With PASE recruitment for 2018 underway, Head PASE coach Cameron Mawer gave his thoughts on why 16-18-year-olds should join the scheme.
The PASE Academy is a sports and education programme ran by Boreham Wood Football Club in partnership with Barnet & Southgate College.
The PASE Academy was set up by Boreham Wood Chairman Danny Hunter in 2002 and provides 16-to-18-year-olds of all abilities the chance to join the club’s sports education programme.
The club are holding their next trial on Tuesday, February 13, at Boreham Wood Football Club, with registration at 9.30am.
Mawer said: “We are now recruiting for next season and we have had a really good response so far, with regards to the first trial.
“We are all working really hard to get the word out, because there is loads going on at the club, with the stadium improvements and things like that.
“Everyone who attends the trial, will arrive for registration at 9.30am, they will have a talk with the Chairman and then they will get a tour of the facilities and have a walk around the stadium, the gym, the analyst suites and the classrooms.
“Then they will go outside and be put into teams and trial. They will find out in a few days whether they have been successful.”
Since his arrival in 2013, Mawer has witnessed the academy go from strength-to-strength, seeing the progression of the players first hand.
The coach continued: “I get to go to a lot of other programmes and I really believe in the programme here, with what it gives the boys, opportunities wise.
“Whether it is to go and play football at a high level like Ben Goodliffe at Wolves, whether it is to get into our first team like Bradley Sach, whether it is to go and play at other non-league levels, like Frank Keita and Quba Gordon are doing.
“Whether it is to go to America like Charlie Hunter, or whether it is to go to University or a workplace. There are so many boys who have joined the programme and they come out of it so much better.
“We have lads from the trials this year, who have gotten into the elite side and are now training with the first team.
“That shows that if people do become part of it and if they have got that ADD factor that we talk about, that Attitude, Discipline and Desire, then they have got a really, really good chance of progressing through.
“Me personally, if I was 16/17 years old and doing it all again, one of these opportunities would be fantastic.”
Education is as key to the scheme as football, and alongside partners Barnet & Southgate College, the club set exceedingly high standards.
The educational programme at Boreham Wood marries up to the student’s training programmes, with courses including BTEC, CYQ, Construction and A-levels.
Mawer explained: “Academically we are within our aims and we are exactly where we want to be. The boys that have come on-board this year have done really well and we are hoping that we can find a group, or a set of boys, that are going to come in and emulate that.
“This is the longest standing education programme of its kind and for me, that says it all. We continue to grow and we are the biggest in the country and I think that there is a reason for that.
“You get all of the coaches and the first team players, who have all got a lot of experience. You get the chance to go and watch the first team matches and the Arsenal Development games, you have the fantastic facilities and all of the information that you get, you have regular games and you get a lot of care.
“You get a fantastic education with excellent teaching and for me, it is all of the highest standard.”
For more information on the PASE Academy or to register please call the PASE office on 020 8953 5716 or visit https://www.borehamwoodfootballclub.co.uk/how-to-apply-pase/.
