Kitted Out: FAB Academy

We love going out to meet our customers and clients across the nation, and finding out more about their organisations. FAB Academy are one of our new customers for 2017. Created by Nas Bashir seven years ago, the academy provides an alternative pathway into professional football for aspiring youngsters. Bashir – a UEFA Pro License holder – set up the academy with the intention of giving opportunities to those who aren’t so lucky at league clubs.

Bisham Abbey – situated in Berkshire – has played host to a number of well-known faces over the years. Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were both once residents of the listed buildings. Since then, it has been converted to a National Sports Centre – home to some of Sport England’s Olympic athletes, and once the national football teams. Nowadays, a new breed of footballers ply their trade on the state-of-the-art pitches situated there.

Since FAB’s inception, the academy has grown from a handful of players to over four hundred youngsters. In addition, their scholarship programme offers seventy-five teenagers the opportunity to combine football, education and sports science at the complex. The ultimate aim of the academy is to develop these into players of the highest calibre. Recently, Scholarship graduate Ryan Hall signed a professional contract with Premier League side Stoke City.

We at Kitlocker.com have been keen to see Bashir and his team in action, and we were welcomed to the fantastic headquarters of FAB last month. We were suitably impressed, and not only with the world-class facilities (including multi-million-pound Desso football pitches).

Those involved in the training session clearly had bags of potential. The top-drawer coaching levels that we witnessed will help some of these players realise theirs. With more set to follow in the footsteps of Ryan, we asked Bashir how he came about making the academy what it is today.

Bashir is sceptical of the youth set-ups of Premier League clubs. “I’m not sure whether the modern-day academies are working,” he said. “I think the way that we offer our academy is that we are giving our player’s a patient opportunity. In my opinion it is best to be the best eighteen-year-old than the best nine-year-old, and I believe a bit of individuality is taken away at a young age.”

He does like many others, however, see top-flight senior football as the Holy Grail for students of the game. “Our biggest achievements are both football and education-based. We’ve got a lot of boys who have gone on to university, who have gone to scholarships in America, who have gone on to coach for a living. The icing on the cake though, is the six players who have signed as professionals in the game. That is down to their development here. ”

The success of Hall is seemingly the stand-out success story of the Scholarship and epitomises the patient approach that Bashir speaks of. “Ryan came to us undeveloped – he had size four feet at the age of sixteen. Eventually we started to see him grow and now, hopefully we will see him play in the Premier League.”

With the players and coaches of the academy proudly wearing Nike clothing supplied by Kitlocker.com, Bashir says that the kit gives a sense of professionalism amongst the camp. In truth – to an outsider – it would be hard to believe that this wasn’t associated with a top-level side. From the pitches to the gym to the classrooms, FAB Academy possesses a remarkably advanced approach towards football.

The mission is clear for Bashir. “We want help the boys fulfil their dreams of becoming a professional footballer,” he firmly states. FAB Academy is going from strength-to-strength, and we are proud to be associated with them in their journey.

Interested in learning more about FAB Academy, their scholarship programme and more – including open trial dates? Find out how to get in touch via their website at https://www.fabacademy.co.uk/.