Jamaica’s Ambassadors to Spain, Martin Davis and Kaya Beckford, who spent the last week at the Valencia Football Club Summer camp, have returned amidst rave reviews about their performance and the athletic abilities of Jamaican footballers in general. Davis and Beckford, who received scholarships for the camp after participating in the Next Generation Valencia Easter Football Camp in Jamaica this year, play for St. Georges College and Glenmuir High respectively. Davis is also Captain of the Under 12 team at the Harbour View Football Club.
The Valencia CF 2010 Summer Camp covered various training concepts and trained and evaluated the youngsters in offensive and defensive tactics, individual and collective techniques, use of both feet, coordination, focus and behavior. They also had the added fortune of training with the First Division Football Coach, Unai Emery, and being in Spain for the much anticipated World Cup Finals. “It was an amazing experience that I will never forget….I made so many friends…I can’t wait to go back and perhaps one day play for the Valencia Football Club,” says Martin. His mother, Dianne Edwards, was equally impressed, “It was an experience and an opportunity of a lifetime for Martin. The organization of the camp and the levels of discipline and professionalism were impressive and the boys naturally fell in line. What also stood out for me was the wide mix of camp participants from across the globe and the strategies taught, for example the boys were always encouraged to work as a team and to keep the passes short.”
The Next Generation Camp, staged by Jamaican partner Taino Trade and Investment Limited, is part of the Valencia Football Club’s ongoing efforts to promote the club internationally. According to Taino Head, Victor Salazar-Chang, “It is a remarkable opportunity for Jamaican kids not just to benefit from Valencia’s know-how and strategies on local soil but to travel to Spain and participate in the Club experience first-hand. Additionally, we are working on opening up the opportunity to even more kids as we expect Valencia CF to set up a permanent school in Jamaica in a few years. Our two ambassadors have made us proud and have really paved the way for some exciting developments that will be announced shortly.”
The internationalization effort has already seen the establishment of the first official Valencia school outside of Spain in Kobe, Japan, and camps in Scotland and Wales. A second school is slated to be opened later this year in Cairo, Egypt. Jamaica has already hosted one of its three scheduled annual camps and the Valencia CF has committed to establishing a permanent Campus in Jamaica in 2013.