Home » ESA News » Bringing in the best: Elite coaches bolster academy

Bringing in the best: Elite coaches bolster academy

By Rohan Alvares, Sports Reporter

The aims of the ESA are:

Dubai - Along with the many tall structures that have shaped Dubai’s landscape in recent years, part of the development has seen a rise of a number of sporting academies. And latest to join that list is the Elite Sporting Academy (ESA) which, according to its managing director John Mamea-Wilson, will represent the best platform for the UAE’s elite bracket of youngsters who dream of going places with their talent. Sponsored by Air Miles, it will be based at the Repton School at Nad Al Sheba. It has already kicked off its rugby and football programmes, with netball and cricket to follow later this year. And with names such as Everton footballer Tim Cahill and Samoan rugby legend Apollo Perelini on board, he is supremely confident parents will get every bit of their money’s worth. “Our prices are the same as any other football or rugby academy that’s here. If you look at the product, it’s not the same, it’s way, way better,” he says. “They will come three times a week, not once and they are paying the same amount. Second of all, it’s children. Parents can’t put a price on investing in their kids. If they believe in the programme, they will invest in their kids. “The calibre of people that we do have involved, when we talk about money and price, it’s a bargain.”

The Academy’s structure will not be too dissimilar to other successful academy models around the world but will be unique in the way that living in an expatriate dominated society is unique and will be tailored this way.

ESA Access

The Academy will hold a tournament at the end of February which is open to schools across the UAE. The ESA’s selection team comprising their coaches will then select children whom they feel have the potential to become professionals and this group will then be a part of the academy’s set-up.

Contact John Mamea-Wilson on 050-459 2264.

http://www.xpress4me.com/sport/uae/rugby/20011992.html