SOCCER – TOM HAYES
A-LEAGUE club Melbourne City recently conducted a successful Summer Training Camp in Morwell at Falcons 2000 Soccer Club, on Friday, January 19.
Specialised for kids as young as seven or eight-year-old, up to early teenagers, nearly 80 local kids participated in the camp produced by the Melbourne City Football School.
Melbourne City Football School scheduled 10 Summer Camps, in Altona, Bayside, Bundoora, Casey Fields, Essendon, Glen Iris, Monash, Morwell, Mount Aliza and Templestowe, plus and extra two programs for the Select Squad and Goalkeepers.
The Melbourne City Summer Camps could mean different things to different kids, as some may be looking to have some fun or learn some new skills ahead of the season, while more advanced footballers will be trying to find themselves in the Melbourne City Select Squad, or their academy.
Senior Manager of Melbourne City Football School, Tom Penny was pleased with the turnout in Morwell.
“The aim of the program is to just come along, have fun … and obviously try and learn our way of doing things – the City way. We take children obviously from five-years-old all the way through to 15,” he said.
Kids were spilt into four groups administered by two Melbourne City coaches each, all learning things the Manchester City way.
The methodology and formation of the training sessions derive from Manchester City itself, where coaches travel the world to conduct sessions on behalf of Manchester City.
Replica programs to the one in Morwell are also conducted in other Victorian areas, as well as Manchester, New York, Girona, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with the added potential to expand to many more countries where the City Football Group own clubs.
The City Football Group own clubs across six continents, those are Melbourne City (Australia), Manchester City (England), New York City (US), Yokohama Marinos (Japan), Montevideo City Torque (Uruguay), Girona (Spain), Sichuan Jiuniu (China), Mumbai City (Inda), Lommel (Belgium), Troyes (France), Palermo (Italy) and Bahia (Brazil).
Manchester City coaches have been distributed throughout Australia, coaching Manchester City-based football in Melbourne’s Parade College, Adelaide, Brisbane and two in Sydney.
Coaches also train kids in schools from countries such as Switzerland and Indonesia, showing the true extent to how deep Manchester City are going to build the best academy.
Kids from Morwell were exposed to the Manchester City way of football, in a full day of fun, learning and training drills, all while putting themselves on display for Melbourne City.
If participants impressed, they could be selected to represent one of Melbourne City’s select clubs at another training camp, and if they are good enough, they could join the Melbourne City academy, which could lead to playing in the A League and beyond.
“The idea is to keep expanding the program in Melbourne, we’ve never, ever been outside of the city, so this is the first time we’ve ever done it – so we decided to come in this area,” he said.
“It’s kind of a test of the waters really, to see if it was gonna work or not, obviously it is working because we’ve got 77 children here today, which is fantastic.”
The Melbourne City Football School conducts an all-year-round program, with the Winter Term 1 Program is a weekly program at 8-9 different venues in and around Melbourne.
Players that train during the Winter Term 1 Program could be selected for the Select Squad, and from there, players can be invited to the Melbourne City Academy, starting as low as Under 14s.
The recent Under 14 academy team consisted of 16 players, 14 of those were from the Melbourne City Football School.
“There’s a clear pathway now for players who want to push and develop,” Penny said.
