Wanderers’ newest Academy intake was given a potential glimpse of the future as they had the chance to train with the Whites’ first-team squad.
The youngsters, who will start out as the Academy’s under-nine age group next season, were invited to Lostock to join in part of a session with head coach Steven Schumacher, his staff and some of the senior players.
The morning’s activities illustrated a new alignment running from first-team level through the Wanderers’ Academy to the youngest age group to help build and foster a genuine pathway for the club’s young players.
Schumacher, who started his playing and coaching career in the academy set-up at Everton, is fully behind the idea he had previously experienced at Goodison Park.
“It was one of the things we did at Everton where the Academy players came into train with the first team and it was one of the best days of the year,” said Schumacher.
“The young players have that experience to see what it's like to train on a really nice pitch and to train with the first-team players and staff and I'm sure the new recruits we're bringing in here at Under-9s will remember this day for a long time.
“The Academy is such an important part of the process of this club. We want to try and build that pathway and create a culture and an identity to try and get the young players all the way through the system and into our first team.
“We've probably not had enough academy players over recent years making it to the first team and that's something we’ll try and improve and work towards because there's nothing better than seeing a homegrown young player break into a first team and make a name for themselves.”
Around a dozen youngsters who have already been training with the Whites as part of a pre-Academy cohort took part in the session at Lostock where they went through their own drills with coaches David Campbell and Brett Baxter before coming under the watchful eye of Schumacher and staff members Mark Hughes and Richie Kyle.
Campbell - lead phase coach pre-academy and foundation phase - said: “It means everything to them to watch the players and to come to a great facility like this. They’ve been so excited for it and they’ve been getting involved and enjoying it. There are quite a few Bolton fans in there and they won’t forget this for the rest of their lives.”
Some of the young players hoping to follow in the footsteps of their favourites have been drawn from local grassroots clubs, with others coming from further afield in the North-West.
“Some of these boys have been with us for two years now and it’s been a long journey for them,” said Baxter, senior recruitment officer for the club’s Under-7s to Under-12s. “Doing this kind of thing has never happened before and is something we wanted to implement into the group. This is the benefit of the hard work they have been putting in and fair player to the gaffer and staff. It’s been superb.”
Watch all the action from the unique training session on Wanderers TV