With his local club career winding down, former Northern Rangers talisman Anthony ‘Kang’ Sancho, has turned his talents to the coaching realm, as he embarks on the journey of creating his own football academy.
This was disclosed during an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport Saturday.
According to Sancho, the desire to initiate this project is rooted in his willingness and desire to contribute to the future development of the sport especially amongst the emerging wave of youth players.
He declared, “After my experiences and the fact they don’t have many people who are looking out for the youths, basically it doesn’t have much youth academies and activities going on and I decided that I could do this and start one. This is my way of giving back to the sport specifically the youths. There are many kids that look up to me and I want to give back to them and start this project soon.”
Sancho, 31, revealed that the endeavour will focus on imparting the initial basics of the sport before moving on to the more intricate aspects of the discipline such as the technical, tactical and physical tenets.
He noted, “I think we have to start small. My belief is that anything you want to do must start from small. I think this is an opportunity to focus on youth players and bring them out and teach them the game, the basics before moving onto the technical, tactical and physical aspects.”
Sancho, who has also had stints with Camptown, Slingerz FC and Western Tigers, elaborated that his impending coaching career, will be aided by the relevant entities inclusive of the local governing body the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), as he seeks the requisite certification required to properly impart the accumulated knowledge.
He noted, “I plan to get certified by going through the federation as well as the Georgetown Association. This is how I intend to get qualified as a coach. It’s the natural and gradual step if you want to continue to assist in the sport, I am a player and now I will become a coach.”
Asked about the overall objective of the programme, Sancho declared that the objective is to create a professional environment where youth players can ultimately refine their skills and achieve their goal of becoming a professional. He further said, “The main aim is to be able to eventually create a professional academy, so that players can eventually be able to reach that level. That is my aim to create a professional environment in the future for the emerging players.”
Sancho further stated that the creation of the academy can be a positive step for many players, adding, “I think the academy could be a great benefit to youth players, it would give them a chance to focus on football and if they are good at it, push themselves to reach the professional ranks. My family members have reached and discussed with me about doing this project while many young players have also influenced me to do this.”
