The AFC Sudbury Youth Development Phase (YDP) like all sections of our academy has grown in size again since last season. We now have five teams in the section ranging from U12-U16.

Our Two new teams the U12 & U13 have settled into the programme really well and enjoyed some showcase games pre season on the 3G as part of Super Saturday and are now fully into their league fixtures. The U12s playing a year up in the ISYFL U13 Division 1 and currently sit top with a 100% record! Our U13s are playing in the EJA U13 Green Division and currently sit joint top with 10 points from 5 games! A big well done to Coaches & Boys from both our younger new teams.

The returning U14s under the stewardship of Carlos Edwards and Ben Chenery are also progressing really well, the highlight so far being an 8 goal haul against Newmarket Town at the beginning of October.

The U15s playing in the Red Division this season are currently sitting top of the league with a 100% playing record of wins. To add the impressive league form the team has had two wins in the cup competitions. Geoff Goodwin and Jon Chinnery really have the lads firing on all cylinders!

For the first time we are playing our U16s in the Thurlow Nunn U18 League as well as the Eastern Junior Alliance. The opportunity for this team to play against older opposition is one the academy felt was too good an opportunity to miss. The boys have really competed in every game and physically they are getting stronger. Already chalking up their first win of the season.we will be watching closely the progression in the second half of the season for this group. A number of these players have already been offered a place at the full time Academy for 2021.

Finally although not strictly YDP news we couldn’t finish the article without mentioning Cameron Strachan and Dan Smith who have progressed through the YDP phase from U13 and our now full time scholars at our academy. They have both been playing Centre Midfield together since U13 and have more recently been playing in the middle of the park for our Thurlow Nunn Men’s Senior Reserves which is a testament to these boys who are probably AFC Sudbury’s longest serving players!