Stage de football ‘’International Samp Camp’’ : Young Beninese discovering high-level requirements

They are a total of one hundred young Beninese boarders from nearly twenty training centers who have been participating since Monday 22 February 2021 at a football training course in Adjagbo in the commune of Abomey-Calavi. An initiative from the educators of the Italian Serie A club, Sampdoria, in collaboration with Copylis and certain training centers in Benin including AS Lagarde, New Star and AS Volcan.

Offer the opportunity to children under the age of sixteen to not only show what they are capable of with a ball but also take the opportunity to strengthen their knowledge in the practice of the king sport. This is the objective pursued by the organizers of this course which takes place from 22 at 28 February 2021.

According to Raymond Tchayé, UEFA A graduate and educator at Red Star, recruiter from France Football Détection and one of the organizers of this internship, is to make Beninese football emerge through aspirants and to give it an international dimension. “From the moment we leave Africa we become international. The idea, it’s about letting lots of young people benefit from our experience”, he declared before adding “The professional world has its demands. It's still very high on concentration, la discipline, the technique and we will also give ingredients that bring the level. Because it's not enough to think it. Behind, we must act. It’s very complicated”.

To believe it, This is a project that will do a lot of good for Beninese football, especially for children who aspire to do it as a job.. The only condition to meet this challenge, he agreed, is to perpetuate the initiative. “From the moment the doors are open, we can always come back. If we stop at once, I think the project is not completed. To bring a project to fruition, you have to go to the end. For that, everyone has to put their ingredient in. This is not my internship, this is not the Sampdoria camp. This is the Benin internship. People need to get involved in this project...I hope that the State and the Federation will get involved. We need Beninese football to develop and it is necessary to go through these phases. Seek to structure clubs, help and support them », indicated the Franco-Beninese, Raymond Tchayé, specifying that at the end of this internship, some will be able to see their dream of evolving on the old continent come true. “We must first see the level. What we have, know if they can meet international requirements, European. The idea, It’s not about putting children in difficulty.”.

Roberto Morosini, one of the trainers, underlines that the course will focus more on the tactical aspect than the other components. “We were in Ivory Coast, in Uganda, in Kenya and it must be admitted that there is enough technique, but not tactical aspects. We don't have the tactics, we don't have the physical preparation. You have to work on these things. There are five things you must have in your entire life as a footballer, especially : the respect, le Fair-play,  la discipline, fun and seriousness in work. This is the difference between amateurs and professionals. This is what we want to give to the children here”, he confided. “We have observed that in Africa,  matches are very important. The game, it is the conclusion of a work. Work, these are the applications for the match. Here, there is no specific work culture for the match. There are a lot of matches, but we have to work on defense, midfield and attack. We will work a lot on these aspects. Teaching children, the unique technical gesture that they will apply in the match. There is a lot of possibility in a technical gesture, but you have to choose, the good thing is. It’s mental training.”, added Marco Bracco, another trainer.

Just Adjé, resident of New Star 1st academy, think this first day is very different from what they usually do. On behalf of the other interns, he promises to do everything possible to religiously follow the instructions of the trainers in order to be among the selected. “This internship is something grandiose. It doesn't happen every time. For us, this is something really important. We promise to do our best so that in the end, most of us are selected”,  he reassured.

Please note that before the start of the training, the 100 residents each received a kit consisting of jersey, shorts and stockings (150 Euros/ kit). An exhibition match will be played on Sunday 28 February 2021 to close this internship.

Damien TOLOMISSI