Inter Miami academy coach impressed with local youth talent

Inter Miami Academy coach Diego Garcia was pleased with the performances of several of Jamaica's young players during their Royal Caribbean International Youth Clinic hosted with Ballaz Academy yesterday at Liberty Park.

Speaking after the one-day session, Garcia said he was happy with what he had seen as the players showed positive attitudes while under his guidance.

"We are here with an international training with Inter Miami and Royal Caribbean and we are really pleasured to share our knowledge here in Jamaica. We have seen some really nice talent here in the training and the kids have shown really good behaviour, performance and attitude," he said.

"They have some really nice values like teamwork, cooperation and we're really happy to be here to share some of the Inter Miami methods with the Jamaican players," Garcia added.

A total number of 40 players were given the opportunity to train under the guidance of Inter Miami and Ballaz Academy coaches.

Andre Virtue, director of Ballaz Academy, said the collaboration was a major success for his players as it gave them an early taste of international training sessions.

"To have the coaches from Inter Miami here in Jamaica is a big deal and mostly importantly, for these young players, it is for them to take the experience from these coaches and help to build on their development," Virtue explained.

"It is great because we want our players to dream big and we want them to think that there is no limitations for them."

Director of community engagement at Inter Miami, Camilla Jocelyn-Holt, said the initiative was born from the club's partnership with global cruise company Royal Caribbean.

While their youth clinics are normally held in Florida, with Inter Miami's visit to Jamaica for their second leg Concacaf Champions Cup tie, it was decided to host one of their clinics in Jamaica.

"Our youth clinic is one of our most-loved events that we host back in Miami at our Florida training facility but we had the opportunity to partner with one of the most incredible partners, Royal Caribbean," she explained.

"They are such a massive international brand that we decided to launch our youth clinics internationally," Jocelyn-Holt added. She said with Inter Miami travelling to Jamaica a decision was taken to bring two of their academy coaches and 'our incredible staff' to come out and work with Ballaz Academy to put together an amazing event for 40 of their academy kids.

gregory.bryce@gleanerjm.com