Nike Academy offering new pathway for young players
Aspiring New Zealand footballers certainly want to be on this Most Wanted list, reports Andrew Voerman.
The dream of making it as a footballer is shared by kids around the world. Scroll down the Nike Academy’s Facebook page and you’ll have all the proof you need. Comment after comment, from country after country, many of them in broken English, but all conveying the same basic question: How do I join?
To its credit, Nike doesn’t just ignore these pleas. While many of those inquiring are let down gently, just as many are directed to the company’s global talent search, originally called The Chance, but now known as Most Wanted, which lets kids who might not otherwise be noticed show their skills and stake a claim for a place – an invaluable opportunity in countries like New Zealand, where pathways to elite football environments are limited.
The Nike Academy is just like the dozens of others in England, but instead of being attached to a club, like Arsenal or Manchester United, it is attached to a sportswear brand. It is based at St George’s Park, the national football HQ located in the West Midlands, and is home to roughly two dozen prospects, aged 16 to 21. They train fulltime and play matches against other academies, in the hope that they will catch the eye of someone at a club who can offer them a professional contract.
It has been running since 2009, and in that time, two New Zealanders have been members – Dylan Burns in 2014, who quickly moved on to Nottingham Forest, a club in the English Championship that released him this year, and Myer Bevan, who is there at present.
Since arriving at the academy, Bevan has made a New Zealand international side for the first time, joining the under20s for the Oceania World Cup qualifiers in Vanuatu this month, where he scored a hat-trick in their opening match. Even though he’s only been in England for three months, the 19-year-old striker feels he is already reaping the benefits of being able to focus on football fulltime.
‘‘You’re bang in the right environment right away and you’re playing teams that you never thought you’d play,’’ he said.
‘‘I trialled in Auckland, then I went to France, and now I’m playing teams like Swansea, and we’re off to Russia soon. It’s a crazy experience, and if something comes out of it, it’ll be even better.
‘‘I expected it to be very hard and very competitive, but it’s so much more competitive than you think. You have to have so much self belief to go over there, you can’t walk in there thinking you don’t have a chance. It’s all about confidence in yourself and belief in yourself, that you
It’s so much more competitive than you think. Myer Bevan
got to this point so you can go one step further.’’
The academy has a decent track record in that regard, having helped 58 players earn professional contracts, including Australian Tom Rogic, who is with Celtic in the Scottish Premier League, and Abdul Majeed Waris, who plays for FC Lorient in France, and was a member of Ghana’s 2014 World Cup squad.
The next chance for New Zealanders to make it comes at the start of October, when Most Wanted trials will be held in Auckland and Wellington. There, Danny Hay, the academy’s chief scout for the region and the coach of the national men’s under-17 side, will lead the way in deciding who gets to advance to the Pacific finals, where a place at the global finals showcase, and then the academy, will be up for grabs.
‘‘We’ve got a pretty good handle on young players around the country, but we don’t know all of them,’’ Hay said.
‘‘That’s what this opportunity essentially is – come out of the woodwork, and show us exactly what you’ve got and how good you are, and something might catch the eye of the coaches, and you could be on a plane over to Sydney.’’
Looking back at his trial in Auckland earlier this year, Bevan said it came down to how much he wanted it on the day.
‘‘You can go to that trial, and be one of New Zealand’s best players, but if you don’t play well on that day, you know they can’t choose you. At the global showcase, it’s the same thing, but you have four days.
‘‘Obviously you have to have ability as well, but it’s mostly about how hard you’re willing to go to get there.’’