Daniel Kulic - Development Centre

Daniel Kulic, age 14, has been attending Charlton Athletic Community Trust’s (CACT) Player Development Centre at Coldharbour Leisure Centre in Greenwich since January this year.

The Player Development Centres are a key part of the CACT pathway into the Charlton Athletic Academy providing the next step for players who have completed Charlton Challenge. They are for players who have got a basic understanding of football and are looking to advance their technical play and ability further. 

Players, like Daniel, who impress coaches at the Player Development Centres may be signposted into the Valley Gold Advanced Centre.

The Valley Gold Advanced Centre offers a specialised curriculum focusing on enhancing technical, physical, social and psychological abilities in players aged U5-U13s.  

Now, Daniel gets the chance to play on the Academy pitches at the Charlton Athletic Training Ground and is being coached to a Charlton Athletic Academy curriculum with the opportunity to play in matches organised by the Development Centre staff and club scouts. 

Daniel said: “I feel like the sessions at Coldharbour Leisure Centre really helped me to progress as a player. 

“The training was varied every session targeting specific parts of football effectively. After attending these sessions for a long time I can confidently say that my technical ability and overall ability has noticeably improved. 

“The coaches here were extremely helpful and positive all the time. They made sure that sessions are as effective as they are fun. They are very easy to talk to if you are in need of advice or additional support. Also making sure that you train in a safe and fun environment.

“When I heard that Coach Robbie had recommended me to the Advanced Centre I was extremely happy and felt that all of the extra training and support from him had started to pay off. I also feel proud and believe that with the right help I am on the right path.

“In the future I am looking forward to hopefully pursue a career playing football professionally and I believe that this may be the path for me to achieve that. I know that to stay here and move to an even higher level I must work even harder than I do now.”

Bradley Marshall, CACT’s Senior Football and Sports Development Officer, said: “It’s great to see players like Daniel impress on our Player Development Centre programme and show the capabilities required to be recommended to our Valley Gold Advanced Centre. 

“We hope to see more players attend our development centres to receive high quality coaching and an opportunity to progress further into our advanced centre which supports the club’s academy.”

Find a Player Development Centre session near you and book a place today.