THE BLUES are coming to Bim.
European kings and FA Cup holders Chelsea are set to see the best junior football Barbados has to offer after tele-communications giant Digicel announced that its Kick Start Academy will be hosted at Kensington Oval in October.
Digicel’s CEO for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Barry O’Brien, had nothing but high praise for the possibilities coming out of this arrangement after disclosing details of the two-week training programme, which originated last year with coaches from Sunderland training 30 children in Trinidad.
“It’s a huge coup for us at Digicel and this is all about promoting Barbados now and also promoting soccer there [because] this is going to increase the exposure around soccer in Barbados,” said O’Brien, who was on hand during yesterday’s launch of the 2012 Kick Start series.
“It’s an amazing opportunity for these kids. This is a whole process for some of these kids because they have to be selected from a group from their country before going to Barbados and then they will get the opportunity to go to Chelsea as well, so it’s huge.
“They [Chelsea] really just wanted to put together two very successful brands and for Chelsea, European champions, Digicel seemed to be an obvious choice, so we both talked to each other and we came up with this,” he added.
The academy serves as the culmination of a series of eight clinics in regional countries such as Jamaica, Trinidad, St Lucia, Haiti and Suriname, where 30 children between the ages of 14 and 16 are coached in different drills by Liverpool and England legend John Barnes.
The best three players on show at each of these clinics are then chosen to participate at the academy in Barbados, where seven juniors will be selected by Chelsea’s foundation coaches to go to Stamford Bridge to receive high-level instruction – and a possible stint with the Blues’ junior set-up.
Gifted 14-year-old goalie Jesus Lares, and fellow talented teens Zachary Atkinson and Jayson Isaacs are the first juniors to book spots at the academy, after the three Florida footballers were selected from yesterday’s clinic with Chelsea’s youth coaches.
