We are delighted to announce the new Mickleover Sports third kit.

The kit will be available for sale as usual at our commerce store, hosted by XBlades. You can visit our store here: http://www.xbladessports.com/your-club/mickleover-sports

Pricing is to be confirmed but will be very similar to the existing kits (home and away) available at the store.

Chairman Don Amott had the following to say:

“I am really pleased with our new third kit which I believe once again highlights the professional image that we are building at Mickleover Sports. We have decided to make this kit available for general sale through our valuable partnership with XBlades”.

Please check back for updates on the release date.

Brodie Litchfield, the Sports forward signed by John McGrath in the closed season has signed for Stocksbridge Park Steels on a permanent deal.

The fee (undisclosed) is a record fee received by the club and with other options in the position (Morrison, Thomas, Baskerville, etc) it is clear that this made good business sense for the club.

John McGrath and the club committee would like to wish Brodie the best of luck in his future. Don Amott, club chairman, had the following to say:

“He’s a very promising young player and we will watch his progress with great interest. We wish him well and would like to thank him for his service to Mickleover Sports”.

By *Lee Pridmore

I will start my guest column with a big thank-you to key members of the club including Keith Loring, Don Amott, Paul Coxon, Cassy Carruthers, John McGrath and Pablo Mills.  All have played an important role in the development of our (University of Derby) partnership with the club.

Personally, I started discussing ideas with Keith during the summer to explore how we could work together to mutual advantage.  I am pleased to say that as I write on this November evening tremendous progress has been made since those sunnier summer climes.

Without question Keith, Don and Cassy have enhanced the student experience by lending their expertise to assessing final year student presentations studying on our BA (Hons) Sport Management programme.  Students were tasked with developing the clubs brand and separately, how they would make the club more inclusive.  The ideas have been fed back to the club with the best ones likely to be implemented.  Examples include the need for greater visibility of the ‘club brand’ at the ground, red and black seating and for the club webpage to move up the Google search results rankings.  On inclusion, students talked about promoting the Kick It Out campaign more around the club, a wheelchair accessible bar and the use of rainbow laces in players boots to promote the campaign against homophobia in football.  In addition to this, students will be writing guest columns for the matchday programme in the coming weeks to showcase their excellent work.

We are also working with the club in developing internship opportunities for students particularly around the media and marketing areas.  For example, two students, Jack Lawrence and Andrew Duncan went on the team coach to Trafford and did a great job in keeping the community up-to-date on the tremendous win via the club twitter account.

Not only have the club officials supported learning activities they have also provided ‘prizes’ to incentivise our students in their efforts.  For example, tickets to a red carpet Great Gatsby screening and invitations to the club meal in December.  Personally, I see these events as important in students social and cultural development and in particular, learning how to dress and act in novel environments.

On the performance side, John and Pablo have been coaching the University teams, whilst the club trains on our fantastic 3G pitch on a Thursday evening.  John also delivered a sport coaching Masterclass to our students studying on the BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Science, BSc (Hons) Performance Analysis and Coaching Science, BSc (Hons) Physical Activity, Nutrition and Health and Strength, Conditioning with Rehabilitation programmes.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the excellent team we have here at the University that provide us with support and a degree of freedom to explore working with external partners such as the club.  My thanks go to Ceri Heldreich (technical support), Kulsoom Rehman (senior lecturer in education and member of the race equality group) and Dr Andy Hooton (head of sport, outdoor and exercise science).

I know there are many more people working behind the scenes at both the club and the University putting in tremendous efforts in supporting developments (to many to mention here) so my sincere apologies to those I have missed out.  We look forward to developing the relationship with the club in the coming weeks and months ahead.  Come on Sports and good luck with the match today!

*Lee Pridmore (below) is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Management and Development at the University of Derby in the College of Life and Natural Science.

Saturday November 26th will see a huge game for Sports as we take on Brackley Town of the National League North in the FA Trophy 3rd Round Qualifying Round..

Brackley Town are currently on a fantastic run in the FA Cup having beaten League 1 team Gillingham in an exciting replay at their home ground, St James Park so will be confident of success. Sports will also be confident, having put in some decent performances of late and bolstered by the new signing of Jake Scott.

Admission to the game will be ‘pay on the gate’.

#SportsRising

Jake Scott – New MSFC Signing

The hugely successful Sports Academy is now open for applications for next season’s intake, with an open football session being held in the forthcoming half term holidays for any interested young footballers.

We along with our partners the NPL Football Academy are looking for talented, committed and hardworking current Year 11 & Year 12’s who wish to join a semi-professional academy in the Evo-Stik League when you leave school in 2017 where you will study for a BTEC in Sport qualification (Level 2 or 3), train every day with an UEFA qualified coach and play in the NPL Football Academy League and FA Youth Cup.

The Mickleover Sports ‘Education and Football Academy’ is an alternative to college and is ideal for any 16/17 year old who wants to gain a great education and develop as a footballer at the same time. Now in it’s third year, we have already seen success on and off the field with four students making their first team debuts at just 17/18 years of age and a further three being named on the first team bench.

There is an ‘OPEN FOOTBALL SESSION’ during the half term holidays on Friday 28th October, 12pm – 1pm at the Racecourse, St Marks Road, Derby, DE21 6AL that anyone is welcome to attend by registering at nplfa.co.uk/register

At the Mickleover Sports Academy you will study, train and play full time under the coaching partnership of first team manager John McGrath and first team player Andy Dales.

STUDY:
– Alternative to college
– BTEC in Sport Level 3 (equivalent to 2/3 A Levels)
– One/Two year programme
– Study in the classroom with your team mates
– Opportunities to gain experience at the football club

TRAIN:
– Experienced & UEFA qualified coaches
– Train three/four times a week
– Improve technical ability and fitness on a daily basis
– Opportunities to train with the reserves and first team

PLAY:
– In the NPL Football Academy League
– Opportunities to play in the FA Youth Cup
– Games played at Evo-Stik League stadiums
– Opportunities to progress to the first team
– Opportunities to play for the inter-league team against professional clubs

EXTRAS:
– Trips to St George’s Park
– All matches are filmed, analysed and shown in a weekly highlights package online with our video partners FilmMyMatch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxY7fOrZWqc)
– Opportunities to study, play and coach in the USA with our pathway partners Soccer Chance USA

Activate your ambition now and apply at http://nplfa.co.uk/register