2009 News
- News Archive
Staff and Students Participate in TV Programme
Staff and students at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham have participated in a programme to be show on Sky1 HD at 8pm on Sunday 3rd January.
Football's Next Star is a search for footballing prodigies that will see one lucky young man win the chance of a lifetime – a contract with Jose Mourinho’s Italian champions Inter Milan.
The journey begins as Inter youth scouts Marco Monti and Paolo Migliavacca scour the UK and Ireland to pick out the most promising talent. All the boys will be hoping for a coveted place in the final ten and a chance to become Football’s Next Star
Throughout their journey they are mentored by former Liverpool, Spurs and England star and Sky Sports expert Jamie Redknapp.
Michael Ayres, Lecturer in Physical and Sport Education was approached to develop skills and fitness tests and provide a team of students to help deliver and organise the road shows. He was the Coach and Fitness Expert for the road shows, working alongside the Inter Milan Coaches to identify the talented young players to go through to the final forty. Fifteen students from the Physical and Sport Education Degree Programme assisted in the delivery and organisation of the tests.
The team spent the summer of 2009 travelling across UK and ROI with Football’s Next Star. Road shows took place in Dublin, Manchester, London and Glasgow. Thousands of boys took part in the road shows where they showed off their skills and fitness followed by small sided games.
Forty boys were chosen from these tests and went on to play in a finals weekend in Watford where Inter coaches Marco and Paolo chose the final ten to fly out to Milan.
Michael said, “This was a fantastic opportunity. I was able to work alongside some of the best coaches in the world and discuss with them thoughts, values, techniques and approaches on developing young football players. The students worked extremely hard and I know they found the whole experience very rewarding. It showed that St Mary’s students and staff are highly thought of within the UK and Europe.”
Francesca Browning was one of the students on the team. She said, “This gave me a fantastic opportunity to travel and stay in each of the cities and develop a professional network within the industry.”
“The team of students from St Mary’s was responsible for the intensive trials, devised by the Inter Milan coaches and scouts. Each competitor took part in all the trials that we monitored, and then given an overall score based on their times and number of goals scored on each trial. When working on the trials, we were able to put into practice our knowledge of coaching, acquired from our degree program Physical and Sport Education.”
James Townley, Sky 1’s Production Manager for Football’s Next Star said, “The staff and students from St Mary’s University College have been a real asset to the Football’s Next Star series. The knowledge and enthusiasm they have all brought has been a key factor in helping the road shows and allowing the production to run so smoothly.”
