Kent stars offer youngsters the chance to join Soccer Elite

Thursday 24th June 2010

KENT based goalkeeper, Scott Chalmers-Stevens says he is searching for talented teenage keepers who feel they can become professional footballers, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Maidstone based 24-year-old stopper works for the goalkeeper academy for Maidstone based Soccer Elite, which is run by some familiar names in this neck of the woods, including Lee Spiller, Tony Browne, Dean Ruddy, Ryan Briggs, Adam Birchall and Chalmers-Stevens.

Scott is a former Kent Schools player, and had a spell at Watford prior to joining Rushden & Diamonds. He had a short spell at Mansfield Town, before joining Ashford Town (Middlesex).

He joined Margate in August 2006 and remained at Hartsdown Park until March 2009, when he spent the remainder of the season at Dover Athletic.

He played for Ashford Town last season and told www.kentishfootball.co.uk about Soccer Elite and their first ever Keeper Wars Event on Monday 23rd August, which takes place at Maplesden Noakes School in Maidstone.

The competition has been specifically designed for goalkeepers, both boys and girls, aged between 9-12.

Goalkeepers will be teaming up in pairs and facing off against some of the best keepers in the South East of England.

Goalkeeper 2v2's combines stop shopping, scoring loads of goals and testing reactions all into one fun packed tournament.

Prizes will be handed out on the day. The winners will receive trophies and a pair of Sells gloves each with the runners up receiving trophies for their efforts. Also up for grabs are Goalkeeper Of The Day and Save Of The Day Trophies.

Keeper Wars first came to light by current Dartford goalkeeper coach, John Macrae, four years ago, but this events is solely for kids.

“Soccer Elite is run by Lee Spiller and Tony Browne and they’re both ex pros and obviously played semi-pro for Dover for quite a long time,” said Chalmers-Stevens.

“I look after the Goalkeeper Academy and our Academy is going really well at the moment. We’ve got 350 kids within the Academy from under 7s to under 16s and basically the idea of our Academy is we train kids up once a week and we play friendlies against Arsenal, Chelsea, etc and we put the kids in a shop window. We’ve got 60 kids signed to pro clubs so it’s moving in the right direction.”

“Dean Ruddy (who played for Chatham Town last season) and I run the Goalkeeper Academy with 100 keeper’s at present and we’re running this event on August 23.

“On the day Soccer Elite staff will be down there and scouts will be coming down from Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Fulham and having a look and we pick up goalkeepers at the same time that will go into our own goalkeeping Academy.

“We’ve got games against Colchester and Motherwell in the next month so we will be looking for new goalkeepers as well for our Academy.”

Chalmers-Stevens added: “Soccer Elite has been running for about three years and we work in schools and we deliver breakfast and lunchtime clubs, after school clubs, mini-kickers, which is for two year-olds and we do a lot of in school PTA work.

“Our main focus is our development centres and our advance centres.

“It’s going really well. We’ve got about 50 kids signed, goalkeepers and outfield players and currently loads on trial so we will be looking for more players as well.”

Whilst kids dream about being the next Wayne Rooney or David James, Chalmers-Stevens warns them that you have to work extremely hard to make the grade.

“It took me a good year to get my head around non-league football because I was one of the lucky ones,” reflected the keeper.

“I left school with the idea I was going to be a professional footballer. I was with Watford for two years and Rushden & Diamonds.

“I was lucky enough to train with Kevin Hitchcock (the old Chelsea keeper) at Watford and he went on from Watford to be the Manchester City goalkeeper coach so it was a blessing to work with him. At Rushden & Diamonds I worked with Alan Hodgson, the old Manchester United goalkeeper coach. He’s getting on a little bit now and it was a blessing to work with him too.

“Being around full-time football at such a young age, you don’t realise how lucky you are and the opportunity you’ve got.

“But at 19, I was told I wasn’t going to be given a professional contract and I sent out a general enquiry to Kent based clubs as I live in Maidstone and lucky enough I played for Margate in a friendly against Millwall and played really well and I signed for that season.

“I was fresh out of the league and I was training part-time at Millwall during the week and that season I was flying because I was in and around the full-time league so when you train with the part-time players you’re very much sharper.

“As you get older you have to find a career. Naturally I stepped into coaching, I set up my own coaching business and that went well. I signed another two years at Margate, but I knew I had to get something sorted. I had to work in a few schools down there and in Maidstone and that was enough to get by.

Soccer Elite’s coaches will offer youngsters all the advice they need to make a career out of the game.

“A lot of our boys are 15-16 and when they leave school they may not get signed so we encourage them to do PASE schemes and do coaching,” said Chalmers-Stevens.

“We’ve got a lot of young coaches, who come on work experience with us and get an idea on what we do during the week so when they leave school they’ve got something to fall on.

“Dean Ruddy and I work in the schools and it’s really good, really enjoyable and the pleasurable thing about it is seeing the kids progress.

“Ten years ago, when I was 14, I was playing for my Kent side and my District side and training with Charlton.

“Our job now is picking up local talent and putting them in the shop window and giving them opportunities.”

But Chalmers-Stevens warned: “You have to remember for every one kid that gets signed, it’s 100,000 that don’t. When I left school I got released by Charlton and I signed for Gravesend & Northfleet on their PASE scheme, because I lived in Maidstone.

“I didn’t get anything full-time but within two months I’d been picked up by Watford and I was lucky enough to sign for them. A lot of these clubs, it’s frightening, they look at seven-year-olds and see if they can develop them at a young age.

“You have to be so lucky. I tell them you have to work hard, have a good attitude and have good people to look after you. My Dad, bless him, used to drive me up and down the country because Soccer Elite was never there when I was fourteen so I had to go up to London for trials.

“We play regular games against Tottenham and the rest of it so thy know we’ve got a good batch of player so they don’t have to go searching for players. The pro sides love it!

“Gillingham have about 20 of our boys at least so they’re benefiting from it.

“There’s going to be a lot of kids that don’t make the grade and obviously you’ve got to be very, very lucky to get into these pro sides - and if you’re lucky enough you do have to work hard when you’re there.

“I knew players who didn’t appreciate and realise the opportunity they’ve been given and it’s only when you’re released what you had! They’ve got to realise how lucky they are.

“I enjoy my job but I know a lot of players that are builders and scaffolders and they work hard all day and then they travel all the way down to somewhere like Dover for training and get up at silly o’clock in the morning and some people don’t realise how hard it is so once you’re there (in the professional game) you have to take it with both hands really.”

Visit www.soccerelitefa.com for further details