Lee Canoville
Lee is the founder of Canoville Coaching, and it is his vision teamed with his experience both on and off the pitch that makes our team strive to be the best coaching and mentoring company in the UK.
Born in Greenford, London in 1981, Lee started playing football at the age of 7, he played weekly at grassroots until at 14 years of age he signed schoolboy forms with Millwall. It wasn't long before he was offered a place at the FA National School of Excellence, this being every young footballers dream, he left home for Lilleshall where he trained and played alongside some of the best players in England at that time, including Michael Owen, Joe Cole, Scott Parker and Wes Brown; during this time he represented England at Under 15's through to U20's, an incredible achievement for any player.
In the summer of 1997 Lee joined Arsenal as an apprentice, a life long ambition given he is an Arsenal fan, within a year he was offered a 3 year professional contract, although he was unable to break the first team his time here was invaluable; working with coaches such as Arsene Wenger, Don Howe and Liam Brady and playing alongside teammates such as Ashley Cole and Jermaine Pennant, all giving him a wealth of knowledge that he is now able to pass on to future generations. To this day, his proudest career moment was when he came on as a second half substitute against Ipswich at Highbury in 2000, his time at Arsenal will always be special.
His professional career spanned 10 years and consisted of over 200 games that saw him play for Northampton Town, Torquay United, Shrewsbury Town and Boston United, his final club was Notts County which led him to meet his wife Nina, and settle in Nottinghamshire to raise a football mad family!
"As soon as I moved here I loved it and knew I wouldn't return to London, the people are great, the sense of community is strong but I also get to live a quieter life and focus on the things that matter to me."
Having had a taste of management in 2012, Lee realised his passion for coaching and particularly the enjoyment he got from developing the younger players at the club, from that point onwards the goal was clear and in 2013 Canoville Coaching was born.
"Since day one we've gone from strength to strength at Canoville, we work hard in creating an environment that has room for both inclusivity and healthy competition, our coaches create space for the children that we work with to excel but to know that the goal is to simply be as good or better than they were yesterday. I'm proud of the team we have and the difference that we're able to make, we've got some big plans for the future and I believe that there's no limit to what we can achieve." ~ Lee Canoville