Airdrie Community Trust in partnership with Airdrieonians FC are delighted to announce a new partnership with Caldervale High School.


Each Friday afternoon, as part of our “Future Fridays” programme, pupils from Caldervale High School are attending training sessions at the Excelsior Stadium with Airdrieonians first-team players.  These sessions allow the pupils to develop and train like a professional footballer as well as providing them with guidance on nutrition and fitness.

Club Director and Airdrie Community Trust trustee Gordon Watson was delighted to get the initiative up and running. “We were approached by Caldervale to see if we could assist with football activities for the pupils on a Friday afternoon. 

“As a joint venture between the club and the Community Trust we were delighted to offer them free training sessions at the stadium run by some of our first-team.

“It is vital that we work closely with the local community to develop the links and support them in any way we can. They can’t wait to come back and develop their football skills and hopefully some will become long term Airdrieonians!”

Caldervale Head Teacher Danny McNulty was very impressed when he came to visit.

He said: “We would like to sincerely thank the club and the Community Trust for their help. This is an excellent opportunity for our young people, and we are delighted that we have been able to establish this partnership.

“Everyone at the club and Community Trust has been welcoming and the pupils are really excited to be visiting the stadium and playing on the pitch. When the pupils arrive back at the school it is clear to see that they have thoroughly enjoyed their training. Those involved are always asking when their next chance to visit will be and the number of pupils interested is growing each week, which is great to see.

“We hope we can build on this partnership in the future, and look forward to continuing to work with the club and community trust"

We also asked some pupils what they thought. Lewis Frame and Jack Mooney are both in S4 and have thoroughly enjoyed their training so far.

Lewis said: "I really look forward to training at the stadium as it gives us experience of football at a professional level.”

Jack agreed, adding:  "The Future Fridays football programme was great at the school, but coming here to the club is even better and I look forward to it every week!”

You can see some photos from a recent Future Fridays session on our social media channels.