Lee Bennett in San Diego working with Carlsbad Lightning youth teams

Youth Club Soccer Spotlight: Carlsbad Lightning Plans to Partner with Bolton Wanderers

American youth programs look to expand their horizons and join forces with soccer programs abroad.  In San Diego, the Carlsbad Lighting Soccer Club plans to partner with the English Bolton Wanderers to help develop great soccer players.

Always seeking the best options for player development and making the most of the international soccer community’s myriad connections, Carlsbad Lightning has begun to investigate the possibility of developing a training partnership with the Bolton Wanderers International Soccer School in England.

On Saturday, June 4, 2011, Lee Bennett of Bolton spent about ninety minutes working with a group of U14, U15, and U16 soccer players from the Carlsbad Lightning Elite program at Aviara Field. Bennett was referred to Carlsbad by Cliff Talbot, who played at one time with Michael Duggan, Director of Coaching for Carlsbad Lightning. And, as it turns out, three of the club’s coaches hail from the same area of England as Bennett, so this was a natural connection. Bennett has been coaching for eighteen years, ten of those with the Bolton Wanderers.

Bennett took the Carlsbad Lightning boys through several drills designed to help them improve their passing skills and the ability to move the ball forward quickly. One particular drill involved three players moving back and forth in a short lane, receiving the ball and immediately passing to the next boy coming up. A second, more involved drill set up a sequence of two-on-one scenarios that involved two attackers passing back and forth around a defender in a soccer version of keep-away. Bennett urged the boys to move the ball from one end to the other on only two passes. “It’s all about moving forward,” he instructed them. Elite boys coach Paul Holohan Director of the Elite program was extremely impressed with Bennett’s work with the boys. “I thought Lee was wonderful,” Holohan said. “When you’ve got an experienced coach like that come over we just stay out of the way, and obviously he can go ahead and do what he had to do.”

Holohan, said that Bennett "Started doing some technical work with the players as well as the practice drills that they do in a normal practice at Bolton and then we finished up with a game.  Our players loved it. Everything Bennett did, he did with a ball. Bennett told me that he was impressed with our players and that they were a pleasure to work with, very attentive and eager to learn."

After the practice session, Bennett talked about the possible partnership between Bolton and Carlsbad Lightning. “The plan is to form a relationship with Carlsbad,” said Bennett. “And the ultimate end is to get players from Southern California and from Carlsbad to play in the White Shirts of Bolton.” Bolton currently has one American player in its system and the organization knows that there are other talented players here. “It’s an area we want to tap into,” said Bennett.

Paul Holohan, Lee Bennett of Bolton Wanderers FC and Michael Duggan on the soccer field last weekend.  Bennett held a special clinic for Carlsbad Lightning.

The boys of Carlsbad Lightning made an excellent impression on the Bolton coach. “They were quality; they were absolute quality,” said Bennett. “You can tell there are some players there. On first glance, you don’t have to be a genius to work out there are players here. And hopefully we can get some of them in the program.” Bennett was also impressed by the Aviara Field that Carlsbad Lightning calls home. “What I’ve seen is really impressive. We go to some places and they’ve not got this sort of facility. The facility is fantastic and that’s all we ask for.”

The program that Lee Bennett and Michael Duggan hope to bring some Carlsbad Lightning soccer players into is the Bolton Wanderers International Soccer School’s One Year Residential Program for U16 to U18. The program runs alongside the Bolton Wanderer’s Academy and acts as a feeder system for the Academy, bringing in boys from all over the world. There are currently 26 boys in the year-long residential program, which includes English lessons along with coaching sessions. The boys are treated like Academy players and train alongside the Academy players. This year the program includes boys from America, Canada, Africa, and Korea. “They just come together as a group, and that is a year-long program residential in England,” Lee Bennett explained, “so they’re living and breathing and they’re immersed in the football side of it.” The program has been in existence going on four years and has grown every year. “It’s hugely successful. We have kids sign up year on year,” said Bennett. Recently the One Year Residential Program team had the opportunity to play in Madrid against the Real Madrid U18 team and managed to hold Madrid to a single goal in a 1-0 game.

The Carlsbad Lightning Elite group that practiced with the Bolton Wanderers

Another possibility in the partnership would be as an outlet for young English players from Bolton who are released from the main team. “Football is a cut-throat business,” Bennett pointed out, “and people get released all the time. Maybe it’s an outlet we can use to get kids coming the other way.” If players released from Bolton could come over and be involved in college-level soccer, it could be an additional benefit of the partnership.

According to Lee Bennett and Michael Duggan, the next step is to set up a one- or two-week talent identification camp, possibly as soon as August. “Generally we’re looking at the Elite boys, and you can do that over two weeks,” Bennett pointed out. “We do coaching sessions like this (today), we can do coach-ed sessions, we do a testing procedure where they’re tested along the same lines as the kids we’ve got in the program in England. And we can give feedback then to the coaches and the parents where the kids are at compared to the kids in England.” Paul Holohan agreed with the goals, saying, “We want to get the best exposure for our players as possible. That’s what we’re all about.”

If and when the partnership comes about, Carlsbad Lightning will join an elite group of clubs around the world that work with Bolton Wanderers. Presently there are only about seven or eight clubs with proper partnerships, including two in Canada, one in Korea, one in Nigeria, and one in San Francisco. Bolton prides itself on only committing to what it can successfully deliver, and it looks for clubs that can do the same. “A lot of clubs come out here and they promise things they can’t really deliver,” Bennett explained. “We’re fairly selective of the clubs we use, and they’ve got to have a program such as Carlsbad to be of any interest to us.” 

Holohan said, "The most important part of our club is providing exposure for our players, we want them to have the best possible exposure and the best teaching.  Bringing Lee Bennet over with his cutting edge development techniques, was an amazing opportunity for everyone to learn. I got something out of it as a coach. Bennett did one exercise which I have already begun to include, a 10x20 yard grid with three players in the space. It is a drill focused on beating your opponent 2v1 with a lot of touches with the ball. It is great and, of course, the players love it."

According to Michael Duggan, the talent identification camp will be for U15 through U18 and could very well take place during August. Lee Bennett has already agreed to present the plan to his director at Bolton, and with the English club’s experience in international partnerships, they already know what procedures need to be in place. More information on the Carlsbad Lightning-Bolton Wanderers program will be on SoccerNation.com as it is available.

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