Everton brings international coaching to SA youngsters at Sandton football camp

A new chapter in youth football development unfolded at Sandton Sports Club as Discovery Soccer Park and Warriors FC partnered to host an international training camp led by coaches from the Everton International Academy.

The initiative marks the first time the English club has brought its development programme to South Africa, creating a valuable platform for both players and coaches to elevate their standards.

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Discovery Soccer Park director Moira Valkin said: “It is the first time Everton have come to South Africa and it’s the first time we holding a camp like this as well.”
The camp welcomed players from U6 to U14 level and was open to the public, not just for Warriors FC members.

Valkin said the camp was part of a researching exercise being conducted over quite a few years. “We’ve seen international academies come out to other countries before, but generally you never know whether it’s a scam. Also, the level of the coaching hasn’t been of a high level at all. I think that they’ve misunderstood exactly how good our South African soccer is.

“We are a grassroots level developmental football club for younger kids, and we invited the Everton International Academy to come and coach our coaches and our kids to give us something extra.”

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She added that the goal was not only to benefit the players, but also to challenge and develop local coaches. “All our coaches are headhunted and of an exceptional quality. So, we also wanted to learn. We wanted the exposure for our coaches as well. So, as a club, we try and find things that are going to stretch our coaches and our kids.”

Warriors FC coach Herold Matodzi highlighted the deeper purpose behind the camp. “We are hosting a camp for two reasons: For our coaches to understand and get the standard of international coaching, and to give our players detailed, high-level training.”

Matodzi added that they were trying to transform their coaching standard, from South African standard to international standard, as well as teaching players football skills, such as drills. “Children need to understand each and every drill, and each and every session. These [Everton coaches], they are amazing when it comes to that.

“The way they explain exercises, the way they demonstrate, they’re giving full attention to details, and that’s one thing that we wanted our kids to learn, instead of just giving them information on what they are going to do. These guys, they are going into basic fundamental steps of the exercise.”

He believes the timing is ideal, with the club preparing for the upcoming season. “In the upcoming season, we want our kids to be ahead of any other clubs, and this football camp, it’s a strictly football camp where kids come and play football for two and a half hours at a high intensity and a very high speed.”

Sean Robertson, Everton International Academy technical co-ordinator, described the experience as both impactful and promising for the future. “We had the conversations to bring International football here, and for us to be able to make it and bring it to life is unbelievable. We’ve been here a few days now, working with the players, giving them some idea of what we like to do back home with our Everton players, giving them ideas of how to improve demanding high intensity sessions, trying to bring the best out of them during the short time that we have with them.

“The players have been brilliant. The enthusiasm from the players has being top. We couldn’t ask much more from them. They were playing in the rain, which we’ve heard is a very rare thing for players to do.

“It’s been great working closely with the Warriors coaches. Hopefully, we leave a lasting impression and build something long-term here.”

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