Nutty Krust Summer Soccer Schools News

WHAT a great summer it was for thousands of children throughout the country who took part in the Irish FA Summer Soccer Schools sponsored by Nutty Krust.

Organised by the Irish FA’s Grassroots Development Officers and staffed by qualified coaches, over 5,000 children were treated to expert coaching, skills challenges, fun games and mini World Cups, in a packed programme of activities throughout the summer.

Lee Carroll, the Irish FA’s Head of Grassroots Football, stated: “This has been a really great summer, with so many children wishing to get involved in our programmes despite the often inclement weather. The aim of the Summer Soccer Schools is to introduce children to football and provide them with a fun and positive experience, which will hopefully generate an interest that will keep them involved in football for life.”

This year’s Summer Soccer Schools were endorsed and promoted by none other than Northern Ireland International and Coventry City player Sammy Clingan.

Commenting on the success of this year’s programme Sammy said: “The Irish FA Nutty Krust Summer Soccer Schools provide boys and girls with an excellent opportunity to learn new skills and develop as players. The coaches have helped improve all aspects of the children’s game like dribbling, control and shooting. I would definitely say that the children will have improved if they have listened and put into place what their coaches have told them.”

Along with the expert advice that the budding young players were given, they each received a special bag containing Nutty Krust, Tayto and other goodies to reward them for their great work during the week.

Michael Murphy, Irwin's Commercial Controller added: “This has been our third year as main sponsor of the Nutty Krust Summer Soccer Schools and we are proud to be associated with such a great programme. We are a Northern Ireland company and are proud to support the development of football at a grassroots level right across the country, and hopefully there will be a few more Sammy Clingans and Jonny Evans to grace the international stage as a result of all the good work carried out over the summer.”

This year also saw the introduction of Fyffes bananas as a partner in the Summer Soccer Schools. Fyffes provided 5,000 bananas to venues throughout the country, further promoting the healthy eating message.

One of the incentives this year’s was the ‘UMBRO SEARCH FOR A STAR’. Fifty of the most talented players from Summer Soccer Schools around the country have been selected to compete at this event which will take place in December. This event which is in its third year and was previously attended by Newcastle Legend Alan Shearer; will see two players win through to become Umbro sponsored players for the year. These two players will join the likes of Sean Ward, Glenn Ferguson and Paul Leeman and receive playing and training equipment for a full year. Each player at the event will also receive a pair of Umbro’s latest football boots.

Commenting on this initiative, Paul Leeman (Umbro and Glentoran) said: “We at Umbro are proud to be involved with the Irish FA's Summer Soccer Schools – it is an excellent programme for the introduction and development of young players in football here in Northern Ireland. We are also excited about the ‘Umbro Search For A Star’ event. We would hope to have another well known football legend in attendance at the event where we will reward the eventual winners with top quality Umbro product for a full year.”