Liverpool FC Brings Soccer Academy To Wyckoff Y

WYCKOFF, NJ — Some of the best soccer players in Europe may be coming to the Wyckoff YMCA as part of a new academy run in partnership with Liverpool Football Club of the English Premier League.

The Y’s Liverpool F.C. International Academy brings a new kind of soccer training to Bergen County, one that revolves around the philosophy of Liverpool FC: Unity, commitment, dignity, and ambition.

“We don’t want to downplay what the local coaches are doing here in Bergen County, but we feel that the Liverpool way will improve upon what the local coaches have already done,” said Jim Murray, director of the Liverpool International Academy New Jersey North. “We’re not here to overshadow their achievements and accomplishments. We’re not above anything. We’re here to help kids achieve a higher goal.”

The Premier League is the top tier of English football. Liverpool FC has won 18 league titles and five European Cups since its founding in 1892.

The academy will feature Liverpool coaches and trainers who will run students through Liverpool’s training program and education techniques, the same ones that are taught at the club’s home academy in England and at those throughout Europe and the United States. Former Liverpool players may also participate.

"We've always done a nice job with our soccer staff, but these Liverpool coaches and trainer, they elevate us to an elite program," said Pat O'Hagan, the Y's sports director. "We're turning our training program into how an academy is run in the United Kingdom. No one can beat it."

It is Liverpool’s third New Jersey academy. Barry Lynch set up the first academy in South Jersey and then another down the Jersey Shore. The South Jersey academy has 12 teams and 200 players.

Murray said the academy would not take kids away from their school or club teams. Coaches will take more of a supervisory role over students rather than just instruct them.

“Any player in any part of the world can became a superstar anywhere,” Murray said. “This is professional soccer training that will give kids a chance to become superstars if they have all the right tools.”

For more information about the academy, click here.

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Photo by Liverpool FC Academy, used with permission