After many years of hard work, the Mariners Academy is reaping the rewards. The club has made significant strides in youth development, with our girls and boys programs producing the next generation of footballer.
The Academy has received strong recognition throughout Asia, with it now clearly the most renowned in the country. The tradition of helping create the next generation of football superstar continues to grow in numbers.
The results of 2022 come off the back of years of good work, heading out of COVID bigger and better than ever before. On field success has been achieved across the Academy, including our NPL Men, Youth Girls and Youth Boys.
Five premiers’ plates are coming home to the Central Coast, with the NPL mens, U20 mens, U16 girls, U15 girls and U15 Boys all finishing as league leaders at the end of the regular season.
In addition to this the boy’s program have also been awarded second place in the Prestigious Club Championship, which is the clubs best ever finish.
The two NPL men’s sides have now secured themselves promotion to NSW NPL1 next season, ready to test themselves against the best sides in NSW.
Whilst both men’s sides went down on grand final weekend; it was a spectacular effort from the two teams to make it that far in their last season in NSW League One.
Many of the stars of those squads have now even begun to get a taste of A League football during the pre-season. The likes of Brad Tapp, Cameron Windust, Sasha Kuzevski, Dor Jok and Jacob Cresnar have all featured so far, showing A-League Men’s head coach Nick Montgomery what the future has to offer.
This weekend will bring the season to a close. Three Academy teams will attempt to end their season on a high note, with the U15 youth boys, as well as the U14 and U16 girls playing their grand finals on this Saturday and Sunday in Sydney.
Mariners Head of Football Ken Schembri is extremely pleased with the results of the Academy this season and is excited for the future of the program.
“This season has seen our Academy continue to grow as the benchmark football development program,” Schembri said
“Our plan is to continue to raise the bar and deliver a program second to none.”
