About 250 young Island soccer players made the pilgrimage to the Sancy Pachico gym at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) last weekend to receive skill and playing tips from the pros, two coaches with the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer (MLS).
Island coaches, parents and soccer fans made it a busy two days at the Sancy. Revolution Academy director Deven Apajee and Dean Brookes, the Revs’ regional manager, delivered 10 high-energy training sessions for players from fourth to 12th-grade.
The clinics were part of Revolution Academy, an outreach program of the Revolution that currently offers the program to 33 communities in the state.
Revolution Academy came to the Island with the help of Alex Poole, a soccer star at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) and at Elmira College. Mr. Poole (MVRHS 2009) is a coach for the Revolution Academy program.
The soccer-thirsty students were divided by age group for skills and technique coaching in an event that had both MV Youth Soccer and Revolution Academy folks wowed, MV United vice-president David Wallis reported this week.
“On a scale of 1-10, this was a 12. We had pretty much full MV United participation,” he said, adding “Deven reached out to me on Monday to express how impressed he was with how the Island embraced them and their program. We’re both hoping that MV United and the Revolution Academy are able to shake hands on future programs.
“Deven and Dean were phenomenal. They illustrated how they can adapt to different ages, genders, and talent levels using the same instructional modes, an artistry really to keep the kids engaged, focussed and positive. You could see in the kids’ postures that they were reacting positively to the drills.
MVRHS boys varsity soccer coach Esteban Aranzabe knows more than a little about coaching soccer. He dropped in for a few hours last weekend to watch the Revs coaches at work. “They are pros who work with the Revolution and they know what they are doing. I know that everybody was super-happy to have professionals working with our kids and it says lot about MV United’s work to develop its programs. As a high school coach, I think it’s great,” he said.