The club has visited a range of schools within the region, teaching students the core skills required to play football with the hope of sparking a love for the sport. The ultimate goal is to convert these students into registered members of the Illawarra's junior football clubs.

Sydney FC Community Manager, and former Wollongong Wolves star, Paul Reid hailed the first year a success, but said he has big plans for even more growth in the next 12 months.

"We want to reach out to as many football players as possible," Reid said.

"We have found there are quite a few kids at schools who are not playing football on the weekend, hopefully this will be their spark to start enjoying football and then play for their local club in the Football South Coast area."

The program, which is jointly run by Sydney FC and Football South Coast, has received rave reviews from the students involved. Reid reported a significant improvement in skills of the students who have taken part.

He understands, however, that the coaches' time with the students is limited and therefore encouraged the students to pick up a football and kick it around with friends or family in order to continue developing their skills.

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"We want to implement programs where kids are getting as many touches on the ball as possible. In my day you could go out into the backyard and play football, or any sport, these days I don't think kids are doing that as much as they used to.

"If they can go home and start dribbling the ball in the backyard and playing football with their parents and become a bit more confident with the ball at their feet, then that's going to stand them in good stead for the future."

Sydney FC will be back in Wollongong for a school holiday clinic in July and have also set up a weekly skills training program that will run in term three.

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