In his first column of the new season, academy director Frank McParland writes about a special week for Liverpool's promising young star Jordan Rossiter.

The 16-year-old played for the Reds side that beat Manchester United U21s on the Monday before volunteering to help at a special tournament in memory of Stephen Packer on Wednesday.

He then collected his GCSE results on the Thursday - and spent Friday afternoon visiting a homeless shelter with Academy teammates.

In Frank's eyes, his week sums up what the Academy experience should involve: excelling on the pitch, in the classroom and then showing bags of humility on top.

But first, Frank reflects on a thrilling 1-0 victory for the Reds' U18s side against Everton in the mini-derby on Saturday afternoon...

It was a great win. We had a lot of players who have pushed up to the U21s now, so the likes of Jordan Rossiter and Lloyd Jones did not feature, while Jordon Ibe was away with the first-team squad.

I'm really pleased with the performance of our lads. Everton played really well in the second half and probably shaded it. They were unlucky not to get their reward, but Ryan Crump made a great save from the last kick of the game.

Ryan was probably the busier of the two 'keepers on the day and he acquitted himself brilliantly. That's the best he has played for a couple of years, and so that really pleased me. Hopefully he'll keep pushing on now.

I want to focus on one of our boys who was playing with the U21s this week - Rossiter. On Monday night he played against Manchester United and was part of the side that won 4-2 in Salford.

He's only 16 years of age. He's playing at U21 level and in such a difficult game - and I think that takes an awful lot of skill, dedication and ability.

On Thursday, three days after celebrating beating United with the likes of Fabio Borini, he got his GCSE results. He was really pleased with his qualifications as well - and then on Friday, he was meeting people at one of the homeless shelters in Liverpool along with a number of other players.

Now, this is the kind of week that really sums up what it's all about at the Academy. Winning and improving as a player, succeeding with your education and then staying grounded by taking part in our community work.

It wasn't just Jordan, though - he's just one example. It was great to see all the kids get their results. We had some unbelievable performances from our boys at Rainhill.

Sheyi Ojo and Jerome Sinclair got some fantastic results. Then there was Tom Brewitt, who got five A* and 5 As. I think that shows that these lads are not just good footballers, they are actually serious boys who want to do well in life. We're very proud of their achievements.

We had three Scousers in the middle of the park against United on Monday - with another, Adam Morgan, up front alongside Borini and Jordon Ibe. Jack Dunn played a little further forward with Craig Roddan and Rossiter behind.

I know the manager is really keen for us to bring players in from the local area, because they do have the heart and soul of the club. It's always fantastic for them to get in the team.

But what I was really pleased about on Monday was that the three who dropped down from the first team - Martin Kelly, Ibe and Borini - were superb. It was as though they were playing in a first-team game. They gave everything. I was really impressed with Borini - I thought he was the best player on the park.

I've known Martin since he was seven or eight - I've known him for years. One thing about him is that he's a fantastic character. And he loves playing football, he loves playing for Liverpool. I was delighted to see him captaining the reserves and helping us win the game. He acquitted himself really well in the game.

At the end of the day, players need to play games. And if it's a good game like Manchester United, in a stadium with a large crowd, and the boss needs a first-team player to drop down and play, then it'll happen more often this season.

On Friday we visited a homeless shelter in Liverpool. I know Alex Inglethorpe, Clive Cook and Phil Roscoe have all touched on this in previous columns, but I want to talk a little more about it.

The boys, by no fault of their own, are very cocooned in the football world. All they ever see is people earning a lot of money and buying a lot of things.

So we want them to see that there are people out there who don't have anywhere to live. We want them to see that it's not just people who don't work either; some people at the shelter had been professors and had good jobs, but find themselves in unfortunate circumstances.

And we want the boys to be able to see that there is another side to life. We want them to have real empathy with these people. It's something that upsets the lads a little bit, but they enjoy chatting to the children when they visit Alder Hey and they know the importance of visiting the shelters.

We take between three and eight of the boys on these trips, so they go with their mates. We always have a talk to them before we go, tell them the reasons why we're going and then we have a debrief after it, where we ask them how they feel and how it went.

Pretty much all the kids are very grounded and they come back with the same answers. To see young people seriously ill or people without a home really makes them think about their own lives.

The three lads we took to Alder Hey this week currently all have long-term injuries. Sometimes they can be feeling a bit down, but what I said to them was: "Yours are only football injuries, for some of the children here, this is a matter of life and death."

And it doesn't half hit home to them that they are so lucky. They've got an injury, but they are lucky to be healthy. We really want them to know the other side of life.

Today we're setting off for America. We'll be heading to Newark, just by New York, and we'll be playing in a tournament there against the likes of Inter Milan.

When we get there we'll be doing a lot of community work. And a big part of the trip will be to take the boys to Ground Zero, to the memorial there.

We're going to explain to them about what happened - because, when you think about it, most of them were probably about three or four when 9/11 happened.

They'll have a great time in New York - but all the while we'll be keeping to the values that I have spoken about throughout this column.

And so the trip to Ground Zero will be an extension of that education process.

Follow @LFCUSA for comprehensive coverage of the U18s' trip to America plus live updates during each Liverpool match.