The Bolton Wanderers Football Club International Soccer School and language partner inlingua over the last month has welcomed back for their second annual visit FM Sports from France. This year we have had 40 boys and girls over for 4 weeks doing soccer, tennis and horse riding, the International Soccer School is concentrated on the football side and had 2 groups divided by age.
The players appeared to have a great time with our coaching sessions being delivered by 2 of our coaches Dave Fitzgerald and Mason Mcclelland. The group started with a full induction on the 22nd November going through the normal rules and regulations as well as ISS Manager Dave Bailey going through the BWFCISS Philosophy, why we test and then how they will be compared to our own Professional and Academy Players. As part of the visit we tried weather permitting to organise as many friendly fixtures as possible, the older age group being the 15-18 year olds took on our Football Studies Program in a development game which they showed some great ability winning comfortably, and the younger age group which is the players aged 12-14 played local team Horwich St Marys and won very convincingly 9-0.
Dave Bailey comments;
“The FM players have shown a great attitude and even though its turned very cold they have not complained once, showing how focused they are and have taken our beliefs and philosophy on board. The coaches are tap dancing a little due to the cold but this gives us chance to really test them athletically indoor, we have done sprint tests this week as well as the infamous bleep test which has seen some alarming results and scores. We have also had them on our Reebok Stadium Tour looking behind the scenes of what is still one of the most iconic stadiums in the world. Let’s hope that we can fight off this cold snap soon and get back to the pitch to finish on a real high.”
During the trip the group also got to attend the last 2 BWFC home games at the Reebok Stadium as they watched the 2-2 draw against Blackpool FC and the fantastic 2-1 win against Blackburn Rovers where they went pitch side for a photo before the game.
FM sports are next season looking to bring there full academy here which all of us here at BWFCISS are looking forward to.