As the Academy boys continue their run of games with the U18s in league action, the 03s participating in the CAS Cup and the 04s ready to commence the new season at U16 level, some of the current 03 squad have just been given the most wonderful opportunity to ply their trade at the Benfica Elite International Development Programme for the full month of April.

 

Barry Frew, Rhys Mallin, Luke Cameron and Marc Moir will all be flying out to Lisbon on the 31st of March to be part of a squad of young footballers from England, Ireland, Sweden, Spain and that footballing hot-bed of Brazil.

 

Our lads have been especially selected by Coerver Scotland Director, Gordon Craig, who has many years of experience of arranging these training camps at the Benfica Academy and other well known academy partners.

 

The boys will be provided with top class coaching, twice daily sessions at the Caixa Football Campus, playing against local sides and other Benfica academy teams. Each player will have their health and nutrition monitored, participate in Portuguese language classes and will be given a full report of their development at the end of the programme. It’s hoped that some of our academy coaches will also be given to opportunity to fly out and spend a few days at the camp as part of their own coaching education.

 

Our very own Lewis Gracie, who previously took part in this programme, has passed on his own experiences to the four boys and has asked them to embrace every opportunity during their stay in Portugal. 

 

It’s clear to see that Lewis has greatly benefited from his time there, learning new ideas and techniques which have seen him make rapid progression through the Academy and into the Reserve setup.

 

03s coach Stevie Collins said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for each of the boys and shows that hard work and dedication does pay off ”.

 

Good luck lads, here’s to four shining Diamonds.