Accompanied by his coach colleague from Arsenal FC, Martin Davis, Paul Shipwright travelled to Malta for the Emirates Airline Young Footballer Challenge 2007, which is sponsored by the Dubai based international airline, Emirates, and they were hosted by the Arsenal Malta Supporters Club (AMSC).

Following a brief introduction by the AMSC Chairman, Richard Felice Pace, Paul Shipwright and Martin Davis gave an outline of their work and activities at Arsenal FC. They shared their experiences and gave some basic and very practical hints. This was followed by a questions and answers session with the Maltese coaches.

Arsenal Community department provides football training for every body. Eighty per cent of the children train as a recreation. The best players are selected to join the Arsenal Soccer Schools while the very best of these go to the Academy. 

“Spend quality time with each player who comes to your club, both the talented one and the less talented” advised Paul, who has been running soccer schools for the past 20 years.  He was replying to a question raised by one of the coaches who showed concern that youth coaches are nowadays concentrating too much on league results which may leave little time to work towards developing good players.

The Arsenal Soccer Schools provide quality training and physical education for the young players. They stimulate interest in football and they help to support Arsenal Football Club as the top talent move to Academy.  These best players are the future of Arsenal Club.  Many top players such as Justin Hoyte, David Bentley, Ashley Cole and Steve Sidewell have started training at Arsenal soccer schools and the Academy.

Another point raised was football training for girls, which is quickly picking up among many Nursery Clubs. Arsenal coaches confirmed that the girls follow the same training sessions as for boys.  They train with boys until the age of 11 years.

Asked if nursery clubs should educate the players on nutrition, Paul Shipwright said that it is important that first the parents should be educated about nutrition and know what their child should eat in particular before and after a training session.  “Parents have to understand which good food their child should consume. They must guide their children on their eating habits,” said Paul.

AMSC PRO Peter Paul Gauci, thanked the audience and the Nurseries they visited the day before. He said that Paul and Martin enjoyed the visits to Qormi YN, Hamrun YN, B’Kara YN and Melita and were pleased with the work they saw.

Emirates Manager for Malta and Cyprus, Paul Fleri Soler, thanked Mr Shipwright and Mr Davis for their very informative talk.  He said: “I am confident that next year we can further expand on this activity for the benefit of the Maltese coaches.” This was the second seminar on youth football development, held as part of the Emirates Airline Young Footballer Challenge and supported by Emirates.