Sliema Football Nursery Coaches' Instructional Meeting Recently Ms Marion Hayton, Senior Youth Football Development Manager at the Leicestershire and Rutland County FA facilitated an interactive seminar for coaching staff at Sliema Wanderers FC Nursery. Apart from serving as a follow-up meeting to the visit to the UK held last August by 13 members of staff as part of a Leonardo da Vinci programme, the theme of this meeting focused on “Player Development” with an insight on grassroots and elite football academies. During the seminar Ms Hayton explained further the aims, organisational set-up and training programmes of the two distinct structures. Ms Hayton also conducted a short practical session.
Mqabba FC Youth Nursery supports Puttinu Cares The 9th edition of the annual football marathon organized by Puttinu Cares will kick off on Friday 3rd May till and Sunday 5th May 2013 at the Marsa Sports Complex. Mqabba FC Youth Nursery will be actively participating for the 4th consecutive year and support this cause on Sunday morning between 9am and 12pm. Like last year, Tarxien FC Youth Nursery will be joining us too. Last year our children managed to collect €800 which were then presented to the organizers of Puttinu Cares. Let's altogether support this cause by actively participate and donate accordingly. Mqabba FC Youth Nursery encourages all members within our Nursery, coaching staff, parents, supporters and other Football Nurseries to join us and participate in this philanthropic cause. Those who are unable to join us and would like to make a donation in aid of Puttinu Cares can do so by contacting any Committee member within the Nursery. Transport will also be available and will leave Mqabba at 8.15am. For more information visit our official website www.mqabbafcyyn.org or our FB Page https://www.facebook.com/mqabbafcyn.
Hamrun Spartans FC and Malta Under 19 International goalkeeper Jean Claude Debattista has successfully concluded a week’s training at the Swindon Town F.C. Academy in England. Jean Claude was welcomed to the Club’s training grounds by Kevin McDonald, the newly appointed Club Manager. Training was mainly based on goalkeeping under Academy Coach Steve Hale and 1st Team Goalkeepers Coach Frazer Digby. Jean Claude trained regularly during the week stay with the club’s Youth team. On Tuesday, the Youth team played a friendly against the RAF team where Jean Claude also played for 45 minutes during the second half and had a positive performance which was noticed by Youth Coach Paul Bodin. Jean Claude also had the opportunity to train alongside Wes Foderingham, the Club’s 1st Team Keeper. Jamie Pitman, the Club’s Phase Development Coach was impressed with Jean Claude’s performance and will keep monitoring this young goalkeeper’s talents.
On the invitation of the Sliema Wanderers Football Nursery, Mr. Francesco Barresi who is responsible for the Youth Sector at Napoli Calcio will be visiting Malta from the 4th to the 6th March. Besides discussing the technical set-up at the Sliema Nursery, Mr. Barresi will also assess and monitor players born 1996/97/98 and 1999. Mr. Barresi has also accepted the request made by the Sliema Nursery to offer the opportunity to all the local coaches to meet him and participate during a meeting to be held at the Sliema Nursery on Tuesday 5th March at 20.00hrs. During this meeting Mr. Barresi will expound on his role at Napoli Calcio and answer any technical questions the coaches will ask him. All local coaches especially those working in the youth sector are invited to avail themselves of this educational opportunity. Before his departure from Malta, Mr. Barresi will address a press conference to be held at the Cavalieri Hotel St. Julian’s on Wednesday 6th March at 10.00hrs. All sports journalists are cordially invited to cover this event. The local Napoli Supporters Club is supporting logistically Mr. Barresi's visit.
Italian Serie B side Brescia Calcio has successfully concluded a two-day training camp and trials with four local football nurseries. Delegates and coaches from the Italian Club have been been coming over to Malta for the past few months monitoring the progress and holding meetings with delegates from the Hamrun Spartans and San Gwann Nurseries in Malta, as well as the Kercem Ajax and Xewkija Tigers counterparts in Gozo, all under the initiative of sports promoter Edward Psaila. These meetings brought about an agreement between these clubs and Brescia Calcio in which there will be an ongoing co-operation that would see Brescia Calcio sending over their coaches to conduct training sessions, scouting and trials for young players registered with these clubs. Technical and administrative staff will also be offered the possibility of travelling to Brescia to gain further training and experience. This agreement came into force this week when over 150 young players aged between 11 and 17 from the San Gwann and Hamrun Spartans Nurseries took part in the first training sessions and trials under the watchful eyes of 8 Brescia Calcio coaches and two of their representatives led by Mr Giorgio Abeni. These sessions were held at the Victor Tedesco Stadium and the San Gwann Football Ground concurrently. Similar sessions were held the following day at the Xewkija Grounds for the boys of similar ages from the Xewkija and Kercem Nurseries. Brescia Calcio aim to select 20 lads from these two sessions and offer them further screening during a second training camp in Rome in April, where the local lads will be accompanied by another group of selected youngsters from around 30 other nurseries from across Europe. Brescia Calcio are renowned for their outstanding contribution towards youth development work in the football world and rank amongst the top clubs in Italy in this field. The agreement Between Brescia Calcio and the four local clubs will be officially launched on the 8th of March, and outlines the four local clubs’ commitment to develop, maintain and further improve their commitment to the positive growth of youth football in Malta.
Although played in very inclement weather, a bonanza of good football was shown during Sliema WFN’s four-day football festival for Under 11 and Under 14 categories. This annual festival, with this year’s edition falling on the 30th anniversary since the foundation of the nursery, attracted the participation of another 12 nurseries being Birkirkara, Floriana, Hamrun, Luxol St Andrews, Melita, Mosta, Pembroke Athleta, Pietà Hotspurs, San Ġwann, Tarxien Rainbows, Valletta, and Żebbuġ Rangers. Fair play between all nurseries and their respective players and club officials made this year’s edition another successful event. At the beginning of each match a ‘RESPECT’ leaflet was distributed to each player and to their respective parents and supporters. The Under 11 category was played on a Grassroots Football Festival basis so that the very young players are detached from undue pressure. The tournament came to an end with an exciting final of the Under 14 category which saw Sliema Wanderers clinching the title after beating Floriana in a penalty shootout. The RESPECT cup for this year went to Zebbug Rangers who got the highest points by match officials for the attitude and fair play shown by players, coaches / nursery officials and supporters. Photos and video comments taken during the tournament are available on Facebook ‘Sliema Wanderers Fc Nursery’.
One of the fundamental policies within Mqabba FC Youth Nursery is to deliver quality training to our youngsters and this can be achieved by regular meetings for our qualified coaching staff. As part of the ongoing training, Mqabba FC Youth Nursery will be organizing two Instructional Meetings for the Coaching Staff within the Nursery.
