Next Stop Europe

 

Steve Murray (PSA) Academy Director has been the HeadCoach for The Brains Soccer Program (BSP) based at John Paul College for the past 8 months. The BSP is the brainchild of former Korean International Captain, Tony Kim, Tony has played in two world cups (USA and Italy) the Olympics and a youth world cup for Korea and has played against the likes of Maradona and Klinsman. The BSP had 32 players at the college last season and are planning to expand to 50 by the start of the 2003 Australian season in March.Although the college has outstanding facilities the BSP will have a 60 bed dormitory and floodlights added to the main training ground by March at the cost of approximately 1 million dollars, Tony plans to expand his network to include players from China, Japan and Indonesia." the plan is to develop young players here and then send them back home or to Europe, the climate and facilities here at the college plus the education side makes it a very attractive proposition for the parents who see there children learn to speak English and develop as soccer players" said Murray Last season's work load stretched Steve near to breaking point as the BSP Academy grew, " I had already accepted the Rochedale DOC/U17s job when I was approached by BSP, after a weeks trial period I was offered the position, I decided to try and juggle the two jobs and to be honest I think I just managed to pull it off, however it's fair to say that the Rovers DOC part of the job probably suffered a little "said Murray.This season Tony has brought in an extra coach he is a ex Korean team mate from South Australia. Tony and Steve  will be holding Interviews in early January for one other coach to come on board, Steve will continue to set out the seasons program and oversee the coaching whilst still having a hands on coaching role, "I will probably take the new recruits at first, I learnt a lot from my experience last season, only one or two players could understand what I Was saying so I had to virtually demonstrate everything I wanted them to do, I learnt quickly what worked and what didn't and developed a few key words in Korean and English that seemed to get my point across, although there is a big language and cultural barrier kids are kids and I found that humor was the best way to put the players and myself at ease when frustration set in "said Murray.Tony has big plans for the BSP, he is still a big hero in Korea and is good friends with Voss, the Feyenoord Manager, combine that with the English Academies involved with the Premier Soccer Academy, the future looks bright for all involved. "We have 4 players that have been with us from the start of the program this year, that we feel have an excellent chance in Europe if they continue to make the same progress, we will be looking to send them on the next PSA tour in September 2003.said Murray.