Clayton Ince in his element as kids learn skills
By Roger Clarke (Birmingham Mail)
THERE is an hedonistic element at the minor celeb end of professional football who make debauchery appear quite restrained and give the entire profession a bad name.
As Mark Anthony said of Julius Caesar “The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones;” So Clayton Ince’s soccer school in his native Trinidad has gone largely unheralded.
The Walsall keeper, 36, still harbours international hopes with Trinidad and Tobago to add to his 67 caps but accepts that the team are looking to youth to take them to 2010 and on to 2014 – but he is there if needed and as a keeper widely seen as one of the best in the division that is a solid insurance policy. Ince though, like his national association, wants to give youth a chance and has set up the soccer school in his own town to give Trinidadian youngsters the chances and opportunities he found difficult to find.
He finances the school himself, running it with volunteers with 25-30 youngsters on the books.
He takes every game and every season at a time, keeping fit and playing as long as he can. He said: “I have set up my own sports academy in Trinidad where I try to develop the youngsters.
“We are trying to get youngsters of five to 15 to develop them.
“I am funding it on my own but I am hoping to get support from the general public, companies and businessmen because we are looking at the future of youngsters.
“I am laying the foundation down and it is something that is open. Because of the funding we have 25-30 kids which is all we can afford right now but with the sponsorship we are hoping to get we will be able to go on a larger scale.
“When my career is over I will be able to go full time so I will be able to have a better input.
“I will go back and send youngsters over to the academies and have little tours and show them the things I experienced and what they can achieve. I want to develop them and give the exposure I didn’t get at that age.”
Until then Ince is happy building on what Walsall managed last season. “We just want to stamp our authority and push for a promotion at the end of the season. I try to keep my form at a high level and correct mistakes. I try to be the best keeper I can be.”
And that is all any manager can ask.