JOSH – ZIM’S CHELSEA GEM
YOUNG football gem Joshua Masara has a bright future, both as an athlete and academic.
Born on August 11 2011 at St Mary’s Hospital, West London, Josh’s wizardry, comfort and composure with the ball was noticed when he was still a toddler.
At three years, he had already proved to many a scout that he was a rough diamond that needed polishing.
All this was noted at Little Kickers, which ‘ordained’ his journey as he used to visit the facility on Saturdays for kick-about sessions.
So gifted and unique was the three-yearold’s energy, skill and pace that his parents got convinced they had a great footballer in their family.
At around six years, Josh enrolled at a local Under-7 developmental side, Brook House Grassroots.
He later received further personal football coaching with a private coach.
Josh became an instant goal scoring machine with his football trickery.
At seven, he became an instant hit, winning hearts of scouts who came to watch him.
He was offered pre-academy training opportunities with Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Fulham, Watford who all eventually offered him academy
Under-9 contracts.
He made a name for himself at the pre-academy training sessions with Chelsea but would attend other academies on ad hoc basis.
Josh eventually accepted the Chelsea offer and signed an Under-9 contract in April 2020.
He was selected among the Top 12 of the Under-9 players who were offered contracts out of hundreds of other Under-9 players.
He goes to Cobham Academy training around 3 times a week, after school, and also attends matches over the weekends.
Josh has just been retained by Chelsea for a place in the Under-10 group commencing August.
In his family, he is the only one involved in football and also the first Zimbabwe to be signed on a football contract by Chelsea.
Josh has won a lot of football awards both as an individual and with his teams in grassroots and academy football at Chelsea. His cabinet is full of awards. Josh is very popular at the academy with his dribbling skills and pleasant demeanour.
Academically, Josh is in fourth year at Hayes Park School.
He is one of the top students there and has been excelling in all subjects. He also has a lot of awards for excelling in sport and athletic competitions at school.
Josh is supported by his parents and siblings with organisation and scheduling of his school and football diaries.
Josh is taken to his football training and match appointments at Cobham by his parents (50 miles return per trip) and requiring three-four trips per week.
Josh does other activities like swimming, basketball and also likes to spend time playing FIFA21 with friends on PS4.