Strong
Young
Gunners
Our most important responsibility at this Academy is to produce Strong Young Gunners.
We’re talking about young men who are able to thrive in the face of whatever challenges come their way: in football and in life.
Young men who will make this club, their family and themselves proud.
The films in this section explain how we achieve this within the most challenging and caring Football Academy environment in the world.
Football comes first but the ‘all’ is there to remind us that Everything Matters: character, schoolwork, being a good friend and team-mate, being a leader of self. The list goes on.
you can’t say ‘Football’ without saying ‘all’.
Pillars
Pillars
The Pillars are where all everyone’s efforts, staff and players, come together to form the building blocks to create a Strong Young Gunner. Each pillar provides a key measure in how each player is progressing as a footballer.
Any player that achieves their agreed performance levels, by age group, within every pillar earns the right to be called a Strong Young Gunner.
The following film explains more about the background to the pillars and what they mean for everyone in this Academy.
We are nothing without knowledge – as players and people.
Education is the building block for everything we do.
That means as well as formal education we encourage players to remain curious, to keep a thirst for learning and to always be finding ways to develop themselves.
To be a student of the game means to be a student of life.
Football places a very particular set of demands on the body.
Yes, we need to be quick: yes, we need to be strong and yes, we need to have great endurance. But all of this must be in the context of the demands of the game.
Football Fitness is all about creating athletes who are fine tuned to every demand of the modern game: fitness that not only enables a player to perform to his potential but fitness that opens up that players’ potential to be even better.
We want the characters that this Academy produces to be the envy of other teams across the world.
Everyone is different but everyone has the ability to be a leader of self – to be the very best version of themselves.
Players that commit everything they have to improve.
People that seek out challenges and challenge those around them.
Players who are people that understand what it takes to win, by applying themselves like a champion, before they have ever won a thing.
We want this Academy to produce football leaders on the pitch, in the dressing room and in life.
This is where learning, movement and mindset all come together and where they are applied in the football development of the player: in training and in games.
All the other pillars support a players’ ability to be an Effective Team Player.
You cannot be an Effective Team Player unless you have strong ability in all the other pillars.
Pillars
Pillars
The Pillars are where all everyone’s efforts, staff and players, come together to form the building blocks to create a Strong Young Gunner. Each pillar provides a key measure in how each player is progressing as a footballer.
Any player that achieves their agreed performance levels, by age group, within every pillar earns the right to be called a Strong Young Gunner.
The following film explains more about the background to the pillars and what they mean for everyone in this Academy.
Your
Journey
From the first day you step inside the Arsenal Academy, to the time you move on: whether that is to the first team, another club or to pursue a career outside of football, we are here to care for and challenge you to become the very best person you can be: on and off the grass.
The challenge all players share here is, with our support, to make themselves a Strong Young Gunner – a young man able to manage any challenge that life throws at you: in football and in life.
Every Player matters to us. Although you will experience a similar journey to many of the players that join in your age group, we understand that everyone is unique and has different needs. That’s why we do everything we can to tailor your development to you.
The first days in any new environment can be challenging. We get that. You don’t need to worry. We’ll make sure you get the chance meet up with your new team-mates in a relaxed environment, you’ll have our staff looking out for you every step of the way and we’ll make sure your parents are involved and understand everything about life for you in the Academy.
Plus, you can look forward to getting your very first Arsenal kit!
Your first few months will all be about settling in – you getting to know us and us getting to know you. You’ll start to build friendships, some of which will last for life, and you’ll get to know the Academy facilities like the back of your hand,
As well as working hard on developing your football skills you’ll get a deeper understanding of our Academy Pillars – the foundations for all your development as a player and as a person.
You’ll get regular review sessions with your Coach and the Player Care Managers and we’ll do everything we can to ensure that your first few months are not only enjoyable but also rewarding.
Before you know it, you’ll be settled into Academy life and learning to thrive in the unique environment that Arsenal offer to all young players as you strive to become a Strong Young Gunner.
Over time we will be asking other Strong Young Gunners to share their experiences and stories of life in the Academy and how their time here equipped them for the next stage of their life. The first Strong Young Gunner to be featured will be Bukayo Saka.
Pillars
Pillars
The Pillars are where all everyone’s efforts, staff and players, come together to form the building blocks to create a Strong Young Gunner. Each pillar provides a key measure in how each player is progressing as a footballer.
Any player that achieves their agreed performance levels, by age group, within every pillar earns the right to be called a Strong Young Gunner.
The following film explains more about the background to the pillars and what they mean for everyone in this Academy.
This is where learning, movement and mindset all come together and where they are applied in the football development of the player: in training and in games.
All the other pillars support a players’ ability to be an Effective Team Player.
You cannot be an Effective Team Player unless you have strong ability in all the other pillars.
Football places a very particular set of demands on the body.
Yes, we need to be quick: yes, we need to be strong and yes, we need to have great endurance. But all of this must be in the context of the demands of the game.
Football Fitness is all about creating athletes who are fine tuned to every demand of the modern game: fitness that not only enables a player to perform to his potential but fitness that opens up that players’ potential to be even better.
We want the characters that this Academy produces to be the envy of other teams across the world.
Everyone is different but everyone has the ability to be a leader of self – to be the very best version of themselves.
Players that commit everything they have to improve.
People that seek out challenges and challenge those around them.
Players who are people that understand what it takes to win, by applying themselves like a champion, before they have ever won a thing.
We want this Academy to produce football leaders on the pitch, in the dressing room and in life.
We are nothing without knowledge – as players and people.
Education is the building block for everything we do.
That means as well as formal education we encourage players to remain curious, to keep a thirst for learning and to always be finding ways to develop themselves.
To be a student of the game means to be a student of life.
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