Youngsters enjoy experience camp given by Phoenix, Royals

Wellington Phoenix Academy sports scientist Kieran McMinn coaches young southern footballers at...
Wellington Phoenix Academy sports scientist Kieran McMinn coaches young southern footballers at the Wellington Phoenix Experience camp hosted by the Dunedin City Royals at the Logan Park Turf yesterday. PHOTO: GERARD O’BRIEN
A programme that has produced talents such as Sarpreet Singh and Libby Cacace has made its way to Dunedin.

The Wellington Phoenix Academy has linked with the Dunedin City Royals to offer a Wellington Phoenix Experience Camp.

The camp, which is for boys and girls from the ages of 9 to 13, began yesterday and continues today.

It follows similar camps held in Christchurch and Nelson.

"The big thing for us is just connecting with local communities, local clubs," camp coach and Phoenix under-17 boys head coach Jesse Rawlings said.

"We’ve been very lucky with the help of Football South and Dunedin City Royals, who have just been able to book us the field and get us down, provide the balls.

"We advertise it to the kids and just try to get them along. We try to give them a taste of what we do in the academy and hopefully they enjoy it."

Rawlings is one of three coaches at the camp, joining academy technical director Paul Temple and sports scientist Kieran McMinn.

Temple had played with Royals premier men’s head coach Richard Murray, which was where the link had been established.

It was the first time the Phoenix academy had been to Dunedin and Rawlings hoped it could become an annual trip.

He said the club hoped to start a development centre in Dunedin, hosted by the Royals.

It would be one session per week for promising youngsters, giving them the ability to be part of the Phoenix programme, without having to move to Wellington.

The two main focuses of this week’s camp were scanning the field and one-on-one situations, for which former academy players Singh and Ben Old were being used as case studies.

While the community connection was the main short-term focus, there was the opportunity for talent identification in the longer term.

"We wouldn’t normally bring kids into Wellington until they hit NCEA age," Rawlings said.

"It’s obviously cool when you turn up and there’s a good player, and you’re like, ‘Oh my goodness, that’s exciting’.

"But I think for us it’s more knowing there’s some committed players down in Dunedin, and the Dunedin City Royals want to run something."

Rawlings said the Logan Park facility was "amazing" and felt the artificial turf was better than the Phoenix academy had — especially because of the two fields.

About 50 players attended the camp.

 

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