Sydney FC’s high-performance Isuzu UTE A-League coaching staff are giving our young Academy players extra incentive to do well by putting on weekly afternoon training sessions at Sky Park for the most in form players.
Carefully selected by the Sky Blues Academy staff, the best performing 20 players aged under 16’s and above, including two goalkeepers, are being given the opportunity to be coached by Men’s Head Coach Ufuk Talay, Assistant Coach David Zdrilic, Goalkeeper Coach Matt Nash and Strength & Conditioning Coach Alex Scardino.
The idea is to build relationships for the long term and inspire the Academy kids to show the A-League Men’s staff what is possible.
It also shows the Sydney FC Academy players that there is a genuine pathway to the first team at Sydney FC.
Talay is hoping the extra time dedicated to preparing the next generation of professional Sky Blue players will pay dividends for the young players and the club in the years ahead.
“It’s for the players to get exposed to training with us and do similar sessions that we do with the first team, and for them to understand what we expect when at our level,” said Head Coach Ufuk Talay.
“It’s to identify the players a lot earlier in the Academy space and to create the relationship is very important.
“I think it’s a great thing to expose the players to but also for us to see the boys because we don’t get to see them on a regular basis.
“I think long term we will rely on the Academy to produce those players and this is one way to get that link.”
The players are put through an hour of training using the same drills the Isuzu-UTE A-League Men are put through.
Sydney FC Technical Director Youth, Kelly Cross said: “Our club has invested heavily in our Academy and we believe we’ve developed some of the most promising talents in Australia.
“We really want to see as many of these talents as possible playing for the Sky Blues.
“The players that we have been using in these sessions range from 15 to 18 years of age and so far it has been a really positive exercise.
“I’m convinced the way things are going at Sydney FC mean we will see these players paying for our first team in the near future and that will be a great outcome for everyone.”
Sydney FC’s current A-League Men’s squad has the youngest average age in the club’s history.
This season Mitchell Glasson, Zac De Jesus, Gus Hoefsloot, Matthew Scarcella, Wataru Kamijo and Joe Lacey have all progressed from the Sydney FC Academy into the A-League Men’s squad.
The Sky Blues Academy kicks off its ninth season next month against NWS Spirit on February 17th.
