The Paris Saint-Germain Academy Wales was established at the start of this year as part of The Paris Saint- Germain Academy UK.
What a year it has been! The Academy has got off to a fantastic start and we are excited to tell you all about it and what we have been up to in Wales!
After developing a partnership with St Martin’s Comprehensive School in Caerphilly, we held our first training sessions during the Easter school holidays. The Easter Holiday Camp allowed us to deliver the world-renowned training of the Parisian Club to the young players from the local community for the first time.
With a passion for football we knew that the academy would be well received in Wales, however the popularity of the Easter Holiday Camp alone was incredible! We even attracted a lot of attention from local and national media!
After this great success with the Easter Holiday Camp we of course held a Summer Holiday Camp for the local young players which was equally as popular as the Easter Camp!
The Holiday Camps were so well received by the local community which naturally led to us establishing our Player Development Programme at St Martin’s Comprehensive School. The Player Development Programme is open to young players both at the school and in the community. Players will learn to play the ‘Parisian way’ as well as developing their understanding of nutrition and wellbeing with individual support given from the coaches.
Our Player Development Programme has expanded to other locations with us currently running one at Abersychan school and at Tredegar Comprehensive School. This last one also runs alongside a mentorship programme for the students.
One of our aims is to deliver a player pathway with our programmes which is becoming a reality with the establishment of the post 16 Education and Football Development Programme (BTEC). This is part of our partnership with St Martins Comprehensive School in Caerphilly. You can find out more about this course and how to enrol next year here.
Following our aim of developing a player pathway we have also partnered with the University of South Wales. This partnership will aim to support students from secondary schools and colleges to gain an idea of what their next academic step could be. There is scope for students to attend lectures/seminars and open days to meet with like-minded university students and gain a clearer idea of student/campus life.
This partnership is offering university students the opportunity to gain work experience coaching and teaching a range of players across our football sessions. We currently have four University of South Wales students delivering and assisting in sessions across our partner schools.
2022 has been a very busy year for the Paris Saint-Germain Academy Wales and we are excited to develop the Academy further. We can’t wait to see what 2023 brings!