Education in focus for Academy in Slovakia

 

As the Academy of Football continued their week-long training camp in Slovakian city Kosice, their learning and education continued as they spent time with coaches Steve Potts and Liam Manning in the classroom.

The youngsters took part in sessions put on by the pair, focusing on the importance of both concentration in and out of possession.

Clips from both the Academy’s own matches, including the superb fixtures against Manchester United at home and Manchester City away for the U23s last season, were broken up and analysed by the Hammers, as well as various top-level matches from around the world, ranging from the Premier League to this summer’s FIFA World Cup.

As young players hoping to forge a career in the world of professional football for years to come, the message of working as hard off the pitch as on it has been relaid to the group throughout the trip away.

And former West Ham defender and Hammer of the Year winner Steve Potts, a coach at the Academy now for more than seven years, explained how vital exercises of this nature are for the players.

As a young player in an Academy these days, just playing football on the grass is not enough. It’s so important that we educate them on the the workings on the game

Steve Potts

He said: “It’s so important that we bring the lads together often to educate them on the the workings on the game, looking at clips from their own and other matches. As a young player in an Academy these days, just playing football on the grass is not enough.

“When I was a player, we didn’t have anywhere near this kind of access to match and training footage, and the analysis team do great work to put clips together for us to get these messages across to the players.

“The lads worked really hard during the presentations this week, which were open and frank discussions, and it will hopefully be fresh in their minds when we take on Kosice in our second game here on Saturday.

“Everyone has really enjoyed the trip; it’s great to get away to a different environment and hopefully we can finish it off with a good performance on Saturday evening.”

The Hammers take on the newly-reformed VSS Kosice at the club’s home ground of the Lokomotiva Stadium on Saturday at 5pm (local time). Terry Westley’s men will be looking to pick up from where they left off on Tuesday as they were 2-1 winners against MFK Zeppelin Michalovce at the same venue.