Beacon Hill at Ipswich Town as part of a new FA Initiative

Saturday saw 70 Beacon Hill Rovers coaches and players descend on Ipswich Town to take part in a pilot version of a new FA initiative designed to strengthen links between professional and grassroots clubs.

Three Beacon Hill teams were coached by Ipswich Town staff whilst the Beacon Hill coaches observed and undertook tasks as part of their development in "Player Focus Coaching". Ipswich Town's Coach Development Manager, Peter Trevivian, described the morning as "A great opportunity for the Ipswich staff to share their expertise with others, a brilliant way to learn and enhance their own skills".

Beacon Hill Vice-Chair Matt Low said "One of the u15s told me they really enjoyed the session and thought it was a lot like what happens back at the Hill. A real compliment to the high standard of coaching at Beacon Hill. This gives me confidence that our approach of making the coaching fun and enjoyable for the players is the right one".

Merfyn Roberts, one of the FA's lead tutors on the Advanced Youth Award described the day as "A perfect way for both sets of coaches to improve their practice: working in a relaxed, productive and collaborative way. I'm sure other Clubs across the country will benefit from this type of project".

In the afternoon the Beacon Hill players and coaches were guests at Portman Road for the match with Plymouth Argyle which the Tractor Boys won 1-0; they might have secured some new supporters. A fantastic day.