How Ardgowan Football Development came about
04 Nov 2008

(Two Jumpers and a Baw)

Tom McClurg and Iain Buchan were approached by parents in October 2000 to see if we could start a football section for younger kids in the 5 to 6 age bracket.They felt a need for local tuition in the Wemyss Bay area as a number of parents were travelling up to Greenock on a Saturday morning to attend a coaching course there.Tom and myself were in charge of the Wemyss Bay School Team at the time and were busy training on Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings with 8 to 12 year olds.

Some parents persevered and persuaded Tom to setup a meeting with myself and John Reid,an other parent whose son also attended the Greenock coaching course. This meeting went well and we all decided to look into the setting up of a football development. An enrolment day in the Wemyss Bay Community Centre was setup to see what interest we would generate from the 5 to 8 year old age group in this area. Little did we know that we would be overwhelmed by the support and interest for a football development for this age group.

Keith Jackson whose son joined that day showed a keen interest in what we were trying to achieve and was duely offered a role on our committe. Tom had a saying before we started all this that two jumpers and a baw is all you need to start a development. This saying has stuck with us and is widely used to this day. May I just add that we are keen to see this development do well and hope you and your kids will support us in what we are trying to achieve for the area. Graham Anderson has now joined the committee as Martin Mulholland has resigned.

Our Aims and objectives.

Our aims and objectives are to provide the younger kids of the community with a chance to learn our national game by coaching them at a young level so they can go on and have the confidence and assurance before moving on to other clubs.