…Coach Carlton Fairweather, impressed with Caribbean footballers
Sunderland, England: The Digicel Kick Start Clinics footballers completed their first day of training at Sunderland AFC’s Academy of Light today, with coaches Carlton Fairweather and Ian Dipper putting the eight footballers through their paces.

Sunderland AFC Coach Carlton Fairweather, supervising the players as they go through their paces.

The first day of the week-long training camp kicked off with each footballer undergoing a complete physical by the Academy’s medical staff.

Following that, the footballers took a tour of the Academy where they visited the media area, training rooms, IT and educational rooms and changing rooms, before taking to the pitch for their first training session.

Sunderland AFC’s Academy of Light coach, Carlton Fairweather, was impressed by what he saw on the first day, saying: “It’s great to have the guys here with us in Sunderland. They had a good first day – despite the cold weather – and I’m looking forward to seeing them in action over the coming week.”

Coach Fairweather – who is in charge of the Under 13, Under 14, Under 15 and Under 16 teams – was assisted by Coach Ian Dipper and Academy of Light Manager, Ged Mc Namee. The on field session focused on ball possession and technique using small boxed areas with the players working in pairs and interchanging at intervals.

Coach Fairweather added: “The boys have good technique and I think today’s session worked well for us. Tomorrow, they will be training with the Academy’s 15s, Under 16s and Under 18s and we should be able to assess them to see how close or far away they are from our boys.”

Before closing off the day with some games in the games room, the footballers had a recovery session in the pool. “This was basically for relaxation to get their muscles loose again. They’ve been in the ice bath as well and that will obviously help with their recovery for tomorrow,” Fairweather conclude