Best Foot Forward:The BG Under 12 Open Day

The first floor of Bangkok Glass’s Hall of Glass was packed with 300 eager young players and their families who came to hear more about the club’s plans to develop their youth system at the under 12 level. The first selection group of 300 will be cut down to 50 next month. Those 50 Thai students will train each weekend and then the final 36 will be given education contracts and, as they reach 13, they will be able to train daily.
Players who make  the final group will have a wide range of options.  The ultimate goal is playing for the first team, but they can also gain experience training at Bayer Leverkusen, work with the Japanese partnership club Osaka or play in the regional league with sister  club Rangsit FC under the expert eye of BG General Manager Khun Kit.

Not only do these students have the chance to make a lucrative career for themselves in the burgeoning world of Thai football after gaining an all round education, but they will be carefully trained to develop a winning mentality under the expert guidance of Hans Emser. Every aspect of their development is not only placed on a database, but the results of all training are sent to Leverkusen to be assessed and compared with the development of German academy players. Hans carefully assesses the diet of the young players and ensures that milk is introduced into their diets to develop healthy bones and contribute to increased strength and height. Any athlete needs fitness, but it is technique, skill, speed and intelligence that sets the best players apart.
Whilst there remains some way to go if BG are to match the mature and highly developed youth  system of Chonburi with their four youth level teams,  today shows that BG are determined to plant roots for tomorrow.

 

Matt and Josh Riley