Ryan Zico Black with Herm schoolchildren and teacher Mary Carey. (0599154)
HERM’S budding young soccer stars enjoyed a treat this week when they had a surprise visit from Guernsey-born footballer Ryan Zico Black.
The Bamber Bridge player was in the island promoting his new autobiography and stopped at the school for an impromptu training session.
‘First we talked to him for a while and asked questions,’ said Will Knight. ‘He told us that when he played for Morecambe he made it to the third round of the FA Cup, but they eventually lost three-nil.’
The question and answer session was followed by some coaching in the playground.
‘He showed us how to do lots of things with the football,’ said Taigh Watson. ‘We did kick-ups and we had to dribble the ball around cones.
‘I learned how to do keepie-uppies and he could do 30 without dropping the ball.
He was really good at them.’
All the children enjoyed the training and the games, especially footie-mad Charlie Knight, 10.
He trains every Saturday in Guernsey. Last year he and brother Will took part in a two-day training course at Foote’s Lane.
He is now practising for a tournament that will take place in St Martin’s on 19 and 20 July.
‘It was fun being coached by Ryan and I feel I learned a lot,’ said Charlie.
‘He told us he’s a striker and a winger and he played for Northern Ireland because his mum’s Irish. He also played in India for a while.’
But Charlie won’t be taking his tips on what to do after scoring a goal.
‘Ryan tried to show us his goal celebration, but his jeans were too tight.’
Article posted on 27th June, 2008 - 2.00pm
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