Wanaka club links with Ole Academy

WANAKA Football Club has joined with one of New Zealand’s top football academies.

The Ole Academy has announced an official partnership with the Central Otago club.

Based in Wellington, Ole is a highlevel development academy and has had names such as Tyler Boyd and Ryan Thomas come through its ranks.

It ran a South Island training camp with the club in January, the first time Ole had ventured to the South Island.

Technical director Ben Sippola and CEO Blake Jones were on hand for that.

Meanwhile, Wanaka technical director Thomas van Hees and senior coach Blair Scoullar have worked closely with the academy to understand and apply its philosophies.

In return, Ole recognised the club’s vision to provide a sustainable development model for young players.

They will work together to establish the Ole x Wanaka Academy, which will launch a pilot winter programme later this month.

From there they will look to transition into a summer programme and there will be regular exchanges between staff and players.

Wanaka initially had separate junior and senior clubs, but combined in 2019.

It has more than 300 junior and youth players, alongside a strong contingent of senior teams.

Those senior teams include a Southern Premier League team, which is in its third year in the southern federation’s pinnacle league.

Last year it achieved a very respectable top four finish.

Developing talent to filter into that top side was a focus for the club.