By James Humphrey
A former professional footballer from Alexandria has explained how falling out of love with playing the game led to him launching his own academy for young players.
Vale-born Graeme Ramage has run the Graeme Ramage Football Academy for four years, with a number of their players moving on to academy level at senior clubs – and Graeme employing a host of young coaches looking to learn new skills.
Graeme started his career at St Mirren before moving to local club Dumbarton in 2011.
A loan move to East Stirlingshire followed, before a successful spell at Annan Athletic was cut short due to a serious knee injury.
After a few seasons in the junior ranks for clubs including Arthurlie, Kirkintilloch Rob Roy, Kello Rovers, Clydebank and Cumnock Juniors, he finished his career at local club Vale of Leven at the age of 28.
After hanging up his boots Graeme focused on coaching, with the Graeme Ramage 1-2-1 Football Academy growing massively in recent times.
Graeme explained how a long trip to face a junior giant sparked the idea of launching his own academy.
He said: “About four years ago I was playing for Kirkintilloch Rob Roy, travelling down to Auchinleck Talbot as an unused sub and I was frustrated with playing football.
“I noticed that one-to-one sessions were starting to get big in football in areas like Glasgow, and England.
“So, I thought why not try it here? I had nothing to lose if I didn’t work out. But we’ve had success with it being four years it’s been going for.”
The Academy has had a major impact on the community as Graeme explains: “On the park we try and help the players reach their stages of progression and their journey as a player, and off the park we’ve got a number of different things to do.
“People can donate football boots, shin guards, goalie gloves, anything to do with football. This year we’ve managed to help 350 families within our local area. Within the area the coaches that are doing the training are from here, so we provide them with the opportunity to showcase their coaching ability.”
Graeme says he is delighted with the progress the academy has made in recent years but owes a special thanks to one group in particular.
He continued: “We now have 12 coaches working seven days a week, and that’s for kids at ages five upwards in the local area.
“But the progression of the company wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for Goal Zone.
“They’ve got an indoor football park and do after-school care. The team there – Nicola, Jenna, Val and Jill – have helped out massively because we’ve got full use of their seven-a-side indoor pitch so that allows us to coach through all types of weather.
“It’s progressed massively. We’ve probably got about 130 kids coming through our door every week for sessions.”
Graeme also thanked the parents for the trust they have shown them over the years in the academy, which has allowed them to progress, as well as Julie’s Kitchen for their sponsorship.
And he hopes that the Academy will create a legacy for years to come.
He continued: “Success for us has been a lot of things in terms of giving players opportunities to showcase their abilities within the Scottish professional youth setup where we can make recommendations to teams.
“We’re massive on confidence and if you spoke to the players that come into us and the parents, I think the main focus would be on the confidence side.
“After Covid we had the same conversations with the players. Their confidence was low, some of them didn’t want to train and go play their matches.
“So, I think we are quite good at trying to get the player’s confidence back to where it was. I think that would be one of our successes.
“We just want players to come in, progress and work on stuff and leave feeling happy.”
For Graeme, meanwhile, being able to watch the players progress is the most rewarding aspect of the academy.
He added: “It’s been amazing to help them out. I certainly get a great reward being a coach and trying our best to get the best out of these players on and off the park. I feel like our academy does that.
“Even seeing their wee faces when they score a goal, or hit the bar at a daft thing like a crossbar challenge, and then go home and tell their parents is special.
“Some of the lads have been pushed up to first team level and there have been boys being signed full-time too, it’s a really good feeling.”
The football academy offers coaching to age groups that range from five years-old to adult ages.
The Graeme Ramage one-to-one Football Academy have events on offer during the Easter and summer holidays. The next holiday camp runs from April 11 to 14.
