Bhoys in the Hood: Celtic to Run Soccer Academies in America’s Inner Cities

After reading Alexi Lalas’ proclamation about the merits of MLS, Celtic have announced that they are ready to tap into the potentially rich, largely unexplored veins of American soccer. The Scottish Premier League club have announced that they plan on opening up 30 soccer academies in inner city communities across the United States and Canada.

The Daily Record has the story:

Over the next five years they will use the power of soccer to deliver positive lifestyle and educational messages while increasing awareness of the club in a market it is ambitious to crack.

They could even unearth the next Freddy Adu, Cobi Jones, Alexei Lalas or Kasey Keller as they extend their community coaching scheme across the Atlantic – free of charge to all kids who participate.

The incongruent image of Kasey Keller and Freddy Adu growing up in an inner city communities notwithstanding, this is a fairly encouraging development for soccer fans in the United States. If immigrants could build our skyscrapers and railroads in the age of industrialization, why not use them to build our base of soccer players as well? Plus it will be easy to get young kids to show up. Just tell them that Celtic are holding a clinic and they will be psyched to have Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Danny Ainge in town.

In all seriousness, whether or not it works and whether or not Celtic reap the benefit of getting their paws on young American talent remains to be seen, but you have to think that US cities are full of youth with the potential to be good soccer players if they have the opportunity to play and exposure to decent coaching at a young age.

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Category: Scottish Premier League, World Football