AK ELITE SOCCER TRIALS - FEBRUARY 2026

My son recently attended this football trial and overall I would say the event was well organised considering they had a challenging start with accidents on major motorway networks and no IT set up on arrival so they where having to manually take everyone's details. The setup and facilities on the day were good. The environment felt professional and initially gave a positive impression.

However, there were a few areas that were disappointing. With multiple age groups attending, it became clear that the scouts appeared to focus primarily on the younger age group. The 13–15/16-year-olds did not seem to receive the same level of observation or attention, which was frustrating given that this was a paid opportunity.

It was also challenging having a wide age range grouped together at times. Naturally, the older players overpowered the younger ones during games due to differences in size and physical development, which made it difficult to fairly assess ability across the groups.

One of the main concerns was the lack of feedback. As this was a paid trial, I had expected at least some form of individual feedback on performance. Unfortunately, we did not receive any communication following the event. I have since emailed to request feedback but have not received a response or acknowledgement, which has been disappointing.

Overall, the facilities and organisation were good, but greater balance in scout attention across age groups and clearer post-trial communication would significantly improve the experience.

Very good experience for children. My son loves attending. Great facilities, good amount of scouts in attendance.