THE second annual Sandals football academy was launched at Jarrett Park on Saturday morning and will continue for the next six weekends.

Fifty of the most talented players between the ages of 10 and 13 years old are to take part in the programme, which aims to help in their development.

The initiative is a partnership with the St James Football Association and will be co-ordinated by Hopeton Gilchrist.

Gilchrist told the Jamaica Observer West that the objective of the effort is to “try and teach the campers the basics of the game and hopefully they will be able to improve their skills”.

The campers were all part of the recent VMBS St James Under-13 competition played among primary and prep schools in the parish.

“We hope that in the near future, we will be able to see participants from this camp being invited to national youth teams and eventually senior teams,” said Stephen Hector, Sandals’ global director of public relations during the launch.

Some of the participants will be moving on to high schools in September, where they hope to apply what they will learn at the camp. Others will return to their respective primary and prep schools as improved students and players.

Some of the participants, Gilchrist said, had participated in last year’s camp.

Sandals Montego Bay General Manager Carl Beviere was also in attendance at the launch of the camp.