Tuesday 17th May 2016 – San Salvador, El Salvador: Digicel hosted its Kickstart Clinic in El Salvador at the Educating a Salvadorian Foundation (FESA) school where 30 aspiring young football players from local clubs and football academies showcased their talent in the hopes of impressing the Manchester City FC coaches and being selected for the upcoming Digicel Academy.
Football Delivery Manager for the City Football Schools and lead coach for the Digicel Kickstart Clinic, Lewis Childs, said; “We were very impressed by the level of talent and ability we saw at the Digicel Kickstart Clinics in El Salvador. They are definitely a capable group of players who have worked hard to improve themselves – both on and off the pitch.”
The Kickstart Clinics programme has helped thousands of young football players from the Caribbean and Central America benefit from world class training delivered by coaches from leading football clubs. This year, in partnership with English Premier League side, Manchester City FC, Digicel hosted the Clinics for the first time in El Salvador.
Digicel El Salvador CEO, Ignacio Roman, was excited to be hosting the country’s top young football players for two days of intensive training, saying; “The goal of the Digicel Kickstart Clinics is to provide talent development opportunities to the nation’s players by unlocking their potential – both on and off the field. We know that there is great footballing talent in El Salvador and so we want to give them a good foundation to be great.”
The coaches carefully observed the players’ development and abilities over the two day programme and the young players certainly gave it their all. At the end of the Clinic, the top three players selected to represent El Salvador at the Digicel Kickstart Academy were Mauricio Guzman, Mario Hernandez, Saul Rosales.
The players will join other top players from across the Caribbean and Central America at the week-long Digicel Academy where they will receive another round of intensive training. The boys will then have the opportunity to impress the Manchester City coaches further, in the hopes of being among the top players who will be given the chance of a lifetime to train at the City Football Academy, Manchester City FC’s elite training and youth development facility in Manchester, England.