FROM six to over 200 young aspiring footballers, the York community is enjoying a revolution in coaching featuring a York City star.

Michael Duckworth, who recently signed a new contract with the Minstermen, is also enjoying a coaching role within the Evolution Sports Academy.

After being founded during the covid-19 pandemic by Charlie Marshall and Tom Neal, the coaching began with one-on-one sessions with semi-professional footballers, but has since seen Premier League stars, over 200 kids and a new girls academy to help the next generation of young York-based footballers improve their game.

The coaching team consists of Marshall and Neal as directors, Duckworth as Head of Football, Harry Flatters as Head of Goalkeeping and Nick Hutton as Lead Coach, and wiith new coaches Kain Rogerson, Ellie Hairsine, Casey Stewart and Luca Colville. With every coach playing a specific role overseeing the development of the youngsters.

The idea of the fastest-growing coaching academy in York came during the covid-19 pandemic, when Marshall, who also plays for Garforth Town, found himself working in a hotel and Neal returned from living in Australia.

“Tom and I used to work together for a coaching company, we also played cricket together a long time ago when I was a bit younger.” Marshall explained.

“Tom went to Australia and I got a job in a hotel. I was ready for a change in career and we saw a gap in the market for a modern coaching company.”

“I thought let’s give it a go, and it’s just blossomed really. We started off just doing holiday camps and then when we got Ducky involved the football academy started, it’s just grown so fast and It’s massive for the kids in York.

“We did a lot of one-to-one sessions during covid when all you could do is individual coaching and that’s what put us on the map really.

“We had a lot of professional clients like Jack Clarke, Luca Colville, a lot of York City players, Cressy [Charlie Cresswell] came and Nick started off as a client.

“When we started the football academy Nick wanted to do a little bit of work experience so he came in and has developed into a really good coach.

“He started off just watching and assisting myself and Ducky but now he leads sessions and is an integral part of the coaching team and is working through his coaching badges.

“It’s the same with Harry, we spoke to him and he said he wanted to do a little bit of coaching. We only had one goalkeeper at the time, and now we’re coaching about 15 goalkeepers each week.

“We’re quite lucky really as everyone’s a different position. Ducky is a defender, I’m more of a forward, Nick is a midfielder and we have a few other coaches who all play at a good level.

“We all take different sessions, when we started Ducky took a lot of defensive sessions and I took a lot of attacking sessions, and it worked really well.

Duckworth also explained how he got involved in the coaching side of things alongside his role in the York defence.

“Two years in September is when I basically sort of came in, I couldn’t do it full-time because of football so as covid restrictions started to lift bit we were doing group sessions so I was coming down to help out.

“The kids football, I can’t believe how much it has grown in such a short space of time. Me playing for York probably does help a little bit, because kids think ‘wow a professional footballer’ so that probably has helped in some aspects, but the growth has been astronomical for us.

“It keeps getting bigger and bigger, and we feel rewarded because we get messages off parents at the end of term and facebook posts saying how confident their kids have became, and they want to say thankyou for building confidence.

“When we see some of the players from the first term to what they are now, some of them could barely kick a football. That’s not being harsh, but they’re playing in regular games for us now and are developing week in week out, we started with six and we’ve got about 220 now.

“It grows all the time, and I think it’s down to us having a really good team of coaches.

“Everyone plays, everyone’s really keen on coaching, None of us see it as a job, we rock up and we’re all mates and we all love coaching. That’s probably why we keep getting bigger and why our sessions are so fun for the kids.

“Everyone’s got their coaching badges but Tom went a little bit further than us going to university to study sports coaching.

“He doesn’t really play football, but he’s got good knowledge. He’s a cricket player, but for a lad who doesn’t really play football he’s got a great understanding of the game and the kids love him.

“Marshy I knew of him because I knew his dad. His dad has managed a few non-league clubs and I played against his dad a few times, but he’s one of the best coaches I’ve seen.

“I’ve worked with a lot of coaches but to say he’s only 23, with the sessions he does it’s great to see.

“I bring more of a disciplined role because I’ve played at quite a good level because I want the best for the kids.

“I still want them to have fun, but with our older groups they’re becoming young adults now and they need to start learning stuff not just on the football pitch.

“We want to be as competitive as possible so if we can instil that into training then it reflects on a Saturday where they play in the Junior Premier League representing us as an academy.

“I feel like we keep going in the right direction and we’ll see where we are in five years time. We could be in different cities, we could be all over Yorkshire.

“That’s the beauty of it, there’s myself and Tom as the directors and we’re quite open to new ideas from all our team.” Marshall explained.

“We have lots of new ideas to take Evolution to the next level so keep your eyes peeled.”