He may no longer live in Bangor but coach Harry Shooman is still making a mark in his home city

Harry Shooman is a Bangor lad who now lives in Sussex where he runs a successful football coaching venture.

However, the 25-year-old is still bang in touch with his roots as he has expanded his business to his home North Wales city with great effect.

In his own playing career, Harry is a defender for Whitehawk FC, who have made an unbeaten start to life in the English pyramid level 8 Isthmian South East League this season.

He also operates SoccerFix, a football coaching business based in Sussex which also hosts sessions in Harry’s native Bangor and will be in the city next month for half-term.

Harry is brother to Louis, Molly and Lily and the son of Matthew, a former Bangor City FC Supporters Club chairman, and Annie.

The family moved to Brighton a few years ago due to Matthew’s job.

Harry’s own football career started at age seven playing for Llanfairfechan U8’s and saw him represent Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor Academy, Chester, Macclesfield, Airbus and Mostyn Dragons up to under-16’s.

Coaching has always played a major role in his life, a shrewd move for any footballer looking to remain in the game after their playing days end.

He was formerly schools coordinator for the Russell Martin Foundation, backed by the Scottish international and Rangers player, whose mission was to offer a development pathway for boys and girls, age 5-19, from fun holiday camps through to elite player development.

Gaining his FA Level 2 qualification before his 19th birthday, Harry was one of the youngest in Sussex to reach this standard.

He went on to play a key role in mentoring the next generation of young coaches through his participation in the FA Young Coaches Development Programme.

Later playing achievements included representing Brighton City College, winning back to back county cups, captaining Sussex Under 18’s, spending two seasons at Whitehawk youths as a player before a further two as a coach and helping the team to numerous trophies.

Harry stepped up to senior football in 2016/17 with Saltdean United, who were promoted to the Sussex Combined Premier Division (step 9 of the football pyramid).

In 2017/18, Saltdean reached the Sussex Senior Cup semi-finals, losing out to a full-strength Crawley Town managed by former Liverpool favourite Harry Kewell, and finishing top six in the County Premier.

Harry’s versatility saw him play a number of positions that season including left back, centre back, left wing and midfield.

Whilst at Saltdean, ‘Shooey’ amassed over 150 appearances and was club captain for a period.

June 2022 saw Harry return to Whitehawk, where he had spent two short spells before. The current season has started really well for the Hawks.

SoccerFix continues to thrive with more great sessions already held in Sussex and Bangor this summer.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH HARRY SHOOMAN

1) When did SoccerFix start and what were the aims behind it?

SoccerFix originally started as a 1:2:1 training company delivering high quality individual coaching to some of the best young talent in Sussex, alongside running football camps for the local children in our community.
Our aim is to inspire children and young adults to get active though football, providing a safe and fun space for them to develop and progress with their football abilities.

2) Where do you run the sessions?

Sussex and also North Wales, where our site has been a tremendous success so far. We’ve seen almost 5,000 children come through our doors.
Our football camps have quickly become the fastest growing in North Wales holding anywhere between 100-150 children each day.
We run our sessions from the amazing new 4G facility at Treborth in Bangor.

3) How did the Bangor sessions come about?

Our decision to come up North, in particular Bangor, is due to our upbringing there from a young age.

Having lived in North Wales, in 2013, after finishing my GCSE qualifications, we took the jump as a family and moved down south to Brighton and Hove (Sussex).

After setting up SoccerFix in 2018 we worked hard to develop a successful business model here before looking to launch elsewhere. Bangor, North Wales is where our family still lives and we thought why not?

After some market research we quickly found a gap in the market and decided to change our luck and launch our football camps in Bangor where we knew we could speak with friends, family and facilities fairly easily.

I also looked back at my childhood and remembered there not being much opportunity for children to have access to affordable child provision. This is why we are not only the cheapest child care provider across the North Wales coast but also the fastest growing.

4) Who coaches at Bangor? How have they been received so far?

We have a brilliant team of coaches in Bangor, football players, teachers and local grassroots sport coaches.

Our head coach, Tyler French (GK at Caernarfon Town) is a fantastic addition to our team, not only Welsh speaking but fantastic with the kids and has fully bought into the SoccerFix model.

5) What is the aim of SoccerFix eventually?

We have some major plans not only here in Brighton and Hove, but North Wales too. Some of these plans are being put into place as we speak. You will have to wait and see what we have to offer the kids of North Wales in the next few months, all will be revealed via our social media channels. 😁

6) Bit about yourself? The man behind the venture?

My name’s Harry Shooman, I’m 25 years old and have run a successful football coaching business now for 4 years.

I started my football journey in the small village of Llanfairfechan, playing for their under-7’s and under-8’s until moving over to Bangor where I plied my trade at Penrhosgarnedd.

After PG I moved over to Northop Hall in Flintshire where I was fortunate enough to play for Macclesfield Town until the age of 15, when I was released and went back into grassroots football.

I then played for the very successful grassroots side of Mostyn Dragons until under-16 before moving down to Brighton.

Since living in Brighton and Hove I went on to represent Sussex Counties at under-18, successfully captaining the side throughout my college years.

Making the jump into senior football, I played at Saltdean United for 4 years, making 150 appearances and winning some domestic silverware.

I now play for Whitehawk Football Club, who currently sit 2nd in the table after 4 games.

7) Is the standard you play at (step 8 Isthmian South East League) higher than Cymru Premier or Cymru North would you say – what might be the main differences?

I’d say no. The standard is very different here compared to at home. I believe our team could compete in Cymru Premier, but coming up against the top teams like TNS and Connah’s Quay we would struggle.

The team I play for has many young talents and senior players who have been in and around the Football League in their career. It could be interesting to see how we would fare against Cymru Premier teams if it was ever organised.

I’d love to play against Caernarfon. As a Bangor fan myself growing up we would always look forward to the local derby against the “Cofis”. Maybe we should make it happen, I can then score past coach Tyler. 😁

8 What are your ambitions as a player and coach?

As a player, my ambition is always to firstly compete, but ultimately -and we say this to our kids – you HAVE TO ENJOY IT! Football has a short life span! You have to enjoy what you do. We start playing football as children as we love the sport, this shouldn’t change.

My ambition as a coach is to inspire as many children as possible! I want to be able to one day say that SoccerFix has worked with 1 million children across the country. I believe this is possible.