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Youth football expert details how media 'cry for help' inspired Kinetic Academy
We’re delighted to welcome the founder of Kinetic Academy Harry Hudson as our exclusive columnist. Each week the youth football expert will be giving his views on the biggest talking points on wonderkids across the UK…
The Kinetic Academy is a place for young, aspiring footballers to learn their trade while also being gradually introduced to adult life.
Based in South London, the charitable organisation is designed to help troubled children from the ages of 14 all the way to 19 in staying away from the troubled areas of the city through a passion for football.
Harry Hudson founded the Kinetic Academy straight out of university having previously coached at professional football clubs back in 2011 and has seen the likes of Joe Aribo (Rangers) and Josh Maja (Bordeaux) go on to become seasoned pros themselves.
A documentary about the charity has been posted to their YouTube channel and Hudson gave us an insight into how this idea came to fruition.
“I started coaching from a very young age,” Hudson told The Football Wonderkids. “I did my badges but carried on working and playing non-league football.
“I’d only ever been in professional environments in coaching but this changed all of that. We had boys that got stabbed while we were there or had been in prison which changed my trajectory quite a lot.
“I had an idea of a way to optimise this kind of community project so I came out of university and back to Croydon in 2011 and the media was all ‘these are bad kids and let’s lock them up and throw away the key’ but I knew that just wasn’t accurate.
“It was a cry for help so I went down the road of starting this charity and that was 11 years ago.”
Since its creation, the Kinetic Academy has seen 57 players go on to sign terms with a professional club and that number appears set to keep on rising with 400 spaces available in the organisation for the upcoming 2022-23 campaign.
In other Football Wonderkid news, a 16-year-old Italian is catching the eye and Liverpool look set to battle Manchester United for the chance to sign him.