It is a service now offered in most school holidays but it is only a fraction of the excellent work Brian Dawson, and his staff, carry out in west Cumbria.

Well established in the area, it is difficult to believe that RITC is just twelve months old following the launch at Borough Park in April, 2017.

RITC is currently operating in twenty schools in Copeland and Allerdale, providing over one hundred hours of PE provision. They employ eight full-time staff with David Symington, perhaps, one of the best known.

Football Academies at Millom, Egremont, Whitehaven, Workington, Cockermouth and Maryport provide supervised coaching for boys and girls throughout the west of the county.

The Holiday Camps take place at the Lakes College hub with eighty kids attending one earlier this year. Various themes are provided such as boys only, girls only and goalkeeper courses.

The ‘jewel in the crown’ is the Performance Centre with teams from U8s to U13s, made up with players from all over west Cumbria. The quality within the squads is very high with the players (from all the clubs in the area) receiving structured coaching methods and post-match analysis to enhance their development.

The players can reflect on some wonderful experiences visiting comparable organisations like Glasgow Rangers, Newcastle United, Sunderland, Blackburn Rovers, Burnley, Fleetwood Town, Blackpool, Barrow and Lancaser City.

In addition, the coaches are running an U7 ‘pre-Academy’ which will help identify players for next year’s intake.

RITC has also been working closely with the Cumberland FA on several projects including a Girls Performance Centre, Disability Football and SSE Wildcat Centres, all delivered by the coaching staff.

The future is bright (or even red!).