Amilla Fushi, one of the luxury resorts in Baa Atoll, has successfully completed its special professional football training camp for children earlier this week.
Titled “Easter Camp”, the three-day event was held March 31 – April 2, under the resort’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program. It was conducted by Amilla Fushi’s operator The Small Maldives Island Co in collaboration with Sydney-based football academy Futboltec, which was developed by former professional footballer siblings, Jason and Glen Trifiro.
Amilla Fushi had invited the children of its in-house guests, as well as the children at its sister resort Finolhu and the students of Baa Atoll Education Centre in Eydhafushi island to the Easter Camp. The resort had arranged transportation for all the participants.
According to the resort, over 50 children had participated in the camp, including 30 students from Eydhafushi, who received total nine hours of professional football training from four coaches of Futboltec. The camp was carried out in two segments, with the Junior Camp for children aged 5-11 held in the mornings, and the Senior Camp for ages 12-16 held in the afternoons. The sessions were held in Amilla Fushi’s own football pitch.
The Small Maldives Island Co’s CEO and Curator Mark Herir declared the camp a great success and a new beginning. He expressed hopes that high profile teams would take part in such camps in the future.
The sentiments were echoed by the participants as well. “The truth is, we don’t get such training in our childhood. And in our islands, we can only play on the sand; but here, we get to play football on a proper pitch,” one of the children told Mihaaru, going on to highly praise the coaches’ training.
Representatives of Futboltec were also satisfied with the camp. They revealed that this was marked the first international training camp Futboltec has held, and they praised the talents and skills of Maldivian youth.