Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Gartcairn academy teams are a class act
With Gartcairn Juniors just one game away from promotion in Central Division District Two, chairman Robert McCallum is also working hard behind the scenes.
The football academy was founded in 2007 with the help of a £8000 grant from sportscotland for a range of equipment, although it took a few months to attract enough players for one age group.
Now, the Airdrie outfit boast a rising junior team – but the academy has over 400 players and more than 80 coaches across adult, youth and girls’ sections.
McCallum’s main concern is finding enough facilities to house all the players and volunteer coaches who continually turn out for the love of the game.
He said: “The numbers are continually giving me headaches with trying to find parks and space for them. But I keep saying to the coaches ‘keep it coming’. “That’s my problem and it is a good problem to have. “Our junior manager [Davie Greig] said to me the other day, ‘do you ever just take a minute to say wow this is amazing?’ And I say, ‘no I don’t have time’.
“There’s always a coach that needs a PVG or a course, or a team that needs a new hall or a park. It’s just constant. It’s amazing.”
The academy’s philosophy to cater for everyone who wants to play football has seen girls incorporated into most of their boys youth teams and the creation of an autism section in January.
The autism section is aided by Hope For Autism and there are cue cards and blackout tents available to help the players feel comfortable in their surroundings.
There are 22 children registered in the section and Robert says their enthusiasm for the sport is there for all to see – and he hopes to see the players in competitive action soon.
He said: “It’s important they are not moved because they need that consistent environment. They’re in a hall and it’s only that team that are in it so they don’t have to deal with coaches from other teams shouting or anything like that.
“Those kids are so much fun, there’s some real good characters in there. It’s great, but I won’t lie, it is hard work. We have the backing of Hope For Autism. We have the cue cards and the blackout tents so if they have a wobble they can go into a safe place.
“And there’s some cracking footballers in that team; it’s just trying to curb their enthusiasm a bit. They’re doing slide tackles on the gym floor and you’re thinking, ‘oh no we’re going to end up with injuries here.’ “It’s great to see how much they enjoy it.” Robert admits having a mix of boys and girls in the same team wasn’t something he gave a second thought to – it just seemed like the right thing to do to follow the academy’s ethos.
It has meant some of the Gartcairn girls splitting their time between boys and girls teams, having the chance to play or train almost every night of the week.
He said: “When we started, most of the boys teams had at least one girl playing for them. It’s just always been the case; it wasn’t something we paid much attention to.”