The Academy was formally established as a footballing institution on the 31st of December, 2013. It was formed to train kids, to be footballers in later years, keep them off the streets and help them realise their potentials in the sport of football. It started with a sparse number of kids but with time that figure steadily rose to a large number.

It wasn't all rosy in the beginning because difficulties were encountered with lack of football materials (kits and balls) but as we move on, with help of philanthropists and organisations our dreams are slowly but surely moving forward and keep alive.

The academy have on its books about 76 registered children and youths from all walks of life, the age category lays from 5 to 14 years, youth players of about 22 and a senior team consisting of about 26 players. The academy kids are demarcated in to three age groups of under 5, under 8 and under 14. There is also a youth team and a senior team and all teams do take part in regular football competitions of their various categories.

There is a coaching staff and academy trainers consisting of six personnel who are all active sport men and competent in their various capabilities. Training schedule varies depending on the age group, concerning the kids training are only on Saturdays and Sundays due to academic commitments during week days but during school vacations training is done five times a week.

The youth and senior team train five times a week and take part in annual football tournament locally known as ‘‘Nawetan’’. With all this commitments involving all the categories of the academy, lot of problems are encountered, key among those, lack of football shoes, training kits, balls, cones and markers.

The team do get involved in friendly games with other setups of our kind but it is pretty difficult to finance trips for away test games and to pay registration fees for football tournaments and finance the team during the course of contribution.

The academy was setup with a vision to train players to turn Professionals in the future. Many of the kids and youth players also want to take up football as a career and harbour dreams of becoming professional players in the future. We have a large pool of talented kids who with the right support, management and proper assistance can reach the highest of the game. Such is the raw talent and skills posses by this lads and their willingness to learn new things is the most promising.

Siaka Jatta
Junction Baa Football Academy,Sukuta Village,Kombo North District,West Coast Region,Serekunda,The Gambia.