The end of one journey is just the beginning to another.......ACADEMY-APPLY WITHIN

Mid May, 2012


My morning is similar to many from the last fortnight. I wake up at 6am, take a shower to wake myself up as mornings aren't for me, then make my way downstairs to begin another day of work. I open the blinds and look outside, to see the lovely early morning, summertime weather that I've grown accustomed to in Leicester.

I open up the laptop, wondering if today will be like yesterday, or if my luck is about to run out. The slow boot up process gives me enough time to make myself a cup of tea, and take my place back at my desk.

Upon sitting down, I see I have 3 emails. The first being from a old school friend, offering me Viagra at an excellent price, how tempting.....but not for now, I have more important matters to deal with. 

Mid May, 2012


Yes, you read correctly, I am Nikos Dabizas. I have returned to England after finishing my career as a professional footballer. I endured 7 brilliant years here, spending 5 seasons with Newcastle United, before moving to the Midlands to sign for Leicester City. Before that, I spent 4 great years with Olympiacos in my native Greece before coming here, and finished my career back at home with AEL Larissa. I also clocked up 70 caps for my country, a tally which leaves me just outside the 10 most capped players for Greece, a feat which is my proudest of all.

Upon retiring from the beautiful game, I returned to England, moving back into my picturesque countryside home on the outskirts of Leicester, and began my attempts to give something back to the game which gave me so much joy.

I am back in Leicester as it gives me the best opportunity to work with more clubs than if I had worked with sides around my home in Newcastle.

I suppose I should enlighten you as to what my venture here is!!

Well........

As a young footballer, the crucial period in your career isn't the 21-24 years of your life which can get you a move to a big club, or make your name on the international stage. The key years, are from 16 to 18. A period in which the harder you work, the more effort you make, and the wider your willingness to learn, the greater your rewards will be. This however often comes at a price.......

Footballers are often credited as being 'dumb', 'stupid', 'thick' and so on, simply because they believe from the age of 14/15, their education doesn't matter. For those who are lucky enough to remain injury free throughout their career, I take my hat off to you. However my vision is for those who might not be so lucky, and for worse, those young players who have made the decision to sidetrack their education for their football, and now from the ages of 16 to 18, find themselves with NO QUALIFICATIONS, and further to that, being RELEASED by the club they were with.

The organisation I have set up, takes players who are released from academy's/school of excellences after leaving compulsory education, and gives them the opportunity to continue their footballing education in a professional environment. You may think this is just like any other academy/school of excellence, however all members of my organisation, will have to adhere to a strict, 'Coach Carter' style of education, for my vision is to provide youngsters not only the chance to play football, but also to give them the opportunity to provide themselves with an education, so if their career doesn't go to plan, they have a second chance to build a life for themselves.

My intention is to take on 35 players, ranging in age from 16 to 18. Each player will move to our training headquarters, and be provided with a full education in their chosen subject field, as well as high quality training 5 days a week from my team of coaches. The goal here isn't to build a team for myself that can make their way to the top. The goal is to give talented young players who didn't quite make the grade at their previous club, a chance to stay in football. We aim to feed everyone back into a professional side, as well as supplying a complete college education.

Finally, my players aren't going to come from nowhere, so I will be holding an application process, which will begin in the coming days. Anyone can apply, and I will be taking each application, and evaluating them to look at the most promising prospects both on the pitch, and in the classroom. 

Thank you.
Nikos

 

Reserved for player positions

quote ho1mesy2011

Name: Bret Hart
Date of Birth: 9/3/1992
Location: Calgary Canada
Past club(s): Toronto
Position: DC/Swepper
Brief Description of you, as a player: hard tackling defender who likes to go forward
Brief Description of you, as a student: Hard working with a slight aggression
And in a few sentences, tell me why you deserve a place in this program: because im the best there is the best there was and the best there ever will be