As part of our ongoing drive to bring together the whole club as one big family, members of the first team along with co-assistant manager Clem Bennellick joined in with our Under 11’s and Under 12’s training sessions on Tuesday night. Alongside Clem were club captain Aaron Taylor, Alex Byrne, Ollie Gardner, Billy Tucker, Liam Short and Henry Richards who got involved in the action as well as offering encouragement from the sidelines to all the youngsters.

Bideford AFC Youth chairman James Guilfoyle was full of gratitude for the first team’s involvement, “The first team got involved and helped with the training, giving advice on not only how to play the ball, but also how to position yourself on the pitch. Having them at training helped showed the young players the progression path from youth football to men’s football. We would like to thank Clem and the first team players for coming along and we look forward to seeing them at some more sessions in the future.”

Bideford AFC director Adam Barker would like to see continued interaction between the first team and the youth teams moving forward. “I thought it was brilliant. Well done to James and Clem for arranging it and of course, the players for giving up their time to spend with our club’s youngsters. It looked like everyone really enjoyed it!”

“Hopefully, the kids will be able to see that there is a pathway to the represent our town at first team level. We have a lot of local players in our current first team squad who can attest to that. We have such a great youth set up, run by so many brilliant volunteers, and we’d all like to see more Sean Downing’s or Aaron Taylor’s come through the ranks.”

Bideford AFC Youth currently have around 300 members, boys and girls, from Kickstarters all the way up to Under 16’s, and approximately 40 coaches and volunteers. Alongside James are secretary Neil Blackburn and pitch organiser and events manager Dave Wright who together help to keep things running smoothly.

For more information about Bideford AFC Youth, you can find them on Facebook or you can contact James Guilfoyle at bidefordafcyouth@gmail.com

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