Earlier in the blog updates we reported about how well Ashley has been doing this season since he left the course in June 2009, training with Stockport County, so we caught up with him this week to find out why he attended the year long programme with edukick England and Bolton Wanderers. this is what he had to say:-
"during my school years football was my life and i had always had the passion to play football professionally at some level, it's all i ever wanted to do. through my younger years i had played with Macclesfield Town and Stoke City centre's of excellence, but like many had been released by these clubs before I could prove to them what a valuable player and goalkeeper i could be for them. I'd had a few frustrating injuries too as i went through trials with clubs, I'd been on trial with both Leeds united and Bolton wanderers prior to attending the course.
"i saw the course and saw it as an opportunity to learn more about the game, submerge myself in football everyday, develop my skills and live the life of training and working hard everyday, along with that they had the academic element to the course to enable me to study alongside the football, and i saw these benefits."
"the course meant that i could focus totally on my football development, move into a environment that supported my development and focus me away from the normal distractions of teenage life, and i think the year i had one the programme did just that for me!"
Ashley is now training everyday with league club stockport County, pushing for a contract with them, whilst still returning to the programme weekly to get game time and help out this years new players.
Next week we will find out Ashley's thoughts on the course and stories of his journey of the 9 months.
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