UAE youngsters learn the 'Chelsea Way'

A select group of young football enthusiasts enjoyed a rare opportunity of learning the Chelsea way of playing the game at the Soccer Circus in Mirdif City Centre last weekend.

Held for the first time in the Middle East, the Samsung-Chelsea FC Youth Football Camp saw 135 footballers between the age of 9 and 13, being trained by Chelsea's youth football coaches.

During the two-day event, 135 young players, including two girls, polished their talent ‘The Chelsea Way' through a series of drills designed to help refine their control, shooting, dribbling, and passing.

"It was fantastic. They were absolutely brilliant. It's been lot of goal scoring and lot of games. They seem to have enjoyed themselves over the two days because they always had smiles on their faces," said Robert Udberg, International Development Officer at the Chelsea FC of the response by players.

He said camps like this help children get interested and exciting about the game.

"Some children have hardly played any football at all while we got children who were good players who have obviously played quite a lot before. For them it's a chance to try some new training techniques and try and improve their existing skills and develop them a bit," he said.

Samsung has been instrumental in arranging these programmes.

"Chelsea started working in partnership with Samsung in 2007 on international programmes. We have worked with over 1,600 children delivering them a taste of football sessions held at Chelsea," he said.

Asked what was the difference in Chelsea's way of coaching, he said: "Each club has a different philosophy in the way they approach
their development with children. We try and ensure children get lots and lots of contact on the ball, play lots of small sided games to get some opportunities to make some decision and we just try and encourage always to express themselves, enjoy their game and play with a certain amount of freedom."

Udberg, who got his coaching badge at 17, main job is travel around the world in putting events like this.

Asked what their long-term objective was, Udberg said: "We try and just promote the enjoyment of the game and make sure the children as well as local communities are engaged in it as well. This is the first time we've been in this region."
 
"We, at Samsung, are very passionate about supporting young sporting talent in the country. Through the Samsung — Chelsea FC Youth Football Camp, we are delighted to be able to provide promising young footballers a chance to hone their inherent capabilities under the mentorship of professional youth coaches from the Chelsea Football Club," Marco Vocale, head of corporate marketing at Samsung Gulf Electronics, said in a statement earlier.

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