Teams & Training
Sale United is a Community Grassroots Football club based at Crossford Bridge in Sale, Cheshire. Our membership comprises of both boys and girls in the ages 5 up to open age. We also have a Powerchair section for players with a disability who are dependent on a powered wheelchair for mobility. Sale United see players’ development as long term. The emphasis for our youngest players is on giving them confidence with a ball at their feet. We want them to express themselves, and even to make mistakes. We encourage them to make their own decisions, rather than be told what to do by the coach.
Our youngest players will learn from a 5v5 format, giving them lots of opportunities with a ball. As they progress through the club this will increase to 7v7, 9v9 and 11v11. The development pathway at Sale revolves around the principles of enjoyment and fun, giving our players the maximum intrinsic reward possible for playing the game.
All of our coaches incorporate challenges for individuals and squads as well as pass on their knowledge of the game to allow their players to learn, practice and improve their footballing abilities.
Our player pathway (as seen in the link below) is simple, to give those who may not have experienced a football development model before, some clarity on the steps that we go through with our players.
We allow all of our u6s, u7s and u8s to integrate at training where teams aren’t ring fenced.
This has many advantages both for player learning but also for social factors that many overlook when playing football for the first time. This social element is vital for any movement from team to team that will occur once team play has started in the leagues.
Towards the end of u8s, our lead coaches discuss with assistants “like” groups of 10 similar ability players to be put with a coach for the following season. Here at u9, the age groups split into teams for league play for the first time.
As teams progress through each age group, our model allows for each whole age group be able to train together. This is encouraged for club cohesion and again as a tool for player development where all our players can get coaching from all that age groups coaches and can interact with all of our club players.
This player and club centred approach brings the best out of each player and each team. Being non-results driven, it is no surprise that our development and enjoyment principles bring about success. The 18/19 season was the most successful the club has ever been and the credit goes to all of our coaches and our volunteers for buying into our philosophy which in turn, has brought about the results achieved!
Coaching & Training
All players are given the opportunity to train and/or play matches twice a week. In the winter months the evening training is carried out at either indoor or outdoor floodlit venues. When the winter season is over we still continue to train and/or take part in summer small sided game festivals or tournaments. At the end of each year of training we hold a presentation event for each squad where players are presented with an award in recognition of the contribution they have made to the club over the past year. There are also extra individual awards made for any outstanding achievements.
Each calendar year we recognise one of our captains, as Club ‘Captain of the Year’
Club Structure
Sale United is proud to have over 500 players of both boys and girls in the ages 5 up to open age spread across a number teams as shown below.
