexham and District league. A schools festival, featuring those same schools, also saw nearly 100 children lacing up their football boots.

North East Wales Club Development Officer, Mark Roberts said: "The club's finances are great but the likes of Dave have been able to drive the club forward themselves. They've developed the right people at the right time.

"They're a good package and it's nice for them to win Club of the Year in recognition of all the good work that they're doing and they just need to keep that momentum going and concentrate on becoming fully sustainable."

The Welsh Football Trust was founded by the Football Association of Wales (FAW) in 1996 to encourage more people to play football, identify and develop talented young players and develop more and better qualified coaches. Sport Wales is one of the major funding partners, along with the FAW, Welsh Government and Premier League.

Sport Wales Regional Manager, Graham Williams said: "We work closely with our partners, including the Welsh Football Trust, to get every child hooked on sport for life in Wales. Llay United is an outstanding sporting community club that is giving hundreds of youngsters the essential skills for a life in sport.

"It is especially pleasing to see them proactively working with local schools to make the transition from school sport to a club setting much smoother. We want to see this approach replicated across Wales to ensure that young people see the benefits of joining their local sports clubs from a young age."

Organisers now hope to add a new team to their structure at Under 14's and are currently working with the FAW to become an accredited Fun Football Organisation2 - one of only three in the Wrexham Area.

For more information about the Welsh Football Trust visit www.welshfootballtrust.org.uk.