By Our Reporter
Manchester United coaches, Mike Neary and Chris O’Brien are in Kampala for a two-day training with 128 students from Excel Soccer Academy through an ongoing partnership between the soccer club and Kansai Plascon.
“Leading up to today, we received many applications for our students to take part in this training, but have had to keep it at 128. Our hope is that in the future through such partnerships with Kansai Plascon and other companies, we can expose more of our over 1000 students to trainings of this caliber,” said Patrick Gyawambadde, a Director at Excel Soccer Academy.
The soccer academy which was started in 2011 focuses on using soccer as an environment in which many young boys and girls are taught values that include respect, teamwork and ambition.
“Because sports development is one of our strategic focal points, through soccer academies like this, children are taught to be goal oriented and to focus in everything they do. It is also most likely that children who play sports will not partake in crime. We would like to see these children and many others grow into responsible contributors to the Ugandan society. Soccer academies like this one are Kansai Plascon’s way of investing in the future of Uganda,” said Lungi Koni, the Regional Manager Special Projects, Kansai Plascon.
Mike Neary and Chris O’Brien emphasised that having 128 students will ensure that each child they work with gets their full attention. “With a smaller group, we are able to concentrate on them, engage with them one on one, and make sure that they leave after two days with lifelong soccer skills,” said Mike Neary.
Neary and O’Brien follow a visit from Quinton Fortune a Manchester United Legend who was in Kampala last week to engage with Kansai Plascon winners who had taken part in a radio and digital soccer based competition to win signed jerseys from Manchester United.
