Instead of spending the school holidays indoors, young footballers from FC Pro Athletico gathered on the pitch for an energetic afternoon dedicated to improving one of football’s most important skills: dribbling.

The Sandown-based club hosted a practical training session where players learnt new techniques to help them become more confident and creative on the ball. Founder and head coach Chris Dlamini led the session, demonstrating different dribbling methods before showing the youngsters how to add spin, quick turns, and changes of direction to beat defenders during matches.

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After watching the demonstrations, the players eagerly put the skills into practice through a series of drills designed to improve close ball control, agility, and confidence in one-on-one situations.

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“School holidays are the perfect opportunity for our players to keep learning while having fun,” said Dlamini. “Today’s focus was on improving their dribbling and teaching them how to use body movement and spin to beat defenders. The enthusiasm they showed on the field is exactly what we want to see as they continue developing their game.”

Beyond the technical training, the session also highlighted the excitement surrounding the ongoing 2026 FIFA World Cup. During breaks between drills, the young footballers enthusiastically discussed their favourite national teams and players, sharing predictions about which countries they believed could lift the trophy.

One of the players, Sphamandla Nyembe, said: “The training was fun because we got to practise new techniques and also talk about the World Cup. My favourite part was learning how to dribble correctly. It makes me want to keep practising until I can do it confidently in games.”

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