Stern John Skills Programme Thread.

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Football 7 Academy launches tomorrow
T&T Express Reports.

The Trinidad and Tobago Football 7 Academy will be officially launched tomorrow at the Henry Street Recreation Ground in Trincity.

The Academy will have former National forward Stern John as one of its featured coaches with other support coaches overseeing training sessions for boys and girls between the ages of 5-17 year olds.

The goal is to create an everyday environment designed to produce the next generation of players.

The academy will stage tournaments locally and also create opportunities for international appearances.

All members will receive training for competition and recreational purposes that encourages healthy, active lifestyles. Players will receive individual instructions on their technique.

The T&T topscorer John, a former player in the English Premiership with Birmingham City and Sunderland, recently visited the Miami Soccer 7 Academy in Soccer Town, Pembroke Pines to witness the running of the Academy there as well as the Champion Porsche Soccer 7 America Cup which featured representative teams from Colombia, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.

Both the T&T Football 7 Academy and the Miami Soccer 7 Academy were founded by Trinidadian Sham Mohammed and are affiliated to each other.

John expressed his eagerness to begin working with local youngsters.

“It’s been over two months or more that we’ve been going through the planning stages for this academy and finally we are down to the opening which I’m really excited about.

I think this is an excellent venture which will allow some of the local youngsters to get exposed to proper football training which will aid their physical and mental development and improving their skills both on and off the football field.

More importantly, we want kids learning to enjoy the game more and doing this in a fun environment. This is something I’ve had a strong desire to be part of and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to be back home now and being able to work with kids,” he said.

“What this version of football will do is allow us to focus on some of the shortcomings in our players which shows up when we meet the Central American teams which is the intensity level of which we play and our ability to track players and create plays in small areas and play off the ball better as well.

Training sessions will be held at the Henry Street Recreation Ground where John grew up playing football and cricket as a youngster, between 5-7pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and also on Saturday mornings.

Interested persons can call 488 7001 or 485 7001 and make contact via facebook at Trinidad and Tobago Football 7 Academy for more information.

A football 7s exhibition game featuring John and some of his former teammates will take place tomorrow from 7pm.

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Football 7 Academy kicks off in Trincity.
T&T Express Reports.

The Trinidad and Tobago Football 7 Academy got off to a bright start as the official launch and first training session was held at the T&T Football 7 Academy base, Henry Street Recreation Ground, in Trincity, last Saturday.

Former National team forward and Academy head coach Stern John and his assistant Walt Noreiga conducted an introductory one hour training session with the early registered members. An exhibition Football 7 game followed with John and former T&T internationals Gary Glasgow, Anthony Sherwood, Darin Lewis and current T&T Under 20 player Kishun Seecharan among others appearing.

Minister of Sport, Senator Brent Sancho and senior women’s team captain Maylee Attin-Johnson, ex-T&T midfielder Arnold Dwarika and former minister Eddie Hart were also in attendance for the launch which was hosted by T&T Football 7 Academy founder Sham Mohammed and managing director Armis Mohammed.

Sancho commended Mohammed for his efforts in getting the Football 7 Academy off the ground.

“I remember back in about six months ago when I was first introduced to it back in Miami and to see it come to light here in Trinidad and Tobago, I think it’s a testament to the man, Sham Mohammed for actually bringing this together. He has a good team with him.

From what I’ve seen here this evening it looks well organised, bringing a brand new version of the game to Trinidad and Tobago and we’re looking forward to some exciting times in terms of the football,” Sancho said.

“And of course my good friend Stern John being the coach, bringing to the set up a wealth of experience and knowledge in the game. The young people of Trinidad and Tobago truly have now something extra that can push them in the sport of football,” he added.

The former national defender said he was moreso pleased to see the T&T Football 7 Academy being fully self sufficient through funding by its founder Mohammed. Academy managing director Armis Mohammed also expressed his satisfaction with the events of the Academy so far.

Effective this month, the Football 7 Association of T&T of which the Football 7 academy is an arm of, officially affiliated with the Football 7 Worldwide Organisation. It now holds international credential and can organise official football 7 championships for adult and youth players recognised by the entity.

With the membership, Trinidad and Tobago enters the select group of countries accredited by Football 7 Worldwide. This country can also join the F7WW World Championship and enroll teams in F7WW World Club League.

This country now joins the select group of Football 7 Worldwide accredited countries which includes Argentina, Brazil, Northern Ireland, Mexico, Canada, Peru, Uruguay, Italy, Japan and Venezuela.

Training Sessions go into full swing from this week between 5-7 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and from 8 am-10 am on Saturday. Interested persons can still register from 430 pm on each of the weekdays by calling 488-7001 or 485 7001 for further information.

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Stern says football passion reignited.
By Shaun Fuentes (Guardian).

Former national team forward Stern John says his active role in the T&T Football 7 Academy, which was launched last Saturday in Trincity, has reignited his passion for the game.

John, T&T’s all-time top scorer with 70 goals, has been away from the professional game for just around four years. But now in his role as head coach of the T&T 7s Academy which caters for kids between the ages of 5-17 years old, the former Sunderland striker is once again buzzing round the football pitch.

“I’ve been away from the game for a long time and this has definitely opened my appetite for the game again. I think I’ve found my passion back. I love the game and it’s an honour coming out here to work with the kids and hopefully I can help develop a couple good players for T&T,” John said.

“We got a fantastic response to start the academy Hopefully we can continue encouraging more kids to come out and start learning more about the game and improving their level and to enjoy the game more especially the younger ones, “the ex-Crystal Palace man said.

John will also be sharing the experiences of his playing career with the young players in the academy and providing tips and advice on the game. He intends to work closely on goal finishing with the potential forwards. Goal scoring has proven to be a challenge for T&T national teams, particularly at the youth level and there’s no better forward in T&T colours from which to learn the art of scoring goals.

The former Southampton forward along with his support staff will conduct sessions Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays from 5-7 pm and Saturday mornings from 8-10 am at the T&T Football 7 Academy base at the Henry Street Recreation Ground in Trincity. Further information on the academy can be obtained by calling 488-7001 or 485-7001.

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T&T teen savours Dana Cup experience.
By Shaun Fuentes (Guardian).

Local teenager Misael Mohammed recently competed in the famous Dana Cup in Denmark with the Ordin FC Under-15 team of Sao Paolo, Brazil. The Dana Cup is one of the world’s largest youth tournaments held in the town of Hjorring with close to 200 teams from around the world competing every July.

Ordin FC finished third in the U-15 Boys category which had 178 teams competing.

Mohammed, a member of the T&T Football 7 Academy in Trincity of which Stern John is the head coach, is also a student of Maple Leaf International School in Port of Spain. He described the experience as out of this world, also participating in the Gothia Cup in Sweden last month.

“It was a really great experience to be able to participate in such a huge tournament. The Ordin team comes from Brazil but I was well accepted and I was able to broaden my knowledge and experience in the game.

We learnt more about the European game style and a lot about the different cultures because of the amount of players that gathered from different countries. It was a truly fulfilling experience. And I was able to share some knowledge on T&T and several persons knew about the country which was quite a good thing to note,” Mohammed said.

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T&T teen savours Dana Cup experience.
By Shaun Fuentes (Guardian).
...

Is there some harm I'm missing ... that prevents the telling of the complete story? For instance, how did this occur? Who facilitated it? Why this particular player? Why this particular team? What are the player's ambitions?

Mercy.