New Crewe Alex Grassroots Easter tournaments boost club 'in many different ways'
By Ryan Parker
18th Apr 2023 | Local News
New Crewe Alexandra Grassroots Easter tournaments have boosted the club 'in many different ways' - with hundreds of young players going away with a 'positive experience.'
Crewe Alexandra FC ran half-team regional Easter tournaments - where selected teams were invited to compete at Alexandra Park, Reaseheath.
The tournaments took place from Monday 3 April until Thursday 11 April - with 48 grassroots teams from Cheshire, Staffordshire and Manchester taking part.
"We wanted to give young players an excellent experience so they go away with a good impression of Crewe and it's academy, said head of academy recruitment, Ben Dickson.
The Easter tournaments focused on the under-9's and the under-10's age groups - with the entire event sponsored by internet service provider, Zzoomm.
Ben Dickson joined Crewe Alexandra in October 2022 - previously working at Manchester United for five years.
The head of academy recruitment told Nub News: "Considering the lack of resources we have - the amount of scouting coverage we have gained across the past six months is really good.
"Since I've come in there has been a positive impact on all the age groups with the majority of our scouting coverage in the under 14s, under 15s and under 16s age groups.
"We've haven't had much coverage on the younger age groups yet due to prioritising the age groups closest to the first team so we decided to pick under 9's and under 10's for our Easter tournament.
"We thought we should bring the teams to us with our facilities at Reaseheath - allowing them to experience what its like inside this football club."
Crewe recently launched the Emerging Talent Programme - aiming to take the pressure off grassroots players trying to secure a place within the club's academy.
The programme gives a player the opportunity to develop at Crewe for a minimum of six weeks before potentially being put on trial if they are good enough at that time.
If not, some players may stay with the club for a number of months to try and get them ready for trial.
Crewe's Easter tournaments created the opportunity for the club to take a look at more than 500 players - aiming to give them all a positive impression of the club.
Ben said: "In terms of targets, we thought, can we highlight any players from these tournaments to come into our Emerging Talent Programme.
"Ultimately, can we also create more Crewe Alex fans on the back of this.
"A lot of the teams who came may have never seen a Crewe Alex game before - so a big opportunity was there.
"Instead of running a generic tournament with teams from all over the place, we tried to be specific with the areas of Cheshire, Staffordshire and Manchester.
"Currently, we don't engage as often as I would like with teams from Staffordshire and Manchester due to limited scouts in those areas so we wanted to increase our scouting coverage and give the players an experience of attending the Crewe Alex Academy"
"48 teams attended, giving over 500 players an experience of our academy they would probably never have had - unless they got scouted."
Crewe Alexandra received lots of positive feedback from players, teams and parents on its new Easter tournaments.
The club was delighted many participants went away from the tournaments having had an excellent experience.
Ben added: "Parents and players have given us positive feedback - saying they've enjoyed being invited in to the football club in a team setting without the pressures of being on trial."
"Everyone was happy with the organisation of the event. All teams were playing throughout - there was no waiting around.
"These tournaments are about the present and future. A player may not be ready for the academy now but he may be further down the line
"If players have a positive experience now, they may choose Crewe over our competitors when they are ready."
Ben hopes Crewe can run an even bigger set of Easter tournaments in 2024 - with the recruitment team planning on implementing more grassroots events during the summer.
The former Manchester United staff member is confident the event can be sponsored again for this to happen.
Ben added: "We are thankful to Zzoomm for sponsoring the tournament. They allowed us to make this tournament free of charge to all teams and players.
"Going forward, if we can raise money so that we don't have to charge any participants, then we will 100 per cent do this tournament again next year.
"The more coverage we have in terms of teams, the better pool of players we have to scout from and ultimately sign for the Crewe Academy.
"Additionally, out of them 500 kids that came if we even get just 10% of them that come to watch the first-team that would be progress.
"This tournament has helped the club in many different ways."
Crewe Alexandra academy manager, Aidan Callan, was proud of the Grassroots Easter tournaments the club were able to organise.
Aidan told Nub News: "This was the first time we have hosted the Easter tournaments and huge credit must go to head of recruitment, Ben Dickson, local recruitment coordinator, Shaun McKiernan, and their team of scouts.
"I know from experience how much preparation and planning goes into organising tournaments and the recruitment staff did a great job.
"The standard of the teams involved was of a really high standard and these events will only build and enhance relationships with local clubs in and around the local area."
Crewe Alex face a trip to EFL League Two table-toppers, Leyton Orient, on Saturday 22 April.
READ MORE: Firefighters rush to Crewe house blaze caused by 'overheated reptile tank.'
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