MEET: Ricardo de Sousa
De Sousa is the face and the heartbeat of the Sporting CP Soccer Academy School throughout South Africa
De Sousa is the face and the heartbeat of the Sporting CP Soccer Academy School throughout South Africa, more specifically the only one in the province, and they call Penryn their home. Here, he uses his years of experience and his degree in sporting science, specialising in high performance training in soccer, to implement the mother club in Portugal’s training and teaching methodology.
“More specifically, everything is under my coordination – I steer all the admin and the technical side in order to develop a structure of coaches,” he said.
During his studies in Portugal, he got involved in the academy about ten years ago. More recently he got involved in international studies, which included Angola, India and now South Africa.
“Our aim is to develop the best sporting academy of Mbombela and this region, and to develop players to reach higher levels. We already have the three mentioned players from our academy that were called up for the national team of Mozambique, whereas last year we only had one,” he said.
De Sousa will be traveling with these players in a one-week trial in Lisbon.
Read more: Three Penryn soccer stars go national
“In the Sporting Academy you will have the opportunity to learn from the best. Above all you will be taught by the best coaches in soccer. You will be taught in a friendly, fun and responsive environment. You will be taught the same methods that have been implemented to develop so many champions, such as Christiano Ronaldo and Luís Figo, to name but a few.
“Sporting is proud to say they are the only club in the world to date to have two world soccer players developed in their academy.
“We aim to be the best national youth soccer academy with the highest success rate of youth soccer players who obtain university scholarships, and to be the best youth resource for South African teams,” he said.
The academy strives to
• Teach the sport of soccer with a technique and philosophy that is correct and current
• Embrace the personality and character of the players
• Teach the youth the discipline to apply themselves to learning soccer skills with precision
• Develop the physical capacities, technique and coordination of soccer through a progressive and balanced process
• Offer a soccer education with activities where the youth develops a special passion for the sport
• Implement a fun and developmental environment with respect for the spirit of the sport and fair play.
Enquiries: 076-652-7991.
