The National Sport School (NSS), now in its ninth year, and offering 19 different sports disciplines, has started restructuring its coaching staff.
With football being the most represented sport with 40 per cent of the school population, this discipline was the first to start its technical staff revamp.
Robert Magro, the Head of School, said that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sport has hit every level of this game and has had a bearing on school planning, but it has not altered the wider aim of developing the player pathway.
The NSS has appointed a new sports committee within the school staff, to draft and propose a new strategy with the new constraints in mind.
Magro emphasised that as a school “we are being proactive rather than reactive. As we move forward, we need to ensure that our talent pathway is accessible to a diverse range of young student-athletes, and that it can nurture and support them in order for them to achieve their full potential.”
With this in view, a new football technical staff has just been engaged by the school, led by technical director Paul Zammit and head coach Stefan Sultana, both of whom are physical educators and coaches at the National Sport School.
The new staff complement includes nine football coaches, two physical trainers, two goalkeepers’ coaches, a physiotherapist and a sports manager.
Zammit said that over the past months, in the face of the difficulties caused by the pandemic, they have worked very hard to build this team of professionals.
“It is a real satisfaction to watch the NSS grow with every passing every year, especially in the sector I’m involved in – football. We are always committed to providing a professional set-up to give our young players all the tools they need to compete at the highest levels.
“We have managed to attract highly-qualified coaches with lots of experience and I believe that we will continue to go from strength to strength.
“Our football programme, in parallel with that of the Malta FA, will give our football students the necessary skills during their various stages of development. Our aim is to help our young Maltese footballers succeed, and make us and our country proud.”
Technical staff
Head of School: Robert Magro.
Assistant Head (Sports): Nadine Zammit. Education Officer: Kevin Azzopardi.
Technical Director: Paul Zammit.
Head Coach: Stefan Sultana.
Sports Manager: Claudio Azzopardi.
Physiotherapist: Cedric Sciberras.
Coaches: Paul Zammit, Stefan Sultana, Noel Turner, John Buttigieg, Marko Glumac, Juan Cruz Gill, Sandro Zammit Fava, Rosalie Borg, Bjorn Kristensen.
Physical Trainers: Darren Farrugia, Darren Bezzina.
Goalkeepers coaches: Andrew Hogg, Simon Grech.