Life is very structured for the boys at the Craig Bellamy Foundation, but they thrive off this. The 32 boys at the academy are the first group of teenagers that I’ve met that sulk if early morning training is cancelled due to the weather!
Morning Routine
Since I’ve been back I have certainly missed the early morning wakeup call that is the kids getting up and ready for football training. Most mornings I’d hear them about 6.30-7 am! The one morning they were nice and quiet was the one morning I was already awake having been ill all night!
The boys train first thing from 7.30 until about 9 and their training depends on the day of the week. They generally are split into two groups, one for the older boys and one for the younger boys (small boys as their nickname states) The boys train hard and when the sun is shining first thing in the morning it is already baking hot! They finish in time to head back up to the dorm for a quick shower and get in their school uniform then its time for breakfast.
Breakfast Time
Breakfast is about 9.30 each morning and everyone eats together in the canteen with the boys spread across three large tables and a table for the staff.
The food here is on a weekly rota so depending on the day of the week you know what your going to be having for breakfast lunch and dinner.
As the meals are at set times and there’s not much opportunity to ‘snack’ it was essential to fill up at each meal and I definitely took advantage of that at breakfast! Fresh bread with Laughing Cow triangle cheese, porridge with sliced banana, fresh pineapple, omelettes, scrambled or poached eggs. There are 3 cooks at the academy and most of the ingredients for each meal are brought up on the bike from Waterloo with Mariatu each day.
School
School starts at 10.15 for the boys and doesn’t finish gone 4 with a lunch break and two snack breaks during the day. The boys have science, maths and english as their main subjects but also undertake art, history and life skills lessons. The boys work hard in each lesson but their day doesn’t end there!
After school the boys head back to get changed for football training part 2! Again the training depends on the day of the week but you’d never guess the boys have already trained once and spent all day working hard at school! The same amount of energy and enthusiasm is put into the second training
Dinner
Time for another shower when training finishes at 6 and to get changed and then its dinner time at 6.30!
Evening Routine
Pretty much straight after dinner its homework in the canteen from 7until 8 with the first bit of free time for the boys from 8 until 9. The boys are sent to bed at 9 with lights out at 9.30. As you’d probably expect some nights you can hear some of the boys talking quietly a bit later than this but I was pretty shocked at how well behaved they all are until I realised they are probably exhausted by this time of night!
Weekends
Throughout the week the focus is on school work and training. On Friday nights there’s no football training so the boys get to finish early. This is also when they get their mobile phones back so on Friday nights you can generally find most of the boys hanging out somewhere listening to music! Saturdays are game days with both sets of boys playing in the morning then they can all relax on Sunday. Phones are handed back in on Sunday evening and the focus switches back to training and school work.
The kids at the academy are great, really focused and looking to achieve results. They seem to care as much about their education as they do about football and all have dreams of being lawyers, doctors etc if they dont make it as professional footballers.
