Preparations are in full swing as the ninth edition of Greensprings Kanu Football Camp resumes next month.
The event, an annual football camp for children since 2012, was postponed indefinitely in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
With its resumption this year, the football camp is scheduled to hold from Sunday, April 16 to Friday, April 21, 2023, at the Lekki Campus of Greensprings School.
According to the Chief Strategy Officer of the school group, Mr Uche Ogbu, while the camp was suspended, two alumni of Greensprings Kanu Football Camp, Jubril Azeez and Light Eke, were recruited into the Golden Eaglets squad for the West African Football Union B U-17 Championship in 2022 and the team won the championship for Nigeria. The two are poised to represent the country at this year’s U-17 African Cup of Nations in Algeria and FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru.
Reiterating the event’s goal, Ogbu said, “Kanu Camp is designed to enable young children between the ages of 5 and 17 to learn the fundamental skills required to be professional football players; it aims to empower children through football and education. The children are trained by top coaches from Europe and the Lagos State Football Association.”
The participants will be taken through many drills, including one-touch shooting, three-goal drills, lay-offs, turns, chest control, headers on goal, basic short passes, shuffling passes, tackling, sliding tackles, goalkeeping, and other exciting drills. Other activities include five-aside football matches, mentoring sessions, mental stimulation, swimming, basketball, and basic networking.
He also disclosed that, as part of the week-long programme, the European coaches would have a training session with Lagos State football coaches just before the camp opens to help improve their technical coaching skills.
At the end of this one-day intensive training session, top coaches will be selected to be part of the Greensprings Kanu Football Camp and allowed to practise what they’ve learnt.
On the participation packages, Ogbu highlighted three options for participants: residential, non-residential with bus service, and non-residential without bus service. He advised interested participants to register their children/wards before March 10 to take advantage of the massive early bird discount.
On the camp’s ultimate prize, Ogbu disclosed that the most promising player would be granted a full scholarship into Greensprings School.
He said, “as part of Greensprings School’s corporate social responsibility, awards will be issued to participants based on their conduct in camp; more importantly, the most promising player of the camp will be awarded a full academic scholarship to study at Greensprings School.”
Greensprings School in collaboration with Kanu Nwankwo and Kanu Heart Foundation organises Greensprings Kanu Football Camp. It is a five-day intensive football training project, where boys and girls between the ages of 5 to 17 years undergo mentorship from Kanu Nwankwo and some European coaches.
