Coastal Spirit Football Development Manager Gareth Turnbull is a full time employee of Linfield Sport who contract his services on behalf of the club.
With 2 distinct streams (Participation/Performance) in children's sport and often a mixture of abilities amongst the participants, particularly in team sports it is important that children have the opportunity to develop at their own rate. Gareth's background in Sport's Management (a degree in Sport's management from the University of                         ) combined with his own experience as a top flight representative player from a young age has given him a unique insite into the requirements of a successful player development programme. This has enabled Gareth to develope a player pathway focused around individual player development. 
This programme incorporates all age groups with the ability of a player to step in and out at any stage as they (or their parents) see fit.

Pathway:
Champions League
This is Coastal Spirit's introduction to football for the younger age group and incorporates Midgets for 4 - 6 year olds building into the club's own in-house competiton for 6 - 8 year olds. Midgets are placed in "teams" of 5 - 6 players and participate on Saturday mornings. Sessions generally consist of a 1/2 hour training session followed by a 1/2 hour game against one of the other "squads".
Champions League teams (7 to 8 players per team) play on Saturday mornings during the winter in 5 a side games against other in-house teams. They also train mid-week on an afternoon that suits the coach. Points (3 for a win, 1 for a draw) are collated throughout the season and a table is kept to decide the champion team. Coaches are well supported by Gareth and encouraged to gain their basic (Small Whites) coaching certificate. 
During their time in this section of the club players (and coaches) are identified to move into the correct stream of the next phase in their development, Junior inter-club. 

Junior inter-club
In the year they turn 9 players move through to the inter-club section of the club. Still playing small sided games, players now begin moving into performance or participation based streams depending on their individual abilities. To facilitate this trials may be introduced for some teams. Junior inter-club cateers for players aged 9 to 18 in the calendar year. 
Teams at this level play in Mainland Federation inter-club leagues on pitches appropriate to the number of players and physical capabilities. Fields used include Junior and Intermediate through to Senior for full sized 11 a-side games from the age of 13 onwards. No results are recorded or statistics kept for games played at age 10 or below to encourage a focus on player development (over team results).  The focus of this age group is developing individual technique. this focus is further enhanced by the next step in the performance pathway, the Centre of Achievement. 

Centre of Achievement 
Staffed by club coaches working on the club's Coaching Pathway, the Centre of Achievement is designed to aid the development of Junior boys and girls who are looking to develop their game beyond the normal expectancy of club based football. It is ideally suited to those who want to further their experience by gaining exposure through representative football. 
The Centre is divided into 2 groups, Junior for 11 - 12 year olds and Senior for 13 - 15 year olds. The Centre runs year round delivering accelerated learning through a skills based curriculum to 40 players.
Each year 2 teams (1 boys, 1 girls) travel to Canberra (Australia) to participate in the Southern Hemisphere's biggest youth football tournament, the Kanga Cup, to test their football development. 
The Centre of Achievement is the ideal preparation for the next phase in the player pathway, Sporting Futures.

Sporting Futures 
Sporting Futures is a Linfield Sport based sporting academy available to Coastal Spirit elite athletes looking  to build a career in the code. Sporting Futures delivers high level sports education to 4 codes - Rugby, Hockey, Netball and Football. Athletes have access to the best resources and educators in the city through the academy. Topics covered range from Nutrition to Sports Psychology. Participation is by invitation only with successful candidates required to meet stringent criteria.