6 min
What to look for in a football school
Six questions worth asking, including the two that most schools are not expecting.
Most parents choose a football school on the two things that are easy to compare — the night it runs on and the price — and then find out everything else over the following eighteen months. Here is the short list I would use if I were choosing one for my own child, and I have written the awkward ones first.
Ask who the designated safeguarding officer is, by name, and how you would raise a concern about a coach. A school that has an answer ready is a school that has thought about it. A school that has to go and find out is not necessarily unsafe, but it is telling you something about how often it has been asked. Then ask how often criminal record checks are renewed — the answer should be a period of time, not the word 'yes'.
After that: how many children per coach; whether groups are selected by ability and from what age; whether everybody plays the same amount in fixtures; and how you cancel. That last one sounds like an administrative question and it is not. A school that makes leaving difficult has told you what it thinks the relationship is.