Young local footballers Travell Edwards, Sebastian Camacho, Kori Cupid and Raheam Borde will certainly remember their stint at the Digicel Kick Start Academy which was held in Barbados in October.
“It was like a dream come true,” said 15-year-old Travell Edwards, a student of St Anthony’s College.
The Academy, which is the culmination to the Digicel Kick Start Clinic, a developmental programme launched in 2008, presents aspiring footballers with a-once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend the prestigious Academy.
Last year, the clinic established a strategic partnership with the legendary English Premier League Club, Chelsea. The chosen elite youngsters attended a week-long camp where they were trained under the watchful eye of the world-renowned Chelsea coaches.
The three Chelsea coaches-David Monk, senior international football development officer, Andrew Patrick Ottley, international development officer and Kane Nicholas Cowburn, international football development head coach, who conducted the local leg of the clinic —selected these four footballers from a competitive field of 31 young men who qualified to take part in last year’s Clinic.
Camacho, 17, who plays football for Fatima College, one day, hopes to wear the T&T colours.
“I entered the Digicel Kick Start Clinic to learn from top class coaches and improve my overall game,” he said.
The Digicel Kick Start Clinic and Academy certainly left a profound impact on the young footballers.
“I learnt that football is not all about winning but expressing yourself,” said Edwards.
“The Programme was awesome. I felt it was a great experience because we got a first-hand opportunity to be coached by coaches of the highest level, and even got to play against the Barbados national team.”
After participating at the Digicel Academy in Barbados, Camacho said, “I thought I had a good session and thankfully the Chelsea coaches believed in me and gave me an opportunity.
“As a footballer that is all we can ask for. It was the closest thing I’ve seen to the actual life of a pro footballer, calculated in everything we did. Breakfast was at a certain time, training with intensity on and off the ball.
“All the things necessary to be 100 per cent in everything you do on and off the field. It is an experience I will never forget.”
Both Edwards and Camacho were grateful to Digicel for facilitating their opportunity to showcase their talent and interact with the Chelsea coaches.
Edwards said, “Having experienced this I would tell my football contemporaries when they go to trials, put out your all and work hard because an opportunity like this only comes around once in a lifetime.”