Aspiring young footballers, Javier Piper, Kyii Ireland andDaniel Peter Spronk along with coach William Swatton, returned home last week more skilful, confident and ready to put their knowledge into practice after attending a very successful Digicel Kick Start Academy in Trinidad.
Thirty-seven of the region’s most talented footballers spent one week training and living as professional footballers under the guidance of Sunderland Academy coaches, Kevin Ball and Carlton Fairweather, before putting their newly-acquired expertise to the test in a series of football matches played at Trinidad’s Hasely Crawford National Football Stadium.
In an interview with the boys, they all expressed their gratitude towards being given such a wonderful opportunity which has helped them tremendously in learning more about the game. They all have aspirations of living the dream by playing professional football with top European clubs.
“I hope to play for Real Madrid because I lived there and all my friends like the team and I’ll try my best to play for them because that’s my dream,” said Spronk.
The boys had a lot to be thankful for – not only did they have the opportunity to trained under the best – but also to be among the 37 other players from across the region – Haiti, Suriname, Panama, USA, Grenada, St Kitts & Nevis, Jamaica, Tobago and host country Trinidad – with whom they have established lifelong friendships.
“The whole experience was invaluable. Our boys were exposed to other styles of play from the other countries and they soaked up as much knowledge as possible,” said Swatton, the coach from Swalings School of Soccer who travelled with the boys from Antigua.
“There was also an intense training for coaches and I was a participant. It was a fabulous opportunity all round. So a big thanks to Digicel, John Barnes, and the other coaches for giving us this once in a lifetime opportunity.
Sunderland FC coaches Kevin Ball and Carlton Fairweather awarded the top performers in the categories of Most Disciplined (Shavon John Brown, Grenada); Most Committed (Ivan Morillo, Panama); Most Improved Player (Akeem Garcia, Trinidad) and Most Valuable Player (Erikkson Phede, Haiti) – as well as two prizes for the top scorers in the Hot Shot competition (Akeem Garcia, Trinidad) and the Cross Bar challenge (Sorencio Juliaans, Suriname).
“It was great to see the months of hard work from nine Digicel markets actually come to life and I think the players who got this opportunity will remember it for the rest of their lives,” said Digicel Group Head of Sponsorship Karl Donnelly.
“The experience of training as a professional – albeit for a short period of time, is something that I am sure will inspire these players in their future careers. While not all may realise their dream of playing professional football, this experience will stand to them beyond that, which is why it is such an important initiative for Digicel.”
After the awards ceremony, Ball and Fairweather spoke exclusively to www.digicelfootball.com about the week’s training and what advice they would give to the boys going forward.
“This has been a very enjoyable and fulfilling week because at the end of it, we could see our training and guidance come to fruition and come out in the game – which was great because it meant the players had really been listening,” said Ball.
“When we first started we felt the players were a little shy and a little bit introverted – and that’s understandable. It’s a big ask for them because for many it’s the first time in their life they are away from home and parents and in a completely different environment. But as the week progressed and they began to work in smaller teams, we saw them develop and become more comfortable in their surroundings,” he continued.
The Digicel Academy is a week-long elite training camp which took place in Trinidad from November 1 to 7 under the leadership of top Barclays Premier League coaches, Ball and Fairweather, from the Sunderland Academy, assisted by Barnes.
The Digicel Academy will also host a ‘coach the coaches’ seminar in which coaches from across the region will get expert training from Sunderland AFC’s finest teachers.
(Source http://www.antiguaobserver.com/?p=67258)
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