It's becoming something of a trend for local supporters' branches to organise training camps for young footballers as a way of underlining their close ties with the big European clubs they represent.
The Liverpool Supporters Club Malta (LSC) are the latest to hold what promises to be a fun-filled and useful soccer camp for juniors - in close collaboration with Liverpool FC - in the last week of this month.
A team of five coaches from Anfield's youth academy, namely, Frank Skelly, the deputy director of football, head coach Stewart Gelling, Ian Brunskill, Gareth Evans and James Parry, the son of the club's chief executive Rick Parry, will be here to run the Liverpool FC Junior Soccer Camp.
Eight training sessions will be held between Monday, April 26 and the following Thursday. There will be two sessions daily at the National Hockey Complex Corradino, starting at 5 and 6.30 p.m. respectively.
On April 30, the junior camp, open for children born from January 1, 1989 up to December 31, 1996, will shift to Gozo where a special training session will be staged at the Gozo Stadium.
Organisers have also enlisted the services of eight Maltese coaches from various nurseries to assist in the running of this camp. They are: John Holland, Ronald Vella, Marco Grech, Paul Zammit, Saviour Darmanin, Iro Curmi, Pierre Brincat and Stephen Grima.
Apart from a full kit, sponsored by Eurosport's Legea, and the usual goodies, participants have the added incentive of attending a fully-paid training camp at the Liverpool academy in Kirkby at the end of the season if they are among the four most promising footballers chosen by the coaches.
The idea of holding a soccer camp for juniors with the participation of coaches from the highly-rated Liverpool academy emerged from talks between officials of LSC and the top brass from the Anfield club and their youth academy.
"In November, we had talks with Liverpool's Youth Academy deputy director Frank Skelly who coordinates the whole set-up at the academy together with Steve Heighway, the former Liverpool and Northern Ireland international," Ronnie Camilleri, LSC president, said.
"During discussions various topics were raised, leading to the interesting suggestion of branching out a Liverpool football school to Malta. Our ultimate aim is to organise this junior camp on an annual basis."
Soccer being the no. 1 sport among teenagers, the LSC believe that this junior camp represents a bold effort to maximise their strong relationship with Liverpool FC for the benefit of young Maltese talent and youth coaches.
Organisers have been heartened by the response generated by this initiative as 140 hopefuls have already applied to take part. There are only 17 places left for Maltese applicants and 10 for those who wish to attend the session in Gozo.
According to Camilleri, some of the visiting coaches have also accepted to give lectures during the MFA-organised course leading to a UEFA B Coaching Licence. This possibility came about after discussions between LSC and Horst Heese, the MFA technical director.
Local nursery coaches and physical education teachers will also have the opportunity to learn more about certain key aspects of youth development coaching and the Liverpool Academy set-up during a talk by Gelling and Skelly at the Mosta club on April 28.
Camilleri also said that Phil Thompson, the Liverpool assistant coach, may visit the islands at the end of the season to attend a presentation by the LSC.
The Liverpool FC Junior Soccer Camp also enjoys the backing of the Ministry for Education and Youth. Other sponsors include Eurosport, Air Malta, Pepsi, Dolmen Resort Hotel and Capital 88.7.