Former Wolves promotion-winning captain Karl Henry is the junior head coach at Boldmere and passed on his thoughts to Liam Berry about the first few months of the agreement.
Karl, if we can start first with the partnership agreement which was agreed between Boldmere St Michaels and Wolves Academy and announced in August. How is that going?
KH | The partnership with Wolves is going extremely well so far. Ultimately Wolves want to recruit players from this area of the Midlands and Boldmere’s aim is to help facilitate that. But Wolves have also been really keen from the off to stress to everyone at Boldmere that it’s a reciprocal partnership and not a one-way ship.
There are many benefits included from a Boldmere point of view. Mike Scott, the Head of Coach Development at Wolves, has already been down to do a session with the Under-18s a few weeks ago. It absolutely hammered down with rain but it was brilliant and everyone really enjoyed it. Mike spent a good half an hour after the session chatting to all the coaches about his experiences which was really valuable.
And there has also been a ‘Boldmere St Michael’s Week’ at the academy as well?
KH | Yes, there has. Our under-9s and 10s went in on the Monday, 11s and 12s on the Wednesday and 13s and 14s on the Friday. All the teams played against Wolves’ development teams which was a great experience, as was just seeing all the facilities at the training ground. A lot of our players have never experienced academy football, so it was good for them to just go in, see what the facility is like and the quality of the players and coaches in that system.
It can really inspire them. It’s like a shop window for the lads, and a great opportunity for the coaches to see the sort of standards you are competing against at that level. All the feedback was how well looked after they all were and how the staff at Wolves like Jack (Maydew) and Calvin (Smith) went above and beyond to help them.
And there has also been a separate event for Boldmere coaches as well?
KH | There are going to be a lot of CPD events and opportunities for Boldmere coaches as part of the agreement. This gives coaches the chance to pick up more experience and further themselves whether as part of their own development or whether there may be further opportunities for them to take advantage of. Already we’ve had a night where we took ten Boldmere coaches along to Compton to watch under-11s and under-12s development sessions. The Wolves coaches gave us their sessions plans, talked us through what they were doing and everyone from Boldmere were there, making notes, asking questions and discussing what they had seen.
Bearing in mind a lot of our coaches are volunteers, and many dads who have taken their teams on, it was a fantastic opportunity to go and watch the Wolves coaches and take back some of that learning back to their own teams and training sessions. I have already found Boldmere to be such a progressive club who want to move forward, and these sorts of opportunities are brilliant for the coaches.
And a group from Boldmere have also been able to go to a Wolves first-team match as well?
KH | Yes, a couple of times a season we are given an executive box in the Steve Bull Stand so myself and a few of the directors and staff from Boldmere went along to the Nottingham Forest game. It was another great experience and I have to say Wolves have been really putting up their side of the bargain so far and making sure they are very welcoming to everyone from Boldmere as a result of the partnership. The academy have also said that when they need coaches ideally they look at their partner clubs, so it benefits them to help develop our coaches as much as possible.
And finally, how much are you enjoying this role so far?
KH | It’s been great. I think when you come into a club which is so well-established and so well-run as Boldmere you can think there’s a bit of animosity or suspicion, especially pushing that Wolves relationship in what can be a big Aston Villa area. But it’s been really positive and everyone has been really welcoming. And again, because there are so many different junior teams, four or five in every age group, you almost think that sort of competition might make things difficult but I think everyone tries to support each other and that’s great to see.
There’s always so much going on and, for me, it’s really good to be around. As a former Wolves captain born in the city the link-up with the club is also something that is really exciting. We recently had former Wolves defender Lee Naylor down to spend some time coaching the lads with more plans on the horizon to open up lots of different opportunities and experiences to the young players.
