Sports students from the College of West Anglia can now get more out of their courses thanks to a new partnership with King's Lynn Town football club.
It will see students using the Walks stadium in Tennyson Avnue for coaching and training as well taking part in exhibition matches and using the stadium rooms for lectures.
There will be sessions taught by the club's consultant Ray Hall, who will be using his expertise from the time he was Everton's academy coach where he trained footballers Wayne Rooney and Ross Barkley among others.
At the launch of the club's new player academy, Linnets chairman Stephen Cleeve said the two-year sports course would act as a 'simple and consistent' pathway for young men and women to join the football team.
He said: 'The club has never had an academy before but now we are able to offer a range of courses via the college.
'We will be much more involved with bringing in youngsters and give them a clear pathway, otherwise we'll be left relying on people coming through the gates.
'We're expanding all the time, it puts the football club at the hub of the community. It will be exciting on and off the pitch.'
First trials for the academies will be held on Wednesday, May 31, from 10am to 12pm for boys and 1pm to 3pm for girls, with more dates to be announced in the coming months.
Andrew Gedge, a director of the college, said the partnership will bring exciting opportunities to younger people, adding: 'We were previously involved some time ago but now it's more settled here and we're excited with the changes they have made.
'We have much stronger ties and it gives younger people something to aspire to.'
Scott Leadley, programme manager for sport at the College of West Anglia, said: 'The new partnership offers students a fantastic opportunity to be involved with a professional sports club - working with ex-professional coaches and having the chance to wear the King's Lynn Town Football Club's colours for their fixtures and training sessions. They get to do all of this whilst completing their studies at the college sports campus.'
To take part in this partnership you will need to be enrolled on a College of West Anglia course. For more details on the academies and trials, visit the college website.
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