Overseas coaches return to improve standards
Coach Lawrence said their return this time was to deliver more for ETS.
The commitment of wanting to learn more about football is just one of the things spotted by the English coaches who shared their expertise at local development clubs.
The Albion Foundation West Bromwich Football Club development coaches have returned to South Africa, to continue from where they left off with promising talent two years ago.
Coach Dave Lawrence flew without the Maye brothers (Kalvin and Ryan) this time around; however, he brought another football enthusiast, Andy Oates, who was impressed with the facilities some of the clubs had to offer.
The Northsider caught up with the duo during a training session at Education Through Soccer (ETS), a football academy in Ruimsig which has recently cemented a partnered with The Albion Foundation, in a bid to expose their players internationally.
Coach Lawrence told the Northsider that they had stayed in touch with ETS’ management after their visit in 2017, when they imparted skills, knowledge and experience to both players and coaches. He said the intention of their return was to deliver more to ETS. “We returned to deliver some sessions, and to meet up with some people, look at ways of moving the programme forward and what else we can do for ETS while we’re back in England, as well as look for groups of players linked to ETS to join us at West Brom for an experience for at least a week,” he explained.
During the clinics, he shared how impressed he was with the level of commitment from the players, among the many other good things he highlighted. “The consistent thing that we’ve seen is the commitment of the players, which hasn’t changed. We had a lot of commitment from these players when we delivered a training session with them – they were intense, wanting to learn and be coached,” he said, further explaining that it was important for players to be coachable if they want to be footballers here or in Europe, “… which is where they all seem to want to go,” he smiled.
First time visitor, Coach Oates, said his aim was to improve the standard of football in most clubs, since most of the children dream of playing in Europe. “People have to realise that the standards associated with playing in Europe are very high,” he said.
However, he said his mission with Coach Lawrence was to instil the standards that are expected in England.
He concluded by further advising young players to work towards a standard of football that is second to none in order to play for elite clubs across the world.
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