How Brendan helped U9 signings
In our latest Academy column, Frank McParland offers an insight into the grit and determination that is spurring Marc Pelosi on to overcome the terrible injury he suffered against West Brom at The Hawthorns earlier this year.
The American youngster broke his leg after a late collision in the U21s clash in February and has since been recovering at the club's Academy.
Frank labels him an 'unbelievable professional' and talks about his sheer desire to make it at Liverpool.
But first, the Academy director reflects on a special afternoon for the club's youth set-up, on day when they welcomed a new crop of U9s players into the fold for the very first time...
Last Thursday we had a signing day at the Academy for a group of 24 young players.
It was a fantastic day for the staff, the youngsters and their parents - it always is. But it was unbelievable for me to be able to bring our manager Brendan Rodgers along to oversee proceedings.
It was great to have him there and he took two hours out of his time to be with the kids, to sign autographs and it was excellent to see.
Rodolfo Borrell and Clive Cook gave speeches before I said a few words about some of the players who have come through the system - the likes of Jon Flanagan and Conor Coady. They're both lads that the new crop of players can aspire to and who both signed when they were young children.
It was a big event for everyone because it was the start of a journey for these young lads and we were meeting, for the very first time, the boys whose lives will become a key part of our own in the coming years.
From thousands of players, we narrowed the list down to a group of 24 and they will be at the club for at least the first year having signed last week.
It gave me a great buzz to see the excitement on all the kids' faces. All of them got up and signed their new contracts and then had their photo taken with the manager - and the whole event was shown on LFC TV.
But what really made me smile was when I looked at the parents, the mums and dads, who were so proud of their boys.
I told the parents on the night: "This is the start of a really big journey for you all now."
I told them to look at Coady, who has been at the club since he signed age eight - and is now 19. I also said to look at his brother, who is in the U12s and has been here since he was six. It's a massive journey for the parents.
And we need their support as much as anything and without their support, the players will not be able to progress.
The manager said to me afterwards that it was a really special night for him too. He commented on how well it had been organised by all the staff here at the Academy.
He's worked at a lot of academies throughout the early part of his career and he said ours was one of the best evenings he had seen.
He loved the fact that everything ran so smoothly, that it was on the TV and how everyone played their part in making it special.
But I think most of all, he was just delighted to meet the lads and to shake their hands, and see just how excited they all were.
The manager has been fantastic with his commitment to the Academy since he arrived last year and watching him take part in the signing evening with all our young lads, just reinforced how keen he is to keep that bond in place.
These boys will now start to have training two nights a week and then in late July, they will start to come in on three nights.
Then after that they are our players and they will start to play on a Sunday and we'll start to work with them and mould them in a professional way. They'll be part of our family then.
And we are a family here at the Academy, so before I finish today, I'd like to give you an update on how Marc Pelosi, our U21s player who broke his leg in February this year, is getting on.
He's progressing really well. It's going to be a long road for him because of the seriousness of his injury. But he's having regular check-ups with the medical staff and we hope that he will get back to where he was before the injury.
He was doing great before and so it's really positive at the moment that he's working so hard. He's an unbelievable professional.
He's one who is determined to make it as a player and his attitude has been as good as any kid I have been involved with, who has suffered a bad injury like this.
