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City College’s past and present players on the rise

18 January 2012

As a former student at City College Brighton and Hove’s Football Development Academy, Albion centre-half Grant Hall returned to the College recently to congratulate current student Jordan Adekunle who has just been selected for the England Colleges U/19s 17-man squad to tour Italy in March. Grant, who made his Albion debut against Southampton in their 3-0 Championship win, feels a debt of gratitude to the College. 'When I was originally released by Albion, I wasn’t quite sure what to do', said Grant. 'I wanted to stay in football and play at a high level but also keep up my education in case my football career didn’t work out so City College was ideal and was a very positive experience for me.'

Grant had originally been released as an Albion scholar at 16 but the club monitored his progress and were impressed with what they saw. 'Grant’s a good example to young players who get released at 16 and think that their dreams are over but in a lot of cases, players develop at different stages', says Luke Hampton, Team Leader for Sport at City College. 'Grant decided to join our academy while also playing non-league football at Lewes and that stage of development was crucial for him to get to where he is today.'

Grant Hall and Jordan Adekunle

Grant Hall and Jordan Adekunle

Hoping to follow in Grant’s footsteps and make it as a professional is 16-year-old winger Jordan, a former Charlton Athletic youth player. 'Jordan’s a bit more of a raw talent', said Luke. 'He’s an eye-catching player and has real pace and power. I think he could learn a lot from Grant’s maturity and general approach to the game and if he focuses himself like Grant has he’ll have a real chance of making it.'

The success of Grant and Jordan coincides with an excellent run of form for City College’s 1st XI, who have made it into the quarter finals of the English Schools and Colleges FA Cup and are currently sitting top of the England Colleges South East League, with an unbeaten league record so far this season.

For more information on Sports courses at City College, contact course information at 01273 667759, email info@ccb.ac.uk or see www.ccb.ac.uk

For City College media enquiries, please call Brian Bell, Marketing Communications Officer, on 01273 667788 Ext. 488 or email bb1@ccb.ac.uk website www.ccb.ac.uk

About City College Brighton and Hove: Situated in the heart of Brighton and graded ‘Outstanding’ in key areas by Ofsted in its June 2011 report, City College Brighton and Hove is an international centre of vocational excellence and one of the top performing Further Education Colleges in the country. Every year, 2,000 full-time, 7,000 part time, 400 Higher Education and 400 14-16 year old students as well as many international and European students choose City College as their place of further and higher education training. In addition, the College provides training to over 2,000 businesses via its ‘City Business Skills’ department which focuses on employer training needs. Offering over 700 courses from basic level right through to business and postgraduate training, City College is working with its partners to develop the workforce of the future.