Every year, hundreds of talented young footballers enter Premier League and EFL academies, hoping to become professional players. However, according to the FA, just one in two hundred players aged under nine signed by professional teams will go on to play for the first team. That means an awful lot of disappointed youngsters are released from academies every year, their dreams of a pro career shattered.
This is certainly the case in south London, a hotbed of emerging football talent in Premier League academies at the likes of Crystal Palace. That was a key part of the motivation for Roberto dos Santos Saraiva and several friends from the Croydon area to set up Elite JR. They had all gone through the academy system as kids, and while many of them played at the highest levels of the non-league game, like the vast majority of their fellow academy players, they did not receive offers of professional contracts.
Roberto says: “Lots of clubs are doing good things, but a lot of them are also selling a dream. Every parent seems to want their son to become a pro.”
So what started as Roberto and a group of mates having a weekly kickabout in the months after Covid turned into a club focused on teaching kids life skills as well as football, educating them both on and off the pitch. They started coaching an under-9s team on a Saturday morning, and Elite JR was born.
Roberto says that: “While the team didn’t do that well on the pitch in the first year, off the pitch a lot of people respected the way we focused not just on football development but on development as a whole.”
The club added another team in the second year, performing well against academies and becoming one of the top teams in their age group around London. Both teams then went to an international tournament in Amsterdam with one finishing in second place.
That’s when things really took off. Roberto says that: “We announced some trials and about 245 kids showed up across a range of age groups. We were scratching our heads about what to do – there were only three of us - so with this influx of players we needed to bring in other people. Luckily we had some friends who were coaches, and they were very much on board.”
With eight coaches in place, Elite JR expanded to seven teams. An invitation to an academy-only tournament in Portugal for under-11s followed, and the boys from Croydon brought home the Porto International Cup, seeing off top teams from around the globe.
But those successes haven’t changed the club’s focus on developing the whole child and offering opportunities to all. Roberto emphasises that: “We don’t want to just focus on one or two individuals. We want to develop the kids regardless of their ability on the pitch. The moment that we drop our standards, we will stop. We have to make sure that a child grows academically and socially alongside the football. We have quarterly and annual reviews with parents where we set out expectations. The children have to be doing well in school to be allowed to play.”
With around 90 players in the programme, ranging from under-9s to under-16s, under the guidance of eight coaches who have all have played pro or semi-pro football, Elite JR has come a long way in three short years. Going back to their initial focus, Roberto and his fellow coaches continue to ask:
“What happens to the 99% or more of kids in academies that don’t make it as professionals? That’s something we encountered as kids. We know that we might not find any future pros, but if we provide support for young people it’s a tool to support them in the community. If we give them tools and life skills then we have done our job. Football is just the ‘hook’ for it.
We’ve lived what they are going through now. We speak to them as adults, and we show them the reality. We want them to get the most out of this.”
Photography by @qc_visuals_
Turning to their kit, Roberto says that:
“We always say that we want all aspect of the club to be exceptional. Presentation is key, the kit needs to look good. We looked at every single kit provider and decided this is the best for us. That was the main reason why we are with Kappa. Kids want to be proud of the kit they are wearing.”
It’s all part of Elite JR’s intention to live up to the club’s name. Roberto sums it up neatly: “If we’re not offering an elite service, with everything that comes with it, then we won’t do it.”
