After two days of intense training with coaches from the Manchester City Football Club (MCFC), 3 boys out of 30 were selected to move on to the Kickstart Academy slated for later this year.
Selected are HVFC under-20 players Alique Skerritt of Kingston Technical High School and Tyreek Magee (who also made a senior team appearance this season), along with Paiyge Sinclair, both of Jamaica College.
Skerritt, who had previously participated in the clinic, said: “It was an even greater experience the second time around as I was a part of the clinic before.”
Equipped with not only experience, but some solid advice, Skerritt was confident he would be selected. “My twin brother Alain Skerritt was successful last year and went on to train at the City Football School in England, which he told me was an unforgettable experience. He gave me tips on how to put out my best, so I did just that and it paid off.”
Sinclair, a fifth form Jamaica College student, was also back at the clinic for a second year.
“I was here last year and was selected as one of the players to go on to the academy. This year I came back more determined and motivated to impress the coaches. I am really pleased with my performance and plan to take it even further this time and go to Manchester City,” he said.
First-timer to the clinic, Magee,(who made his Premier League debut for HVFC this season) has learnt a lot during his two days. “This clinic just shows that hard work and listening to your coach pays off, which is what I did. One thing I will definitely take away from this clinic is what I learnt about speed of play. You learn how to manage the speed of the game based on climate conditions, personal energy and, of course, what is happening in the game,” he noted.
The Digicel Kickstart Clinic, which was held in Jamaica from March 29-30, will also be held in 13 other countries across the Caribbean — Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, El Salvador, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Suriname, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
At last year’s Digicel Academy, the MCFC coaches selected players from the Caribbean to continue training with them for a week at the City Football Academy, an elite training and youth development facility in Manchester, England.
While there, they got the rare opportunity to experience life as a professional footballer — learning the tactics and strategies employed by Manchester City FC first-team players.
Source: The Jamaica Observer