Day 3 of the Reliance Foundation Young Champs Final Selection Camp began around 6:30 am with all 158 participants gathering at the marquee tent for breakfast before departing from Beverly Park for Fr. Agnel Ground by bus for their first training session of the day. The session began at 7 am and concluded around 9 am. The kids were put through warm-ups, trained on their positional play besides being put through shooting practice exercises before ending the session with their participation in small-sided games.

The aspiring young champs then returned to their Beverly Park base for breakfast, which was served at 9:30 am. Breakfast was followed by rest time for the youngsters to recover sufficiently before the second training session in the evening. A video feature was also shown in the auditorium during their rest time and was optional for kids to attend.

Lunch was then served at 12:45 pm as all the youngsters gathered one after another in the marquee tent for their meals. The kids were then ushered to the auditorium for a seminar around 2 pm. They were briefed about the project and the programme for the week and were also shown videos of some of the best players in Europe to educate them on the tactical aspects of the game. The seminar ended around 2:45 pm and all the players returned to their respective rooms for further rest before changing into their training gear and lacing up their boots for the evening session. The young and enthusiastic prospects once again assembled at the marquee tent for some refreshments before boarding their bus around 4:30 pm to return to Fr. Agnel Ground for training.

The evening session started at 5 pm and saw the youngsters warming up and taking part in more small sided 4-v-4 games. This session also featured the coaches putting the hopefuls through specific passing drills such as the step-out, the scissors, the Messi and the drag. Another area focused on was the 90-degree with the youngsters being taught how to perfect it while also emulating Zinedine Zidane’s, Ronaldo’s and David Beckham’s 90 degrees. A few other skills that were focused on included the 180 degree inside and outside as well as the Cruyff 180 degree and step-overs. They were transferred back to Beverly Park by bus shortly after the conclusion of this session around 7 pm. Shortly after their return to Beverly Park and freshening up quickly, all the participants returned to the marquee tent for dinner at 8 pm.

Technical director of the grassroots programme Piet Hubers commented on the progress he had seen over the last three days. “It’s now the third day of the final selection camp. The kids arrived on Monday, they had a very busy schedule thus far and a lot of training, a lot of information, a lot of new impressions. They are doing well, they are improving already, they are now used to playing here. In the beginning it was a little bit new but now they know each other better. Some good coaches, they are learning a lot so looking forward to the next few days,” said Hubers.