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Young stars: Daniel Isiagi, 16, and Andrew Okiring, 13 |
Global kick-off for Pro Touch
A TOP football academy designed to help disadvantaged players fulfil their dreams of making it in the professional game has gone global.
On Sunday the Pro Touch Soccer Academy, based at Market Road in Islington, welcomed two young players from Africa as they look to build bridges across the world.
During a recent tournament in Denmark, Pro Touch director Ash Rahman met Ivan Kakembo who runs the Uganda Youth Soccer Academy in Kampala.
Together they have devised a plan that will see some of the top players from Uganda come to Camden to spend time with youngsters at Pro Touch, a move that Ash believes is vital in helping produce better footballers.
“By forming partnerships with other academies we can learn new training methods and develop a greater understanding on how children from all over the world see football. I also think that by spending time together off the pitch our players will become less blinded by the glitz and glamour that today’s top stars put across.
“Hopefully our players will become more appreciative of the facilities that they have available to them within Camden and Islington,” he added.
The quality of the goals and the artificial pitches at Market Road have often come under scrutiny by visiting coaches and players. But they would be “a dream” back in Uganda according to coach Kakembo.
“Back home children play on dusty pitches, not grass or Astroturf. We have a few cones, and wooden goals that we made ourselves. That’s it.
“It is an honour to be invited over to train with such a well organised academy,” he added.
“Thanks to the heart of parents back home and their donations, we are sometimes blessed to be able to give our children the chance to play and train in Europe.
“They are good players and if we are lucky maybe they will get spotted by a professional club and given the opportunity to prove themselves on the international scene.”
The new partnership will allow some of Africa’s potential young stars to do just that. Pro Touch has invited coaches from the Uganda Soccer Academy to bring a group of players back next summer to take part a series of friendly matches against youth teams from professional clubs. |
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