Bobby Watts’s Foundation journey

Bobby started his journey with the Foundation in the U9 and U10 Elite centre at the end of 2021, this is where his talent was picked up by the Foundation coaching team and his story began.

From then, he started attending Soccer Schools with the Foundation where he met first team players, practiced new skills, and made new friends. During his time in the Elite Centre, Bobby’s coaches have seen an incredible improvement in Bobby, not only as a footballer but also as a person.

In January 2023, Bobby attended one of our Premier League Kicks Maidenbower sessions. On matchdays, many of the Ball Retrievers are made up of Premier League Kicks participants and take part in matchday duties on behalf of the Foundation.

Bobby has been a ball retriever a few times, and being a Crawley fan himself you can imagine what an amazing experience it was. He also was part of the team holding the banners during the home leg of the League 2 play of final, again being a Crawley fan, Bobby was so excited after being on the pitch to assist in the pre-match preparations which eventually ended in promotion for Crawley. He also was at Wembley to cheer them onto victory.

Soccer Schools was another chance for Bobby to show his footballing talent. After joining the Elite Centre at the end of the year, but he first came along to the Soccer Schools in February. Bobby is now regular attendee on our Soccer Schools and enjoys the stadium tours and tournament days with all his friends that he's made along the way.

We asked Bobby for his thoughts on our Soccer Schools at the Foundation.

"At the Soccer Schools, I enjoy seeing the coaches and seeing the other children that come as we have all different ability’s so we can help and learn from each other.

"I also like coming on a Friday when sometimes we might get a visit from the first team players.”

He also shared his thoughts on our Elite and Development Programme: “I do think I have improved; each coach is different and can see different things with my football and help me improve by going through better ways around making my footwork better. Zack is very clear on instructions that will help me when I am away from Crawley Town. One of my highlights was winning the Canary Cup together”

Bobby is from Crawley and a huge fan of the Reds. He shared his ambitions for his future saying “I hope one day that I’ll be able to play in the 1st team for Crawley and this is my home town and very proud of living here”

Would you like to get involved with any of the programmes Bobby has spoken about? Visit the Foundation website to find out more.