Valeo, KSAFA team up for summer football camps - Sporting Lisbon and Atlético Madrid to provide support

The Emelio Williams-led Valeo Football Academy, which, in association with the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA), continues its thrust to develop football from the grass roots through to the highest level, will host two international training camps with two world-renowned clubs in Sporting Lisbon of Portugal and Atlético Madrid of Spain.

The camp with Sporting Lisbon takes place from July 1-4, while Atlético Madrid will oversee their camp from July 9-12. Both take place at the UWI Mona Bowl and will include advance technical training, functional and position specifics, tactical training, speed, strength, and agility training. There will also be showcase matches and tournaments, plus player evaluations.

The camp, which is part of a bigger project to develop Jamaica’s football, will include players from the under-10 age group to under-19s, and Williams believes that these camps present a holistic package of what is required to take young talent to the highest level.

“This summer, we are having a series of training camps. The first two weeks of July, we will have coaches from Sporting Lisbon and Atlético Madrid coming to work with our players here and our coaches. It’s part of a larger initiative that we are on, and it involves development of Jamaican football, player development, coaching development, club development, league development, and facility development. The end goal is to try to raise the level of football in Jamaica and put Jamaica on the world map,” he told the audience at the launch of the camps at the Scotiabank Sports Club on Tuesday.

“Everyone has aspirations of playing at the highest level, but if you do not know the level, and how to train at the level then you are a blind man in a dark room. When you have coaches that can push the players and explain the level and give you feedback on what you need to work on, specifically as a player and as a coach, then you can go back and work on those specifics because it came from the horse’s mouth.

Key performance indicators

He said:“One of the process is bench-marking the players with key performance indicators, such as speed, strength, technical speed, tactical speed, their technique and tactical intelligence in game situations. So the net result of the two weeks is that the kids and coaches will be smarter and know what they need to work on, and everyone will know the level and intensity they need to train at, and then we can repeat the process in another six months,” he said.

He noted that the personnel training and evaluating the kids are actually coaches and scouts of the respective clubs’ U-14, U-15 and U-17 teams.

Meanwhile, president of KSAFA Wayne Shaw says the camps will be of great benefit to the clubs and players.

“This will provide exposure for our academy players. Both international clubs (Sporting Lisbon and Atlético Madrid) will provide the experience needed to kick-start football careers. These camps will foster football and community development in addition to specific focus areas, which will be beneficial to our association,” he stated.