Local youngsters have been experiencing first-hand what life is like as a professional footballer, thanks to AFC Fylde Community Foundation, and one young Coasters fan had a particularly enjoyable time!

Eight-year-old Luke Young, who travels home and away to watch his favourite team, took part in the programme and sent us these kind words after his experience.

“My name is Luke Young and over the past few days I’ve been lucky enough to take part in the Train Like A Pro programme with AFC Fylde Community Foundation.

“Myself and other teammates from Kirkham Juniors got selected to join the programme and enjoy the week of training at the official training base of AFC Fylde. This was a great experience and I’m really happy I was able to take part.

“The programme has been fantastic for me because not only have I enjoyed playing football it’s actually been really educational and I’ve learnt a lot more than I expected to whilst being on the camp.

“I think my personal highlight of the week was the Physio talk with Rob. It was really good and interesting, he taught me a different side to football that I’ve never known anything about and he also helped me with knowing how I can prevent my injuries which will make me a better player when I’m older.

“I think the main thing this programme has helped me realise is how much I would love to be a professional footballer. Training and playing football all day everyday this week has been so much fun.

“I think to be able to do that as a job would be amazing. I feel as though this week has made me realise what I have to do to make that happen. My dream is to make it as a pro for AFC Fylde as that’s my favourite team. It would also be amazing to play with Danny Rowe as that’s my favourite player!

For more information and news stories please visit www.afcfyldefoundation.co.uk or keep up to date with all of our news stories on twitter @afcfct