Academy to open new centre in February

The Superstars Academy is opening a new centre in February at the Boksburg Cardinals Baseball Club at Boksburg Stadium.

This centre is going to be home to the new Elite Junior Football Club to be called the Easterns Superstars. This club will be focusing on the development of young footballers in Ekurhuleni.

Shan Naidoo, founder and director of the Academy, said these players will be competing at a professional level and they will be given opportunities to showcase their talent internationally.

He added that the players will be exposed to high-level training that will develop their tactical understanding of the game.

“This team is for players who want to play professional football. Most of the clubs around are social and talented players often lose opportunities if they don’t play with similar quality players. The Elite aims to get them abroad.”

The Academy has built partnerships with clubs in the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom to give the players opportunities to play football at a higher level.

“We are building the profiles of three players who we are sending to the Netherlands. Two boys and one girl aged between 13 and 16,” said Naidoo.

They have partnered with professional English football team Fulham FC which plays in the English first division and ProCampsUK to develop players and help enhance their skills and “to provide opportunities for young players to attend groundbreaking programmes to develop their understanding and enjoyment of the game”.

“We are finalising the dates but indicative we will be hosting their training camp in April with UEFA coaches coming through,” Naidoo explained.

Banyana Banyana midfielders Gabriella Salgado and Robyn Moodlay joined forces with the Superstars last year to start a girls’ team for the academy.

“As the Academy was growing a few girls joined but many of them were not comfortable playing with the boys. They had such a hunger and passion for the game. I tried searching for girl Academies and there were very few around and most of them started with older girls.

“Also not many of them were focused on providing opportunities for those in underserved communities.

“I saw a huge need to provide a professional girls Academy to cater for girls from the grassroots level to professional.”

Naidoo met Robyn Moodaly through her relative Taryn who was running the Miss Teen Social Entrepreneur Pageant which was hosted a few years ago at Carnival City.

“We were initially sponsors of the pageant when they launched a few years ago. Robyn then introduced me to her close friend Gabriela and after our first meeting their passion for assisting girls and our vision aligned,” he explained.

Naidoo, and his partners Emmanuel Maregedze and Donavan Harvey, along with the Banyana Banyana superstars Gabriella and Robyn, all have the same vision when it comes to helping those in less fortunate areas and who don’t always get the same opportunities due to low funds or transport issues.

“Gabriella and Robyn are heading up our girls Academy and we are looking for passionate junior girl coaches to join the family as we look to expand,” he said.

“We have started this academy to assist those less fortunate. We run an initiative called Play it Forward where individuals, schools or corporates can sponsor a talented young player from as little as R150 pm.

“Over and above that we assess on a case by case basis where there is a talented player who has no financial support. We then step in and cover all costs including kits and boots. When we have local and international tours we also cover or subsidise the costs.”

The trials for the Easterns Superstars will be held in February at the new centre at Boksburg Stadium and they are looking for youngsters aged between 15 and 17.

If you are interested in becoming a coach or want to register your child, contact Shan on 082 857 8325 or Donovan on 082 379 5575 or Emmanuel on 072 588 5165 for more information.

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