Ian McColl appointed Head of Academy Children’s Programme

The Academy, under the guidance of Tommy McIntyre, is structured around the initial Children’s Programme which flows into the Youth and Pro Programme with those three areas combing to make players ready for life as a Professional footballer.

Ian, who had coached at a various levels in the community, as well as working with Box Soccer before joining Queen’s four years ago, was asked to describe his role in helping young players make their first steps to hopefully pulling on a Black and White First Team jersey.

He explained: “I look after players from the Pre-Academy, which starts at under-9’s, up to the under-13’s age group. I co-ordinate and work with the coaches at each age group, look at the progression of every age group ensuring that they are building up to the level required at under-13 for them to push towards the Youth Programme which is the next stage of our Academy and to progress in football.

“The objective of the Children’s Academy is for players to ‘Master the ball and Master the body’. We will look to do that by developing their footballing technique in over 350 technical actions and allowing them to gain experience in using their technical abilities through a range of context rich games. This should give them the technical base to hopefully play at the highest level they can.

“We look to make the players ready for the next stage which is being comfortable to play in various positions and different areas of the pitch. Aside from the footballing side, we stimulate players physical development by using a range of bilateral and co-ordination exercises as well as a multi-sports approach to developing different movement patterns.

“As players become older, it becomes harder and harder to work on these things. We want players to move well on the pitch and have all the technical ability they need to play modern football before we hand them over to the Youth Programme.”

Ian explained the workings of the Academy further saying: “The under-11’s are the first age group in the Academy that take part in official games but prior to them we have the Pre-Academy.

“One of the biggest things just now in developing the Pre-Academy is to invite more players in and have them train the Queen’s Park way, and hopefully they can enjoy what we do and progress from there.

“Another big part of our academy is our Lifestyle Programme headed up by Ryan Docherty. We would like players to come in to the Queen’s Park Children’s Academy and have all the things instilled into them that will help them progress as a professional and as a person. We will look to educate them in areas such as nutrition, sleeping habits, how to prepare for games, mindfulness and breathing techniques that can be used to help with difficult situations that they face in football and beyond.

“We will look to test them physically and mentally with certain situations and scenarios, look to build some grit whilst also testing them at the highest levels we can in terms of football.”

The testing of players comes often in games against a high standard of opposition with Ian explaining: “The games that the under-11’s and upwards play in are Club Academy Scotland ones as well as games against teams from down south. In the last year we have played teams such as Sunderland, Newcastle United, Manchester City and Liverpool and they all provide great experiences.

“At below under-11, the games are not in a formal league, but we have we have also been able to give pre-Academy players the experience of playing teams from outwith Scotland. Some of our players at that age level, have experience scoring for Queen’s Park against Liverpool, for example – that’s something that is an experience that will stay with them for a lifetime but also something for us to build on and look to just be the start of the experiences guiding them towards a career in professional football.”

Tommy McIntyre, Academy Director says: “There are many key indicators that we look for in young players. They will go on a journey of guided discovery which includes amongst other such key aspects as focus, aggression, efficiency and skill.

“We integrate players through different context – pressures of training, different levels of opposition as well as factoring in biological age. It is the start of the journey and the beginning of what we define as an elite academy.

“Ian is a perfect fit for the Academy, and has the mindset, qualities and standards required to be the Head of Children’s Programme at an elite academy.”