Officials from Hibernian Edinburgh Academy at Paola Hibs Nursery

Paola Hibernians Football Nursery recently hosted two coaches from Hibernian Edinburgh Academy. This initiative was a follow up to the successful training visit by the nursery’s coaches in Scotland back in October last year which was supported by the Leonardo Da Vinci Programme funded by the European Commission.

Youth Coach Colin Michael Jack under the guidance of Bill Hendry, Head of the Academy delivered a series of practical sessions to the Under 15, Under 17 and Under 13 squads. These sessions were also observed by the nursery’s staff coaches as well as other coaches coming from other football nurseries.

Practical training sessions focused on themes of: ‘Possession’, ‘Attacking play and finishing’ and ‘Passing, receiving and movement’.

An instructional meeting which dealt with the set-up of the academy and the importance of long-term planning of training sessions was animated by Bill Hendry. The main emphasis of the training programme was to “give them back their game and let them [the youths] play”.

After visiting the Hibernians Stadium facilities, the officials had the opportunity to follow a training session of the First team of the club currently occupying the second position in the Premier League. This weekly-packed visit was also complemented by some cultural tours around the islands including a visit to Valletta and a Grand Harbour cruise.

As a concluding comment, both Bill Hendry and Colin Michael Jack stated that it was a pleasure to get to Malta and thanked everyone involved for the hospitality towards them and look forward to meet the club officials, coaches and players in the near future.