Former Wolves promotion-winning captain Karl Henry has passed on his experience and expertise to a group of students in the Wolves Foundation’s Football & Education College Academy.
Henry, one of the team of Foundation ambassadors, made another visit to the City of Wolverhampton College campus on Wellington Road to lead a coaching session and chat about his career.
In terms of the football, Henry led the group on the philosophy he is following at grassroots level with Boldmere St Michaels – focusing on possession-based tactics, building out from the back and progressing up the pitch.
“It is always a pleasure to go along and coach the Wolves Foundation students,” said Henry.
“It is a really good group who are keen to listen and keen to learn.
“As a coach, that is all you can ask for, and the players being so focused makes the session a whole lot more constructive.
“There is some great quality among them as well.
“We did sessions on playing out from the back, on build-up play and playing through the lines.
“It is always a pleasure and really enjoyable for me to get involved with what seems like a really good programme with a really good group.”
Students on the Foundation’s BTEC Sport programme run in partnership with the City of Wolverhampton College learn about anatomy and physiology, sports coaching, sports science and performance analysis, equipping them with relevant and vital industry knowledge to help towards a future career.
They can study for either a BTEC Level 2 Extended Certificate or a Level 3 National Foundation Diploma.
Aside from the studying, students can also represent the Foundation in fixtures against colleagues from other clubs including Manchester City, Nottingham Forest and more.
Last year two teams, one of which was coached by former Wolves striker Lee Mills who now works for the Foundation, finished top of their respective divisions which earned not only a league-winning trophy but a trip to Wembley to watch the Championship play-off final.
Students are also offered regular enrichment opportunities unique to the course including visits to Molineux and the Compton Park training ground, and the sort of coaching experiences enjoyed recently with Henry.
Indeed, only recently, a group of students joined forces with Wolves Academy scholars for a memorable trip to Spain as the final part of a collaborative project for the Turing Scheme.
The project focuses on developing life skills and cultural awareness and the trip to La Nucia also featured opportunities to train and play against teams from the region.
“The opportunity to have Karl Henry visit our College Academy is invaluable for our students,” says Brad Moore, Senior Education Officer with the Foundation who oversees the programme.
“As a title winning captain and ambassador for the Foundation, Karl provides a quality insight into the life of a professional footballer and how that has shaped his coaching profile today.
“This is just one example of the enrichment opportunities that our college students receive as part of the Football & Education programme delivered with the aim of improving personal and academic development.”
"We hold recruitment and taster days during half term holidays and interested parties can sign up through the Wolves Foundation website or through the City of Wolverhampton College.
“However, we should point out that places are extremely limited."
For more details about the BTEC Programme, contact bradmoore@wolves.co.uk, or find our more information on our website here.
