Congratulations to second-year academy goalkeeper Tom Collins, who has been invited to an England Men’s Goalkeeping Development Camp at St George’s Park next week.
These camps are designed for goalkeepers to showcase their skills, develop areas of their game and experience how England train and prepare for international football. The camps have been running for over a decade, providing goalkeepers with the opportunity to showcase their skills and attributes with a view to being selected for their respective age groups in the National Squads.
Joe Hart, Jack Butland, Jordan Pickford, Angus Gunn and Freddie Woodman - to name a few - are successful attendees of these events earlier in their career.
Tom will travel to St George’s Park on Sunday evening, before three days of training from Monday through to Wednesday.
Scunthorpe-United.co.uk spoke to Academy Manager Tony Daws following his call-up, with him commenting: “It’s a brilliant accolade and a feather in Tom’s cap to be selected. It’s fantastic for us as a football club and an academy. To be selected to attend an England training camp, he will be among some of the best young goalkeepers in the country in his age range. He’s a fantastic goalkeeper and it’s not something that massively surprises me. As staff, we know how good Tom can be.
“In the 14 years that I’ve been here, he’s the only academy player to be called up to an England training camp for 11-a-side football. Raynner Silva represents England at Futsal at both Under-18 and Under-23 level, and Pughy (Tom Pugh) has represented Wales Under-21s, but Tom is the only one to be representing England.
“When we played up at Newcastle United) in our pre-season friendly, there was an England scout there and before the game he asked me if we had any players that I would recommend. Obviously, Tom was one of a number of names I gave him. Off the back of that, England’s goalkeeper coaches have got in touch. In that game, Tom was outstanding and the phone call came the next day saying that he had really impressed.
“It’s great credit to Mussy (Paul Musselwhite) as well, as he’s worked with Tom to develop him as a goalkeeper since Tom signed for the club as an Under-12 and also credit to KP (Kevin Pressman) who has worked with Tom since coming back to the club in the summer.
“It also helps to develop the credibility and status of our academy. We’ve got a lot of good young players coming through, not just Tom.”