MoBay United launch youth academy
Published:Tuesday | January 9, 2024 | 3:26 PMAshley Anguin/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
After three months of being new owners, Montego Bay United Football Club's (MBUFC) lead team has latched onto its stated goal as they officially launched their youth Academy programme which is to help develop the mentality of elite, young talent in St James.
The announcement was made during a press conference at Itel BPO's boardroom in Montego Bay earlier this morning.
Speaking with The Gleaner, Yoni Epstein, chairman of MBUFC, says 60 per cent of the youth programme will consist of non-paying youth.
"Some of the 60 per cent of the non-paying youths were a part of the programme that started yesterday with 30 children. Now that the head coach Sulaiman Nunes is here and fully engaged, his next goal is to go into all of the schools to do free sessions into the schools and start to pick the talent he would want to come and join the club," Epstein said.
"Initially, right now, we have three coaches but over time that will probably grow to six or eight. As for the different age groups, you want one coach per age group and some floaters that are helping out different sessions in the programme, so that is effectively where we are headed," he added.
The youth academy will consist of children aged five to 17.
Club president Dr Germaine Spencer says that now is the best time to start.
"Playing football is a 365 sport, it is not seasonal. It is not just about playing in tournaments, it is about building a player and there is no better time than doing it at the start of the new year. This is why we are committed to pushing this forward now as opposed to later. Part of our promise to the community of western Jamaica when we took over the club is that we will definitely set up a youth system in short order," Spence told The Gleaner.
The programme will run during the week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 pm., and on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
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