Houston Dynamo, one of the top soccer clubs in the United States, is building a relationship with Cayman’s Sunset Football Club, and this week sent some youth coaches over for a week long camp for kids.
The Dynamos arrived with four coaches, headed by Adrian Moses, an Englishman from Reigate, Surrey, who has lived in the States for 12 years.
Moses said that they came here because Houston Dynamo, who play in the Major Soccer League, tries to reach out to the CONCACAF region, particularly the Caribbean and Cayman is relatively easy to get to.
“There is an opportunity for us to educate players here and maybe identify players who we might be able to invite over to play with our academy,” Moses said.
He added that Sunset youngsters played in Houston last October and Dynamo sent a youth side a few months ago for a three-way tournament at the TE McField Annex and this is the next step in Houston’s relationship with Sunset.
The camp went well with around 90 kids having a great time at the Cayman International School field in Camana Bay. The younger ones attended the morning sessions and the older ones the afternoon classes.
“We’ve heard nothing bad about the camp,” Moses joked. “All the kids seemed to enjoy themselves.
“We’re in discussion with Sunset for them to come back out in October and then we’re looking at another tournament for our teams to come out and play and then replicating something like this in 2015 and beyond.”
Houston has a reputation for looking after its players well, highlighted by the fact that two of the other coaches here were in its academy before going to university, graduating before returning to Dynamo to be full-time coaches.
Dynamo have several players in the US and Jamaica national squads and their stadium is holds 30,000. Boxing champ Oscar De La Hoya is one of its co-owners.
Neil Purton is a youth development coach with Sunset. He said that building a relationship with the Dynamos is a big plus for Sunset’s youngsters because they can realistically aspire to reach pro level.
“Last year we took about 40 kids to Houston and hope to do the same again in October,” Purton said. “We can treat it like a pre-season training camp with drills in the morning and games in the afternoon.”
He feels Sunset kids respond better to being in a different environment where facilities are world class.
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