Find out from your Phase Lead, Simon Copley, about how this Phase introduces players to 11v11 football, with the emphasis on behaviours and consistency in performance as their technical and tactical abilities progress: all during a period of significant change for each boy.

Watch Simon

Find out from your Phase Lead, Simon Copley, about how this Phase introduces players to 11v11 football, with the emphasis on behaviours and consistency in performance as their technical and tactical abilities progress: all during a period of significant change for each boy.

Watch Simon

EYDP

Specialist
Support

Below is an overview of the support our teams will give to your son in the Early Youth Development Phase.

Performance
Analysis

What do we do?

Performance Analysis is a newer discipline in comparison to sports science & medical for example and has developed exponentially with technology. Performance analysis is split into 2 key streams – video and data, of which is coupled to maximally improve individual player performance and team development.

We use video and data simultaneously to improve your son’s development from an individual point of view and, as they progress throughout the age groups, how that links to their role in the team. Video filming provides the foundation of analysis; we have world leading analysis camera software at Hale End and Sobha, including an automated camera system, meaning analysts can focus on analysing the information & creating insights, rather than putting vast human resource to cover games & full training programme. 

Where do we do it?

As players progress through the Academy, they will be exposed to a variety of analysis meetings in each of the 5 facets of analysis – pre-match/opposition analysis, live/matchday analysis, post-match analysis, training analysis and best practice/projects analysis. Each of these 5 areas are delivered in an appropriate player-friendly, visual format as an individual, unit or team and this is carefully decided based on information being delivered.

At Early Youth Development Phase

What changes in Analysis between Foundation and EYDP? Most importantly, sessions become more structured, with more dialogue between players and coaches. A key focus is supporting the transition from 9v9 to 11v11. For your son, he will start to understand Arsenal principles, positional responsibilities and where they identify within a team.

It’s a supportive transition. We often use best-practice examples from first-team clips to visualise higher-level tactical and technical execution. We don’t expect your son to be at that level now – the goal is visualisation and building on the reflective analysis culture work that’s created in the Foundation Phase. 

We strongly encourage your son to use Hudl.com, where video is stored, to create his own space focused on his Individual Development Areas (IDAs). This will help him to practice presenting his clips for when there are reviews. Why do we encourage this? Many players are visual learners, so promoting this kind of autonomy and ownership is key for optimal learning.

This helps them to process the information that they are delivering and develop articulating their points. It’s normal for boys to be apprehensive, and we ensure this is in a comfortable environment – either one-to-one or in front of peers. How they deliver their points can be a strong indicator in game knowledge/awareness and can provide areas of development.

There’s a stronger focus on individual performance, so players receive clips from games and live feedback from training. Analysts provide clips to coaches for delivery and sometimes deliver sessions where they go through pre- and post- match analysis together and open dialogue is encouraged. A higher focus is put on focus games which can happen 3-4x a year, e.g. for National Cup matches, an early taste of the increased tactical focus at U15/16.

There are weekly meetings set out for analysis, whether it’s part of a match cycle or reviewing individual clips with a coach and an analyst. Players start to understand the layering of the sessions and why they’re working on different themes in sessions and how IDAs link into this.

It’s important to remember that analysts aren’t always visible to parents/guardians or players as much as coaches as lots of work is done behind the scenes, therefore contact time in targeted analysis meetings with your son helps us to build trust & impart technical/tactical knowledge with a different voice.

What Can I Do?

You can really help by guiding your son to explore Hudl.com and review their footage, with a key focus on their IDAs.

At this phase, the key is building on previous reflective habits by looking at training/game footage, staying engaged & enjoying the process of reviewing your own video.

If you have any questions about analysis, please do reach out.

Nutrition

What do we do?

Nutrition plays an integral role in overall health, growth and development, training, recovery and match performance. It impacts body composition, strength, power and speed at the elite level.

As players progress through the Academy, we adopt a phased approach to their nutrition education. We begin with a strong food-first foundation, focusing on core principles such as building a balanced plate. From there, we introduce football-specific strategies, including pre- and post-training nutrition, hydration and matchday fuelling. In the later stages, we individualise nutrition plans based on the unique needs of each player, ensuring they are optimally fuelled for performance and recovery.

Where do we do it?

Across all phases, we deliver an education curriculum including theoretical workshops and practical sessions and offer weekly drop-in nutrition clinics for players, parents and host families.

At Early Youth Development Phase

At the EYDP Phase, our tagline is eat for growth. The main difference at this stage is that, alongside understanding what a balanced plate looks like, it’s key they understand how their food supports their training and matches to support their development and make them better players. We start focusing on exercise-specific nutrition: pre-exercise, post-exercise and hydration.

Workshops

The information and exposure to nutrition is similar to the Foundation phase. The key difference is that whereas most information goes straight to parents at Foundation, at EYDP it shifts to about 80% with parents, and 20% to players. We’re encouraging players to take more ownership.

We run two parent workshops a season, either in person or online, where we deliver educational material and Q&A’s. Players in EYDP also take part in theoretical and practical sessions across the season.

We develop an understanding of energy requirements, macronutrients, hydration, fuelling, recovery and travel nutrition.

Each age group has access to a dedicated nutritionist. You’ll also receive monthly newsletters with key nutrition updates and can book into weekly nutrition drop-in sessions for parents. 

Screening

So, how do we screen? Each player completes a Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire at the start of the season. This helps us guide their education and identify any players who may need extra support. We also gather information on school lunches, how players travel to training, who cooks or shops for their meals, and any allergies or intolerances to build a complete picture of their home environment helping us tailor our support more effectively.

At Hale End, injured players will get additional nutrition support through an injury nutrition clinic, with the player and parent.

Training and Match Nutrition

At EYDP, the Academy provides pre- and post-training snacks for every training session and a hot meal on their day-release day at around 4:30pm.

On matchdays, snacks are provided throughout the day. For long distance travel or tournaments breakfast and lunch are also provided, this will be communicated with parents in advance.

What Can I Do?

Please take in the information from the workshops and support your son in taking more ownership of his learning.

At home, please ensure your son has breakfast before school. It doesn’t need to be complicated, even cereal, toast, or a banana with yoghurt is good. Since players are growing, training and have high energy requirements, the more opportunities to get calories in, the better.

It’s great to have snacks and fluids available, such as when traveling from school to training. For evening meals after training, batch cooking on a Sunday is a good way to prepare quick, post-training meals.

If you have any questions about nutrition, please come and speak with us.

Physical

Performance

What do we do?

As a Physical Performance team, we develop players’ physical attributes: how quick, strong, powerful and fit they are. Our approach is player centred. Your son follows an individualised programme focused on long-term athletic development. We identify their strengths and areas to develop, leading to a clear action plan to make them physically healthy and capable of applying their attributes on the pitch.

We work closely with the coaches and the Multi-Disciplinary Team, informing them of the training load of the players or how much running they’ve done during a game. From that we can prescribe intensities for the week or months after to develop the players on an individual basis.


We also work with players from an injury prevention and rehabilitation aspect. If your son gets injured, they’ll spend time with the physio initially, then we’ll return them to the pitch in a safe and gradual manner – before they join back in the team training.

Where do we do it?

At a variety of locations. We do sessions with the players inside in the gym and sometimes do specific athletic development sessions in the Dome. Before the football session, for U12s and older, we’ll do the first 15-20 minutes of athletic development on pitch. We also might give your son some sessions to do at home, whether that’s injury prevention or conditioning as they return from injury.

We deliver the best programme to enhance your son’s performance and optimise him as a footballer. You play a vital role by asking questions, maintaining open communication and encouraging your son to maximise each opportunity to develop. 

At Early Youth Development Phase

Throughout EYDP, the structure of Physical Performance sessions is more focused on developing strength and established movements that relate to the football pitch.

Contact time ramps up from the Foundation Phase, from a Most Efficient Mover perspective. Schedules are more complex here because each age group has different timetables.

At this age, boys are changing physically at different paces. Because of that, we are in frequent contact with the MDT to ensure we’re doing the right thing for your son. 

All players will get a Physical Performance session at the start of their football session. These sessions focus on a specific physical attribute, e.g. speed or agility on pitch.

Gym sessions also occur around twice a week.

Testing

All players from 12 to 14 will go through our physical performance testing. 

As well as our own tests, the Premier League will come in four times a season where we test; speed, acceleration, change of direction and power with all the players.

For the under 14s there is a strength and fitness test towards the end of the season before they transfer into the Late Youth Development Programme.

What Can I Do?

The rapid physical changes your son goes through in these years bring different challenges and advantages. Every boy is unique and these changes affect them and their playing ability differently. It’s important to be aware of this to understand what you’re seeing in your son. 

This is when your son might start to see gym and fitness content online, or try weights with friends. We still encourage boys to get involved in other sports, but it’s important we know what they are doing away from the club so we can tailor their programmes to minimise risk and improve their overall physical development. Please do let us know. 

If there is anything you want to ask about, we’d love to talk.

Physiotherapy

What do we do?

The Physiotherapy department at the Academy aims to maximise player availability by reducing the impact of injury and illness and therefore allowing more development time on the pitch. This involves screening, injury rehab and working in a multidisciplinary team to ensure players return in the quickest, safest way.

We run an open-door policy for questions, emphasise education and prioritise early detection. Early reporting gives us the best chance to keep players on the pitch. Our goal isn’t just return-to-play but also staying on the pitch. When injuries occur, players and parents are encouraged to ask questions to understand the issue. 

Up to U16, you are welcome to join assessments where we discuss with your son how to manage the injury and provide clear explanations of physiology and anatomy to help support recovery. As boys get older and it becomes full time, it’s much more prescriptive with what players need to do. 

At Early Youth Development Phase

From U12, as a Physiotherapy department it’s not uncommon for us to see a rise in the number of growth-related injuries, as players become more active and growth rate increases.

As well as providing accessible information and education on where injuries occur, we are here to give players and parents some insight on when common growth-related pain can happen.

We can provide you information on what injuries you may expect to see and when they might develop. It’s an open-door policy and we encourage you and your son to come and see us whenever they feel any discomfort, as our aim is to try and keep players on the pitch as much as possible.

Assessment at this phase?

We will assess all players that report to the physiotherapist and determine if they are fit to continue with their current training regime or not.  If your son does sustain an injury that requires time out of football, you can expect him to receive individualised management to his rehabilitation.  The Physiotherapy team will tailor rehabilitation to get him back to play in the quickest but safest way possible.  There will also be access and frequent communication with one of our academy doctors, if required, to aid in his rehabilitation.

There will be access to a physio, be it at training or games, and we also have a designated full-time physio that takes care of the EYDP phase, so please reach out to us if you have any issues or concerns.

What Can I Do?

Taking on board the information we provide is important for keeping your son on the pitch. Remember that your son is not a ‘mini adult’, just yet. They are different physiologically and anatomically, so their injuries aren’t always the same.  We have the same open-door policy that whoever needs to come in, can come in.

Player Care

What do we do?

Player Care focuses on empowering your son to learn and develop using the Football Academy, helping him grow as a footballer and as a person with skills he will take into adult life, whatever career he chooses. We support players with their personal development goals and celebrate these milestones, in football and life.

Where do we do it?

The Player Care team has a presence at both Hale End and Sobha and there is always an opportunity for 1: 1 contact time for any player around player care or wellbeing in performance.  Conversations, either pitch-side, in the corridor or the canteen, are positively encouraged and they are welcome to come into the office and to have a chat, whether that’s about home, school, football or what’s happening on the weekend.

At Early Youth Development Phase

EYDP is where players begin to understand how our values and standards impact on-field performance. There is increased focus on how the transferable skills from the Lifelong Learner programme impact a young person on and off the pitch, with greater emphasis in applying them not only to athletic performance but also to education and the increased commitment to school.

Players are developing different personal interests, mixing with different people and broadening their horizons. Player Care help them build behaviours that enhance performance and contribute to their learning, making them better players and people in the environment.

Workshops

The Lifelong Learner Programme and curriculum span across the season. Certain topics have guided learning hours. For EYDP, there is greater focus on football transition and transferable schools, aligning with the journey they will experience through the phase at the academy, but also the transition of starting senior school. We cover topics such as Wellbeing and EDI in greater depth but also bring in other relevant topics such as Heathy Relationships and Social Media. We delve deeper into performance-based topics on dealing with pressure, challenges and overcoming sets backs. We aim to run a lifelong learner session once a month to every six weeks.

We collaborate heavily with other departments. As players carve their own journey, they will unlock different behaviours and mindsets, therefore there is more input from psychology and other MDT members. The Lifelong Learner programme gives a platform for educational support, whether something external or performance-related, like nutrition or Most Efficient Mover or injury prevention.

1:1 Sessions

In addition to continuous informal 1:1 time, there are more formal sessions for players dealing with things like change of school, pressures of homework, balancing schoolwork and Academy and friendship groups. This involves the well-being performance team of psychology and safeguarding, as well as an adult they trust e.g. their coach, who can give them some informal mentoring.

What about me?

Have a look at the content we provide for your son and do let us know of significant changes at home – it will really help us to help him progress successfully. Need to discuss anything? Come and see us, we run regular drop-ins.

We’re building behaviours to help your son progress, perform and handle change. That change is sharper at the next phase, so let’s allow him to drive his own learning and development.

You might need to encourage him, facilitate certain things, step in and support. But sometimes give him space to walk his own journey, even when it feels tough or doesn’t seem successful through your lens.

Psychology

What do we do?

As a Psychology department, we provide group-level psychological support during sessions, in workshops and in analysis meetings. We also work closely with players on an individual, often around performance support, but sometimes well-being and mental health, which we collaborate on with the Multi-Disciplinary Team.

We work with the coaches, who are very experienced and psychologically aware, so our role is to align their knowledge of psychology, football and the players with our expertise in child and adolescent brain development, understanding this generation and bringing in psychological strategies.

Champion Mentality is gradually integrated as your son moves up through the phases, through the respective coaches and staff into sessions on and off the grass.

Where do we do it?

There are between 1-4 sessions per week, depending on the phase. These are primarily on the grass, but also in the gym and the analysis classroom.

At Early Youth Development Phase

If Foundation is the exploring phase, EYDP is the learning phase. So what does that look like for your son?

For a player in the EYDP, there are 3-4 contact point sessions. These are primarily on the grass, as well as in the gym and the analysis classroom. Champion Mentality is integrated in these, working through the Psychology team, the coaches and MDT staff.

At U12, when your son first comes into EYDP, there’s a big transition to senior school at the same time. It’s a tough transition. We make sure to acknowledge that and give them the time and space to adapt to their new environment.

From a Champion Mentality perspective, we support their learning by giving them opportunities. “Voice and Choice” is something we try to hit home in EYDP. These boys are still young and very absorbent: they’re learning to learn, so we encourage that curiosity. 

That learning starts in the U12s, moving from 9v9 to 11v11 football. Once they’ve built that foundation of understanding, then at U13 they get the freedom to practice and show their knowledge. At U14, the focus is on preparing for scholarship at U15/16, where they’re judged more on consistency. The overall aim is to create autonomous learners: curious, asking questions, not just being told what to do.

You’ll always be informed of what’s happening at EYDP. Think of the support as a triangular model with your son in the middle, and around them: the staff member, the coach and you. We’ll often ask for your perspective and collaboration on our plans. We want your son to hear and feel consistent communication at Arsenal and at home.

Whether it’s a mental health support plan, life skills support plan, or physio support plan, if there’s collaboration and consistency between home and Arsenal life, it accelerates progression.

Screening

Screening is the same as at Foundation Phase: three times a season for a mental wellbeing check in, which is done jointly with Psychology and Player Care. This gives us a picture of how your son is developing. If any follow-up one-to-one support is needed, we’ll link that back through you.

What Can I Do?

This is a transitional phase. At the start of it, players face big transitions in life, football and school. At the end of it, they’re facing GCSEs and potentially moving into scholarships. Knowing what to expect during these phases and acknowledging those transitions will help your son to adapt to them. Every day won’t be a good day; there will be highs and lows. The hormonal changes and brain development of becoming a teenager all bring shifts. From a parent’s perspective, the key is to be ready for change. Try not to box your son in – allow him to explore and take opportunities. This environment provides so many experiences that build the blocks for later life.

If you would like to speak to someone from the Psychology team, we’d love to hear from you.

Analysis

Nutrition

Physical

Physiotherapy

Player Care

Psychology

Our Phases

Foundation

Early Youth Development

Late youth Development

Professional Development

Performance
Analysis

What do we do?

Performance Analysis is a newer discipline in comparison to sports science & medical for example and has developed exponentially with technology. Performance analysis is split into 2 key streams – video and data, of which is coupled to maximally improve individual player performance and team development.

We use video and data simultaneously to improve your son’s development from an individual point of view and, as they progress throughout the age groups, how that links to their role in the team. Video filming provides the foundation of analysis; we have world leading analysis camera software at Hale End and Sobha, including an automated camera system, meaning analysts can focus on analysing the information & creating insights, rather than putting vast human resource to cover games & full training programme. 

Where do we do it?

As players progress through the Academy, they will be exposed to a variety of analysis meetings in each of the 5 facets of analysis – pre-match/opposition analysis, live/matchday analysis, post-match analysis, training analysis and best practice/projects analysis. Each of these 5 areas are delivered in an appropriate player-friendly, visual format as an individual, unit or team and this is carefully decided based on information being delivered.

At Early Youth Development Phase

What changes in Analysis between Foundation and EYDP? Most importantly, sessions become more structured, with more dialogue between players and coaches. A key focus is supporting the transition from 9v9 to 11v11. For your son, he will start to understand Arsenal principles, positional responsibilities and where they identify within a team.

It’s a supportive transition. We often use best-practice examples from first-team clips to visualise higher-level tactical and technical execution. We don’t expect your son to be at that level now – the goal is visualisation and building on the reflective analysis culture work that’s created in the Foundation Phase. 

We strongly encourage your son to use Hudl.com, where video is stored, to create his own space focused on his Individual Development Areas (IDAs). This will help him to practice presenting his clips for when there are reviews. Why do we encourage this? Many players are visual learners, so promoting this kind of autonomy and ownership is key for optimal learning.

This helps them to process the information that they are delivering and develop articulating their points. It’s normal for boys to be apprehensive, and we ensure this is in a comfortable environment – either one-to-one or in front of peers. How they deliver their points can be a strong indicator in game knowledge/awareness and can provide areas of development.

There’s a stronger focus on individual performance, so players receive clips from games and live feedback from training. Analysts provide clips to coaches for delivery and sometimes deliver sessions where they go through pre- and post- match analysis together and open dialogue is encouraged. A higher focus is put on focus games which can happen 3-4x a year, e.g. for National Cup matches, an early taste of the increased tactical focus at U15/16.

There are weekly meetings set out for analysis, whether it’s part of a match cycle or reviewing individual clips with a coach and an analyst. Players start to understand the layering of the sessions and why they’re working on different themes in sessions and how IDAs link into this.

It’s important to remember that analysts aren’t always visible to parents/guardians or players as much as coaches as lots of work is done behind the scenes, therefore contact time in targeted analysis meetings with your son helps us to build trust & impart technical/tactical knowledge with a different voice.

What Can I Do?

You can really help by guiding your son to explore Hudl.com and review their footage, with a key focus on their IDAs.

At this phase, the key is building on previous reflective habits by looking at training/game footage, staying engaged & enjoying the process of reviewing your own video.

If you have any questions about analysis, please do reach out.

Nutrition

What do we do?

Nutrition plays an integral role in overall health, growth and development, training, recovery and match performance. It impacts body composition, strength, power and speed at the elite level.

As players progress through the Academy, we adopt a phased approach to their nutrition education. We begin with a strong food-first foundation, focusing on core principles such as building a balanced plate. From there, we introduce football-specific strategies, including pre- and post-training nutrition, hydration and matchday fuelling. In the later stages, we individualise nutrition plans based on the unique needs of each player, ensuring they are optimally fuelled for performance and recovery.

Where do we do it?

Across all phases, we deliver an education curriculum including theoretical workshops and practical sessions and offer weekly drop-in nutrition clinics for players, parents and host families.

At Early Youth Development Phase

At the EYDP Phase, our tagline is eat for growth. The main difference at this stage is that, alongside understanding what a balanced plate looks like, it’s key they understand how their food supports their training and matches to support their development and make them better players. We start focusing on exercise-specific nutrition: pre-exercise, post-exercise and hydration.

Workshops

The information and exposure to nutrition is similar to the Foundation phase. The key difference is that whereas most information goes straight to parents at Foundation, at EYDP it shifts to about 80% with parents, and 20% to players. We’re encouraging players to take more ownership.

We run two parent workshops a season, either in person or online, where we deliver educational material and Q&A’s. Players in EYDP also take part in theoretical and practical sessions across the season.

We develop an understanding of energy requirements, macronutrients, hydration, fuelling, recovery and travel nutrition.

Each age group has access to a dedicated nutritionist. You’ll also receive monthly newsletters with key nutrition updates and can book into weekly nutrition drop-in sessions for parents. 

Screening

So, how do we screen? Each player completes a Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire at the start of the season. This helps us guide their education and identify any players who may need extra support. We also gather information on school lunches, how players travel to training, who cooks or shops for their meals, and any allergies or intolerances to build a complete picture of their home environment helping us tailor our support more effectively.

At Hale End, injured players will get additional nutrition support through an injury nutrition clinic, with the player and parent.

Training and Match Nutrition

At EYDP, the Academy provides pre- and post-training snacks for every training session and a hot meal on their day-release day at around 4:30pm.

On matchdays, snacks are provided throughout the day. For long distance travel or tournaments breakfast and lunch are also provided, this will be communicated with parents in advance.

What Can I Do?

Please take in the information from the workshops and support your son in taking more ownership of his learning.

At home, please ensure your son has breakfast before school. It doesn’t need to be complicated, even cereal, toast, or a banana with yoghurt is good. Since players are growing, training and have high energy requirements, the more opportunities to get calories in, the better.

It’s great to have snacks and fluids available, such as when traveling from school to training. For evening meals after training, batch cooking on a Sunday is a good way to prepare quick, post-training meals.

If you have any questions about nutrition, please come and speak with us.

Physical

Performance

What do we do?

As a Physical Performance team, we develop players’ physical attributes: how quick, strong, powerful and fit they are. Our approach is player centred. Your son follows an individualised programme focused on long-term athletic development. We identify their strengths and areas to develop, leading to a clear action plan to make them physically healthy and capable of applying their attributes on the pitch.

We work closely with the coaches and the Multi-Disciplinary Team, informing them of the training load of the players or how much running they’ve done during a game. From that we can prescribe intensities for the week or months after to develop the players on an individual basis.


We also work with players from an injury prevention and rehabilitation aspect. If your son gets injured, they’ll spend time with the physio initially, then we’ll return them to the pitch in a safe and gradual manner – before they join back in the team training.

Where do we do it?

At a variety of locations. We do sessions with the players inside in the gym and sometimes do specific athletic development sessions in the Dome. Before the football session, for U12s and older, we’ll do the first 15-20 minutes of athletic development on pitch. We also might give your son some sessions to do at home, whether that’s injury prevention or conditioning as they return from injury.

We deliver the best programme to enhance your son’s performance and optimise him as a footballer. You play a vital role by asking questions, maintaining open communication and encouraging your son to maximise each opportunity to develop. 

At Early Youth Development Phase

Throughout EYDP, the structure of Physical Performance sessions is more focused on developing strength and established movements that relate to the football pitch.

Contact time ramps up from the Foundation Phase, from a Most Efficient Mover perspective. Schedules are more complex here because each age group has different timetables.

At this age, boys are changing physically at different paces. Because of that, we are in frequent contact with the MDT to ensure we’re doing the right thing for your son. 

All players will get a Physical Performance session at the start of their football session. These sessions focus on a specific physical attribute, e.g. speed or agility on pitch.

Gym sessions also occur around twice a week.

Testing

All players from 12 to 14 will go through our physical performance testing. 

As well as our own tests, the Premier League will come in four times a season where we test; speed, acceleration, change of direction and power with all the players.

For the under 14s there is a strength and fitness test towards the end of the season before they transfer into the Late Youth Development Programme.

What Can I Do?

The rapid physical changes your son goes through in these years bring different challenges and advantages. Every boy is unique and these changes affect them and their playing ability differently. It’s important to be aware of this to understand what you’re seeing in your son. 

This is when your son might start to see gym and fitness content online, or try weights with friends. We still encourage boys to get involved in other sports, but it’s important we know what they are doing away from the club so we can tailor their programmes to minimise risk and improve their overall physical development. Please do let us know. 

If there is anything you want to ask about, we’d love to talk.

Player Care

What do we do?

Player Care focuses on empowering your son to learn and develop using the Football Academy, helping him grow as a footballer and as a person with skills he will take into adult life, whatever career he chooses. We support players with their personal development goals and celebrate these milestones, in football and life.

Where do we do it?

The Player Care team has a presence at both Hale End and Sobha and there is always an opportunity for 1: 1 contact time for any player around player care or wellbeing in performance.  Conversations, either pitch-side, in the corridor or the canteen, are positively encouraged and they are welcome to come into the office and to have a chat, whether that’s about home, school, football or what’s happening on the weekend.

At Early Youth Development Phase

EYDP is where players begin to understand how our values and standards impact on-field performance. There is increased focus on how the transferable skills from the Lifelong Learner programme impact a young person on and off the pitch, with greater emphasis in applying them not only to athletic performance but also to education and the increased commitment to school.

Players are developing different personal interests, mixing with different people and broadening their horizons. Player Care help them build behaviours that enhance performance and contribute to their learning, making them better players and people in the environment.

Workshops

The Lifelong Learner Programme and curriculum span across the season. Certain topics have guided learning hours. For EYDP, there is greater focus on football transition and transferable schools, aligning with the journey they will experience through the phase at the academy, but also the transition of starting senior school. We cover topics such as Wellbeing and EDI in greater depth but also bring in other relevant topics such as Heathy Relationships and Social Media. We delve deeper into performance-based topics on dealing with pressure, challenges and overcoming sets backs. We aim to run a lifelong learner session once a month to every six weeks.

We collaborate heavily with other departments. As players carve their own journey, they will unlock different behaviours and mindsets, therefore there is more input from psychology and other MDT members. The Lifelong Learner programme gives a platform for educational support, whether something external or performance-related, like nutrition or Most Efficient Mover or injury prevention.

1:1 Sessions

In addition to continuous informal 1:1 time, there are more formal sessions for players dealing with things like change of school, pressures of homework, balancing schoolwork and Academy and friendship groups. This involves the well-being performance team of psychology and safeguarding, as well as an adult they trust e.g. their coach, who can give them some informal mentoring.

What about me?

Have a look at the content we provide for your son and do let us know of significant changes at home – it will really help us to help him progress successfully. Need to discuss anything? Come and see us, we run regular drop-ins.

We’re building behaviours to help your son progress, perform and handle change. That change is sharper at the next phase, so let’s allow him to drive his own learning and development.

You might need to encourage him, facilitate certain things, step in and support. But sometimes give him space to walk his own journey, even when it feels tough or doesn’t seem successful through your lens.

Psychology

What do we do?

As a Psychology department, we provide group-level psychological support during sessions, in workshops and in analysis meetings. We also work closely with players on an individual, often around performance support, but sometimes well-being and mental health, which we collaborate on with the Multi-Disciplinary Team.

We work with the coaches, who are very experienced and psychologically aware, so our role is to align their knowledge of psychology, football and the players with our expertise in child and adolescent brain development, understanding this generation and bringing in psychological strategies.

Champion Mentality is gradually integrated as your son moves up through the phases, through the respective coaches and staff into sessions on and off the grass.

Where do we do it?

There are between 1-4 sessions per week, depending on the phase. These are primarily on the grass, but also in the gym and the analysis classroom.

At Early Youth Development Phase

If Foundation is the exploring phase, EYDP is the learning phase. So what does that look like for your son?

For a player in the EYDP, there are 3-4 contact point sessions. These are primarily on the grass, as well as in the gym and the analysis classroom. Champion Mentality is integrated in these, working through the Psychology team, the coaches and MDT staff.

At U12, when your son first comes into EYDP, there’s a big transition to senior school at the same time. It’s a tough transition. We make sure to acknowledge that and give them the time and space to adapt to their new environment.

From a Champion Mentality perspective, we support their learning by giving them opportunities. “Voice and Choice” is something we try to hit home in EYDP. These boys are still young and very absorbent: they’re learning to learn, so we encourage that curiosity. 

That learning starts in the U12s, moving from 9v9 to 11v11 football. Once they’ve built that foundation of understanding, then at U13 they get the freedom to practice and show their knowledge. At U14, the focus is on preparing for scholarship at U15/16, where they’re judged more on consistency. The overall aim is to create autonomous learners: curious, asking questions, not just being told what to do.

You’ll always be informed of what’s happening at EYDP. Think of the support as a triangular model with your son in the middle, and around them: the staff member, the coach and you. We’ll often ask for your perspective and collaboration on our plans. We want your son to hear and feel consistent communication at Arsenal and at home.

Whether it’s a mental health support plan, life skills support plan, or physio support plan, if there’s collaboration and consistency between home and Arsenal life, it accelerates progression.

Screening

Screening is the same as at Foundation Phase: three times a season for a mental wellbeing check in, which is done jointly with Psychology and Player Care. This gives us a picture of how your son is developing. If any follow-up one-to-one support is needed, we’ll link that back through you.

What Can I Do?

This is a transitional phase. At the start of it, players face big transitions in life, football and school. At the end of it, they’re facing GCSEs and potentially moving into scholarships. Knowing what to expect during these phases and acknowledging those transitions will help your son to adapt to them. Every day won’t be a good day; there will be highs and lows. The hormonal changes and brain development of becoming a teenager all bring shifts. From a parent’s perspective, the key is to be ready for change. Try not to box your son in – allow him to explore and take opportunities. This environment provides so many experiences that build the blocks for later life.

If you would like to speak to someone from the Psychology team, we’d love to hear from you.

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