English Premier League side Stoke City are in town with the club holding a number of clinics for local juniors over the past few weeks.
The Potters have sent several of their distinguished staff Down Under to provide many of Melbourne’s most promising young footballers a taste of elite, world-class training while also hoping to unearth the next Aussie superstar in the process.
The travelling Stoke contingent has conducted training sessions in Hampton and Chelsea, and over the past few days have been based at Kingston Heath.
Leading the travelling party is former champion squash player Angela Smith, who is the club’s International Ambassador.
Smith – born and bred in Stoke – is a life-long City fan and states that the trip is about providing young Australian talent with a chance to experience top quality coaching and potentially also uncover a future star.
Furthermore, Smith makes no secret that the tour also provides the club with a chance to expand their brand globally, with the West Midlands based outfit now entering their seventh successive season in the world’s premier football competition.
Stoke’s senior community coach Paul Salvatore was more than impressed with what the youngsters have had to offer.
While praising their skill level, Salvatore also spoke highly of the attitude of Australian kids who throughout their time here have shown a desire to learn, whilst at the same time have progressed from a bunch of talented individuals into a coherent and dedicated group.
These sentiments were shared by Jack Day, the club’s football development officer who believes that the attitude of Aussie kids is better than their English counterparts.
In the talent department, Day notes that despite visiting Canada, the United States, Ethiopia, Egypt and Antigua that “this is the closest we have got to the talent compared to the England kids,” and that the coaching staff “is here to improve their tactical game”.
Stoke City themselves are no strangers to talent from our country with the club playing home to four youngsters from Australia. The most impressive of their Aussie contingent is highly rated Melbournian Peter Skapetis, with the former South Melbourne junior recently joining their development squad from QPR.
Goalkeepers Chris Marques from Sydney and former Berwick City junior Dominic Kurasik pile their trade for the side’s under-18’s while Manchester-born defender Alex Grant is currently on loan at Macclesfield Town having previously represented Australia at under-17 level.
All in all, the visiting coaching staff have been impressed with the overall talent during their stay Down Under.
While the promotion of the football club into a widely unexplored new market is one of the aims of the trip, Smith notes that “hopefully along the way we can uncover the new Tim Cahill”.
Most Australian football fans would forever be gratefully to Smith and her team if they manage to do exactly that during their stay in Melbourne.