Academy commended for promoting young talents
The International Youth Football Academy, a newly opened private institution that promotes soccer talents of primary school students from Fiji and abroad has been commended for its effort in enhancing the sporting talents of the youngsters.
This follows the academy’s awards night last week which the Minister for Health and Medical Services, Rosy Akbar officiated in as chief guest and handed out trophies and medals to the players.
Ms Akbar commended the Academy for its aspirations to promote the young sporting talents.
“This initiative will contribute towards the development of future players and I hope that some of you will make it to the international clubs.
“And with passion, dedication and discipline each one of you can realise your true potential.
“This programme is also important because it complements the Ministry’s efforts on the prevention of the non-communicable diseases (NCD’s).
“The youngest diabetes patient is 12-years-old and as NCDs continues to rise, we need to work together to address, raise awareness on this issue,” Ms Akbar said.
“The Academy promotes the importance of healthy living and it will enable this young children to thrive and succeed in their endeavours to become great soccer play- ers.
“As such we commend International Youth Football Academy for creating new opportunities for the development of these young talents.”
Technical Director and Head Coach for the International Youth Football Academy, Mr Riyaz Ali said the plan is to broaden the training opportunities for many more children in Fiji.
“The International Youth Football Academy is for the development of future players of soccer not only with in Fiji but the Pacific Region as well.
“This is private academy and it’s not linked with any sporting associations in Fiji. We are planning to open similar academies in the west and the northern division as well. “This academy has players from PNG, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji as well,” Mr Ali said. “Female soccer is nationwide and this academy encourages both boys and girls as players to develop their potential.
“The players attending this training are from different countries as some of their parents are working in Fiji and maybe if they are staying here they will utilise their skills if not then they will be taking it back to their countries.
“The training duration varies for the players, some of them stay in Fiji, while some of them are here for a period of four to five years.
“We have local coach’s ex-players who are volunteering their time in providing training at the academy. We started off with 15 players and now we have over 40 players and we are hoping that many more will join us.”
The motto of the team is, “If we build it, they will come.”
The Academy started operations 8 months ago and is currently providing soccer training to 51 primary school students of which 40 are male players and 11 are female players.