Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney and Mario Balotelli are watched and adored by millions across the world every time they stride onto the pitch. They’re the architects of some of the finest moments many of us, as fans, have seen grace football matches in recent years. At one time, though, they all shared a dream and an ambition to reach the dizzy heights they now perform at week in, week out. As young men they would have trained and played with junior coaches who helped them learn their craft as well as how to live the healthy lifestyle a top player needs. With that in mind, we decided to go and find out more about some of the huge names in the soccer world that have recently opened up schools in the region.
Manchester City piloted a soccer school scheme late last year that was such a success they’ve now opened an academy at Zayed Sports City. Simon Hewitt, head coach, lets us in on what people can expect. ‘It’s as much about healthy living as anything else. Kids that come here can expect to learn about things like ball skills, but they’ll also be doing plenty of exercise because it’s not something, normally, they’re encouraged to do.’ Aside from trying to pass on the ethos and philosophy of Man City (the staff are from the club itself) the coaches have also been impressed by how quickly the kids develop once they take part in the programme, which is directly influenced by what the academy back in Manchester does. ‘We’ve seen some kids show up who don’t even know how to kick a ball but after they’ve been with us for a while you can see such a remarkable improvement and it’s great to watch.’
It’s not just the Premier League clubs who are offering the children of the capital a chance to learn more about a healthy lifestyle. FC Barcelona are, right now, probably the most revered club football team in the world. Based at the GEMS American Academy technical director Marc Sabate tells Time Out what the idea is behind the Barcelona school.
‘We want to encourage the kids to play together, to play with their friends. Football is not an individual game, it’s a team game.’ Kids that attend the Barcelona school can expect to be taught by coaches sanctioned by FC Barcelona and they’ll learn about the more technical aspects of the games such as control and pass, running with the ball and dribbling, which the children (age groups range from five-16) will then be encouraged to try and utilise in real situations during the school match days which happen once a week.
‘On the match days nobody cares about the result, it’s important the kids have fun. That’s our main objective.’
Over at The Dome@Rawdhat the Manchester United Soccer School’s international head coach, Peter Nicholls, speaks to us about their approach. ‘The idea behind MUSS is player-centred development, with activities and training that are used in and around the first team at Manchester United. It’s an opportunity for the local community to train and play the Manchester United way.’ Kids at the United school will learn about things like explosive play and how to dominate one-on-one situations as well as passing and control. They even concentrate on nutrition and teach their groups all about how to hydrate themselves properly.
Having visited all of these schools it’s fair to say they’re more than just simply brand extensions. They seem to genuinely care about instilling the right messages about social interaction, as well as physical well-being. Not only that, all the coaches told us that if they saw someone with enough talent they’d be more than willing to point the club scouts in the direction of that child.
So if you’ve got a budding Lionel, Wayne or Mario at home you could do a lot worse than sending them along to one of these schools to learn their skills from the very best.
