FOOTBALL ACADEMY FOR GIBRALTAR

The Minister for Sport, Steven Linares and Minister Samantha Sacramento were in attendance, alongside Gibraltar FA delegates and Director of Education Keri Scott.
Desi Curry is Technical Director at GFA. He said: “I have been here now for four and a half years, and part of my goal and part of my remit was to build grassroots football from the bottom, and create a player pathway for our young four, five, six-year-olds, all the way up to the national team.
“That’s obviously a long term strategy, but it has taken me a few years now to get to where we are today, we’ve concentrated on the youth leagues and we’ve worked with elite players; now it’s time to get our hands dirty with the grassroots football, and this is part of our long term strategy.”
Desi states that this is one of the reasons why the academy has only just been launched, saying: “There’s been lots of consultation with the clubs, with stakeholders including the GSLA etc, so all those long consultations is making sure we have everything in place. Everything in place is not just about balls, bibs and cones; the coaching staff have all been through their Football Leaders award, they are all safeguarded and police vetted, and we have had various workshops to help them on their career path in football, so that takes time and here we are now launching the academy.”
At the moment the academy are focusing on Reception and Year 1 age groups, and next season they will bring in the next Reception age; with it being an evolutionary process.

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30-09-21 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR