WWETB course going from strength to strength
Pictured are Mark Barry and Paddy Carey with Fleetwood Town’s Ronan Mansfield and Ferrybank AFC’s Milosz Matras together with Dominika McCarthy WWETB training officer and Derek O’Neill UPMC Head Physio.
Now in year seven, the WWETB FAI Player Development course has evolved to one of the leading Local Training Initiatives (LTIs) in the country with the programme run from the state-of-the-art SETU Arena where it caters for local young footballers and students.
The aim of the programme is to help these footballers and students, who want to progress in football while attaining a QQI Level 5 award in Sports and Recreation Studies with the course led by Paddy Carey, who was previously at Reading FC, and Mark Barry.
Over the past year, Carey, who still plays locally for Southend United, has worked with the Ireland Under 19’s , and holds a UEFA A license and UEFA Elite A License. Mark has worked at various age levels with international teams as an analyst, and currently completing his UEFA A Licence. Both also hold degrees from SETU Carlow, and are supported by WWETB, the FAI and the education team from Litton Lane Ltd.
Speaking to the Waterford News & Star on the course, Paddy Carey said: “It is hard to believe we are now entering our 7th year. The course has had incredible success both on a football front and an educational front, and we have produced lots of footballers who have gone on to play league of Ireland both male and female, and we also have some that continue to play abroad.
“We don’t just measure success in football terms either. We are equally as proud of the ones that have gone on to work, college, apprenticeships and have taken the next step in their lives. We don’t know the full extent of the what the courses looks like yet in the new FPP, but we do know and have shown, that education and football can be a powerful mix”.
Carey added that it has been a real success to date. “We have had 27 male and female players progress to first team LOI Football, and similar numbers play LOI academy football while studying on our course. “We have built up a strong relationship with the Waterford FC academy who are onsite also, which makes it easier to manage player loads or handle anything that arises during the week. The Academy here is going very well, and we look forward to continued success.
“We also look to recruit from Wexford FC and have had some great learners, male and female come through this route also. We work closely with the local grassroots teams who currently make up 60-70% of our total player profiles. We had several former learners involved in the Villa in the FAI Junior Cup winning team for example who came through our programme.
“Players have also progressed from our programme to play abroad and attain scholarships in America. Tega Aghierbiere went on to play in Norway and Chloe Hennigan played in Serie C, so the net is widening. Owen Oseni is doing really well in the UK at the minute with Gateshead, and Ronan Mansfield from the 2023/24 group is now at Fleetwood Town.
“It’s also great that we continue to see huge growth in the female game and look forward to helping the Waterford FC potential Senior Women’s team in having players play and train with us full time which will only help the club further.”
The success of the course is something that Carey prides himself and Mark in. “We pride ourselves on our exit routes and every year we see a high number of our learners progress on to further education whether that’s college, scholarships work or apprenticeships.
“We have a number of students in Colleges and Universities such as SETU Waterford, SETU Carlow, Limerick, Cork and Maynooth. Success is relative and not everyone will end up a footballer so to see the various routes created by the programme is a huge plus.
“We have students currently employed full-time in the sports arena here in various roles upon completion from our course. We have also had students go on to become Soldiers, Gardai, self-employed in various roles, which is a huge source of pride for us.
“Over the course of the past six years, the students have succeeded in attaining 140 major awards which would be comparable to any of the hundreds of LTIs in the country. We also have a close working relationship with UPMC Whitfield as our recovery partner and this further enhances our ambition to be leaders in our field.
“The students also do a lot of community work and run a brilliant free 3-day camp in conjunction with the school’s completion team for children from areas of Waterford that are considered disadvantaged. We are also involved in active week in primary schools, and we assist the local FAI Development Office Gary Power with projects including the primary 5s and help run the brilliant futsal in the yard programme in St Joseph’s Special School alongside the FAI Football For All officer Brendan Corish.
“We also help facilitate the FAI Coach Development Dept by providing players for their UEFA Licence course, which is brilliant.”
With the course continuing to go from strength to strength, Carey concluded: “Having a course like this is incredibly important for the development of young people in this region, and to have 24/25 students between the ages of 16 and 24 every year certainly throws up a lot of challenges.
“People may see from the outside that we have a beautiful facility and train every day, but the truth is very different. We work with young people from a wide range of backgrounds, some of whom may have felt that formal education was not for them.
“Thanks to the support of WWETB and our tutors, we have been able to positively affect the lives of these learners, and we have always felt that we learn a lot from these challenges I am very proud of where the programme is today.
“We have produced some excellent footballers, some excellent students but more importantly some really good people who will go out and make a difference in the world. The programme is growing constantly but it still does need continual support and awareness.
“I’m always available to the clubs in our region for more information on our own course, and football in general, so don’t hesitate to make contact through paddy.carey@fai.ie”
Speaking on the course, Owen Oseni, who is now playing with Gateshead in England said: “The course was brilliant for me and allowed me work on the technical side of my game a lot as we worked off Individual Learning Plans (ILPs).
“The academic side helped me understand more about muscle groups, recovery, diet and sleep etc which is a big thing for me now. It’s a great programme and winning the cup that year was a great memory”.
Maeve Williams, who has played Women’s Football at Wexford before going onto work at Waterford FC added: “The course prepared me for training in a full-time environment and what that entails. It was a challenge on a sporting level to be mixed with the boys and the education modules challenged me academically too. We done a lot of ours during covid and it was a brilliant release and gave me a steer towards universities options”
Waterford FC First-Team player Niall O’Keeffe also gave the course great praise. “I’d highly recommend the course for anyone that’s got an interest in combining football and studies. It helped me balance both really well and came out of it a better player and highly qualified. Paddy and Mark take a lot of care and interest in us as students even when we move on to lean on for advice on anything.”
