The Phantoms Academy is a program that is designed to accelerate development and to increase the opportunities to its athletes to increase the level of their skills to support and increase the migration, and numbers of, Peterborough players into Senior Phantoms and onwards in their senior careers.

Peterborough has a history of producing some great talent and that is testimony to the great work of the junior club and its coaches and managers, this program will support that work and enhance it.

As a senior club our ideal is to have as many local Peterborough players pulling on the Phantoms jersey as possible and to that end we want to commence the Academy to support the work of the junior club and to offer to the potential future stars as much support towards their goals as we possibly can, we are excited to commence such a project. The program will deliver each Academy year 100 additional hours of practice and education as well as other aspects for its athletes.

If we can offer additional practice and education and increase the percentage of juniors maturing into senior Phantoms it will be only serve to support both the junior club and seniors.

The Academy will not affect in anyway the Junior club and the teams operating within it, it will work alongside. The training, games and regular running of PJIHC is totally unaffected. No other ice users will be displaced by the program after negotiation and agreement with Planet Ice Ltd.

PJIHC Head Coach Stevon Johnson commented on the launch of the Academy

“I support the Phantoms Academy and I will help out wherever I can and have been given that opportunity, other junior coaches too can get involved where they can. The academy gives the opportunity for the talented junior players in Peterborough to gain valuable extra training and hopefully progress through to the Phantoms ranks”.

The Academy program will be self funding. Continual work is in place to find commercial sponsorship for the program, for its commencement in 2008-2009 we are targeting 25 smaller sponsorship packs per athlete to supports it inaugural year. The club will make available, free of charge, commercial packages normally sold to partners, to support each participant in gaining entry sponsorship, this investment will allow the commencement of the program and its launch will facilitate the aim in the longer term of engaging in a commercial partnership to support the program and its continuity.

Academy athletes will be by invitation and selection against selection criteria that delivers long term the aim and purpose of the Academy.

The senior club will confirm a minimum one Academy player per season into the Senior Phantoms squad for the following season as a part of the Prospect program.