Valley Gold, a fan-led membership scheme founded in 1989, has agreed to support the Charlton Athletic Community Trust (CACT) Advanced Centre for another year. Last year, the programme had a name change following the support of Valley Gold – which is now known as the Valley Gold Advanced Centre.
As Valley Gold already funds the Charlton Athletic Academy to unearth the talents of tomorrow through memberships and competitions, it was a natural progression for them to support the Advanced Centre, which acts as CACT’s pathway into the Academy.
The Valley Gold Advanced Centre, which was shortlisted in this year’s CACT Awards in the Programme of the Year category, offers talented young players in the U5-U13 age groups from CACT’s community programmes the chance to train weekly whilst following a specialised Charlton Athletic Academy curriculum. Programmes which feed into the Valley Gold Advanced Centre include CACT’s popular football holiday courses at various locations, Player Development Centres and Charlton Challenge. Players can also be referred into the Advanced Centre through local school tournaments which CACT host regularly throughout the academic year.
Last season 5 Academy players came through the CACT pathway and have been regularly training at the Charlton Athletic Training Ground from a young age with the Advanced Centre.
Bradley Marshall, CACT’s Senior Football & Sports Development Officer, said:
“We are delighted that Valley Gold have chosen to continue supporting the Advanced Centre for another season. There’s so much talent on our community programmes and the Valley Gold Advanced Centre offers those young people the chance to excel. We work closely together with the club’s recruitment and Academy staff to help our talented young players progress.”
Matt Baker, Chair of Valley Gold, said:
“At Valley Gold we are always looking for new ways we can help support Charlton in producing the best possible players for the academy. We are therefore delighted to continue our partnership to fund the Advanced Centre ensuring the next generation of young players are discovered and playing for the Addicks!”
If you would like to help support young talented players, consider signing up to Valley Gold now!