Folkestone Cricket Academy 2025

Folkestone Cricket Club is pleased to confirm the continuation of its Junior Academy for 2025, providing a Pathway for our Juniors.
As in previous years, S & J Brickwork will be sponsoring this and we are grateful for their continued support that allows the Academy to operate for free and without charge to those invited.

12-15 year olds Pathway for Junior cricketers

Giving our best Juniors the skills required to not just play cricket but to contribute and dominate. Graduates of this program should have the confidence and ambition to forge a path to the top of the club.

Day to day running

All sessions will be organised and run by Head Coach Roy Downey with his coaching team.

Roy is a Qualified ECB Level 2 Coach. During a distinguished playing career he was part of the FCC team that won the Premier League in 1989 and was honoured as Kent League Player of the Year in 1996.  Roy also coached Folkestone 1^st X1 to the Premier League 2-day Championship in 2001 and Folkestone 2nds to two successive championships.

Roy says he has seen many young, very talented cricketers fall by the wayside because of a poor attitude. The Academy wants to help youngsters have a mature and level headed approach to our wonderful game.

Roy and the coaching team feel these Academy sessions are the ideal opportunity for them to provide a professional environment and develop each individual players abilities and approach to the game. They will work to create goals and stepping stones to help monitor progress.

In return we request that the work of our coaches during the Academy sessions is respected and please allow your child to benefit from the opportunity provided.

Proposed Program Timeline

The Junior Academy will run 8 x 2 hour morning sessions starting on Sunday mornings.

Academy players will receive sponsored training tops that they can wear with pride and promote the FCC Junior Academy culture.

The Academy aims to run as an additional training session to our regular Junior sessions and the expectation would be that Academy players still attend their usual training session as well.

Goals of the Academy

When planning a player’s pathway, the Junior Academy will keep 3 goals in mind as follows:

• Have a positive Cricket experience
  Creating an environment where cricket is  enjoyable and players have a sense of achievement.
• Progress to perform at their best
  Providing players with the opportunity to develop their individual cricket skills and build skill sets required for adult cricket transition.
• Be motivated to progress their Junior Cricket with us
  Awareness, confidence and enthusiasm to pursue the cricket pathway leading to first team representation.

Assessment

It is key that the Academy can justify and give every Junior a fair attempt at making the squad. Roy has been closely monitoring recent Junior training sessions and early season games, as well as liaising with the age group coaches to assess which Juniors he thinks would benefit from joining the Academy. As Parents and Guardians, we can assure you that the decisions made have been well considered and a due process has been followed.

The aim is to select a small group of players from within the Clubs U13 and U15 age groups. If your child is selected to join the Academy, there will be an expectation that each is a paid up Club Member and committed to playing their competitive Club cricket at both Junior and Senior level, for Folkestone Cricket Club. We also ask that parents give 100% support to their son/daughter through this opportunity.

We wish all children involved in the Academy an enjoyable and successful summer.

Laurence Ward
Chairman

2025 squad

BEAU MORGAN
ORLA WILSON
DARCY ROWE
ELLIOT PRICE
FINNIAN NOBLE-JONES
HARRY DOUSE
HERBIE SIMPSON
HUNTER LIGHTFOOT
JUDE FILE
JUDE RAYNER
KAVITHAN DAVIDPRAPAKARAN
LUCA WAITT
LUCAS CARROLL
MANSOOR KHAN NIAZI
MAX BURCHETT
OLIVER RICHLEY
RASOOL KHAN NIAZI
SAM SHEPPARD
SUNNY WALLIS
THEO COOMBS
VINOJ SURENDAN
ZACH FREEAR