In January 2006 Luke finally persuaded his Mum that it was a good idea for him to start football training at Langton Green on a Saturday morning, so began our many mornings spent watching Luke playing football whatever the weather!!

At this stage Luke was only 6 years and 4 months old. The coaches of the U6′s at this time were Dave Williams and Mick Cooper.

Straight from the first session Mum and Dad were asked where Luke had trained before, ‘only the back garden’ was the reply!!! Luke thoroughly enjoyed training from the very first day and although the U6′s did not have a team in the Crowborough league, Luke soon became very competitive.

When the end of the season drew near, Dave Williams asked us if we would let Luke play in the Tonbridge Football Fiesta if he entered a team in the U7 section,even though Luke was only an U6, how could we say no!! Mum remembers the team playing very well and Luke assures us that they came 2nd in their group.

It was at this tournament that Dad was approached by a football scout from Millwall Football Club, asking if Luke would come and train with them from the following September (2006). Dad said to send the information through and we would look at it and consider the proposal!! Dave subsequently told us that he had entered a team in the tournment with the sole intention of getting Luke scouted. Dave did remind Luke to remember his first coach when he was a top football star!!

The information came through and telephone calls flew back and forth, confusion was rife until we confirmed Luke was actually only a U6 at that time, so would therefore join the Millwall U7 team from September 2006 and not the U8 team.

When September came, Luke was very excited but quite nervous. It was very daunting travelling up to Cold Harbour Leisure Centre in Mottingham every Monday and Thursday to play football for 1.5 hours with other boys, who mostly came from the London area. To say it was abit of a culture shock to Luke is no exageration. It took Luke a while to settle down and play good football, as alot of the boys knew each other already and played in local teams together at the weekend. However, by Christmas Luke was settled in and had made some good friends.

Through the whole process we have stressed to Luke that he may get released by the club at any time and to just make the most of the training he was receiving twice a week.

Unless the boys are really bad, Millwall tend to give the U7 boys a whole season of training, and that was how we found ourselves at May 2007 being asked to return in September 2007, for Luke to train as an U8.

Now that the season was over Luke was missing football so in May 2007 he started to attend the Gary Stevens Soccer School that was held at that time at Bennett School in Tunbridge Wells. The idea was to keep him ticking over until the term end in July. However Lukes coach there turned out to be a coach at the Chelsea Football Academy and asked if Luke could attend from September 2007!! Mum and Dad at this stage did not really know what to do so went along with the flow just to see what happened! There is nothing to stop you attending multiple Academy’s (as long as you have not signed a contract at one) and most of the London boys at Millwall were already doing just this.

So that is how September 2007 found us travelling to Millwall training every Monday and Chelsea training every Wednesday. Luckily Millwall were having coach trouble so had dropped to only one training day per week! The training definately stepped up a gear from what it was as an U7 and it was obvious that the coaches were looking for their U9 team to sign by the end of this season.

At Millwall in October 2007 the boys were told that certain ones were going to be asked to come for extra training on Friday evenings to be held at The Den, the Millwall ground. Luke was very excited about this prospect and sure enough he got asked to attend. So now we were travelling to London every Monday,Wednesday and Friday. Mum and Dad did notreally want this as Luke was getting very tired, but then at the end of October 2007 Chelsea released Luke from their training academy. Darryl, his coach, said that if he had had Luke from an U7 he would not have been letting him go. Secretly Mum and Dad were relieved and Luke said it was their loss!!

In January 2008 boys were being released from Millwall on weekly basis and the pressure was on. Luke coped brilliantly always training hard and with a positive attitude. This was rewarded in March 2008 when Luke was offered a place in the Millwall U9 Academy team from September 2008. The prospect of signing contracts that seemed so unlikely back in July 2006 was now a reality.

So on Saturday 19 April 2008 Luke attended his official signing day at the Millwall 1st Team training ground in Bromley, where the squad had their first official training session with their new coach. Mum and Dad had a presentation from the Academy Manager and found it was all very serious now!! The team even has their own physiotherapist at the U9 level!! It was stressed that top players are only produced through hard work and co-operation between the Academy, parents and the players school. It was pointed out that any drop off in school work or in behaviour would have a knock on affect to their Academy place, with players being kicked out of the Academy for school trouble. Luke got to meet some first team players who signed footballs and posters and were brilliant with the kids. Mum and Dad (and Luke!) had to sign the contract which even included authority for dope testing!! It was a great day, but as the Academy Manager said the hard work is yet to start.

So now pre-season starts from the end of July 2008 when Luke will have to stop playing for Langton Football Club (although he can still play for his school). This allows him to play all the summer tournaments before preseason training for Millwall starts with a tournament at Watford. Lukes first match as an Academy member is on the 7th September and Luke will keep you all posted on how it goes. Training from September 2008 will be every Monday and Wednesday at The Den with matches being held every Sunday. Luke will be playing against such teams as Arsenal, Chelsea, Southampton, Crystal Palace, Reading etc.

We would like to thank everyone at Langton Football Club for their help and support over the last 2 years, we are going to miss you all. Special thanks must go to Ian with whom Amanda has run the teams over 2 seasons, and of course to Dave Williams who started this whole journey in January 2006 you have alot to answer to!! We will keep in touch and of course Luke will come and visit whenever he can.

Neil, Amanda and Luke Davies