Our Philosophy

Founded through the Sport Society, we have a passion and drive to ensure all children enjoy their football and fulfil their potential as young people in a high achieving environment. Fulham United FC is a not-for profit community club, with all profit reinvested to maximise the playing experience for our members. Our club has a family ethos with a community feel and provides a high-quality football programme for young players, using a holistic approach. Offering affordable membership packages, we are committed to supporting young people and particularly those from lowincome families in the form of bursaries. Our core values of being kind, brave and committed are interwoven into everything that we do and form a strong foundation for our players to thrive.

Using a holistic approach, our training programme incorporates a wide range of technical drills, specialist training, modern coaching methods, video playback, and player assessment to support all players’ mental, social, physical, and technical development. The key aim for us is to guide and nurture children to enhance their confidence and ability to play football, whilst also allowing children to build friendships and develop a culture which enables them to thrive as young people. We place a firm emphasis on this in each of our sessions, and therefore, set challenges for our players to go above and beyond to support one another. We need our players to be serious about playing football, to recognise the importance of working effectively with others, to respect coaches and peers, and to thank those that support them in their quest to become better footballers and young people. All sessions are led by experienced PE teachers and high-level coaches, alongside excellent junior assistant coaches. Safeguarding children is our top priority, whilst ensuring our players enjoy playing and remain safe at all times. We continually update our policies and risk assessments, as well as checking pitch areas prior to sessions and also replenishing first aid kits each week.

  • We use visual aids to support player development. Using mini tactic boards to introduce drills and to lead team talks before match play. We have also utilised video playback to support players with technical feedback and to show examples of good practice. Each team has their match recorded through VEO several times throughout the season with footage shared with parents and children. Visual aids are effective coaching tools that we all enjoy using and can motivate players to improve.

  • Players are monitored throughout the season with regular feedback at training and matches. We use a holistic development plan for each player which highlights areas of strength and weakness across technical, physical, tactical, social and psychological areas. This is an important part of the learning process; to understand the level they are currently working at and identify areas to improve upon.

  • All sessions are thoroughly planned to be fun and made appropriate to the age and ability of the participants. All of our training drills are designed to replicate situations in match play, in both opposed and unopposed scenarios. Players will develop a wide range of technical skills including running with the ball, shooting, dribbling and passing. They will also learn how to create and use space, operate in different positions and play in a team formation.

  • We incorporate high level specialist training into our training sessions for small groups. These sessions are designed to provide more one-to-one attention, whilst developing specific technical skills that they can then replicate in match play. This is a key extension to our provision and has been delivered to small groups for skills, including goalkeeping, jockeying, finishing, ball striking, passing and dribbling.

Learning Phases

  • Soccer School Phase & Development Centre

    (U4 to U6)

    This phase is for beginners and for those players who are familiarising themselves with a ball at their feet. We provide a fun and safe environment for children to find an early love for football, while developing key physical, technical and social skills. All sessions incorporate ball mastery skill challenges, fun games and races, speed, agility and quickness (SAQ), and small-sided matches. Once ready, children can move from the Soccer School programme to U7 league football where they will receive more specific football training and matches. Players have the opportunity to play competitive club football from the age of 6.

  • Pre-Academy Phase

    (U7 to U8)

    This phase is for children to continue to develop their ball mastery skills and understanding of match play with a taste of competitive football. They will understand the benefit of playing in a team and explore the main principles of defending and attacking. With ball mastery improving, they will learn to use space more effectively and form a team structure, both with and without the ball. These teams play 5 a-side on small pitches and compete in the London County Youth Leagues on Saturday mornings.

  • Foundation Phase

    (U9 to U11)

    At this level, we place a firmer emphasis on technical and tactical development in opposed situations, design sessions to aid combination play, and guide towards the importance of decision making. We do expect players to act on advice and build an understanding of the tactical side of the game, with more able children challenged with leadership responsibility. Players are selected to play in a Fulham United FC team that competes in the Saturday London Youth League. They are supported with a midweek training session and a weekend match as a minimum. Players will compete in friendlies and cup matches, but also tournaments during the summer months against other youth teams.

  • Youth Development Phase

    (U12 – U16)

    The Youth Development phase presents a greater challenge, through problem-solving practices to developing more advanced techniques. U12 teams remain in the 9v9 format before transitioning to full 11 a-side football from U13. Players are required to take on both technical and tactical information and perform at a higher intensity. With selective attention developing, we target development in combination play and decision making as players gear up for 11 a-side football. We enter a range of league and county cups at this phase with football now played more competitively