Man U Academy to conduct clinic in Nairobi
by Fred Maingi 07 February 2012, 16:54
The football academy of English Premier League (EPL) champions
Manchester United will conduct a coaching clinic for football coaches
of secondary schools.
The clinic, which is being sponsored by Aon Insurance, is targeting 48
coaches in conjunction with the Kenya Secondary Schools Sports
Association (KSSSA) as one of the activities in the run up to the
firm’s 25th anniversary celebrations to be held in London in June.
Aon's sub Saharan Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Joe Onsando, said for the
country to be successful in football, talent has to be nurtured when
it's still raw, hence the need of building the capacity of coaches who
handle juniors.
“We expect that the training and skills imparted will be taken back
and implemented at the schools by the coaches,” said Onsando.
The clinic will also offer 192 children from diverse backgrounds an
opportunity to develop their raw skills under the Manchester United
Soccer Schools curriculum, which intends to produce well balanced
soccer players in the skills and drills programme.
The training, to be hosted at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies
(KSMS) on Saturday, will be conducted by Peter Nichols, Billy Miller
and Kevin O’Conell, who are coaches from the Manchester United Soccer
Schools.
This was disclosed during the inauguration of a series of activities
under Aon’s global ‘Pass it On’ initiative when the convoy arrived in
Kenya on a 19 African tour that commenced on October 24th last year
and will end in June.
The initiative is a step by corporates linking upcoming Kenyan
football stars with top clubs in the popular English Premiership.
Last year in a similar initiative by Manchester United Soccer Schools
coaches from the academy conducted a week long international football
clinic dubbed ‘Airtel Rising Stars’.
Mobile service provider Airtel initiated the ambitious football talent
search that focused on identifying and nurturing budding talent from
the grassroots to the national stage with the four best players being
scouted who traveled to England and trained at the club's academy.
In 2010, Standard Chartered Bank facilitated young players and coaches
in conjunction with Liverpool Fc to conduct a clinic by the legendary
Ian Rush.
Last year the best three players selected during the Copa Coca Cola
Under-17 tournament were afforded an opportunity of training at
Chelsea FC’s state of the art training facility, meet members of the
team, watch a match and tour the stadium as well as various popular
tourist spots around London.
In the region, Brookside Dairy sponsors top football players selected
during the East Africa Secondary Schools Championships for trials with
Kenyan Premier League (KPL) side Thika United for trials where the
best six join the club.
The ‘Pass it On’ convoy is part of a five vehicle group traveling from
Cape Town to Cairo all carrying official Manchester United footballs.
The first convoy of three is traveling along a 5 315km western route
while the second is traveling on a 4 030 eastern route.
Starting tuesday morning, as part of the initiative, Aon Kenya will be hosting a
two day Futsal tournament at the Nyayo National Stadium to raise
awareness as well as fund raise for the Kenyatta National Hospital
gender-based Violence Recovery Centre.