Close to 50 young local footballers took part in the Inter Miami/Royal Caribbean International Youth Clinic at Ballaz Academy on Thursday as the club continues to expand its footprint on youth development.

Injured first-team player Marcelo Weigandt along with coaches and support staff from the Major League Soccer (MLS) club took time out to engage and share with the players ahead of the club’s Concacaf Champions League round-of-16 clash against Jamaican and Caribbean champions Cavalier SC at the National Stadium on Thursday.

Camila Jocelyn-Holt, Inter Miami’s director of community engagement, explained that the club was eager to take the opportunity to extend its programme beyond its South Florida base.

“So our youth clinics is one of our most loved events that we host back in Miami at our Florida Blue Training facility, but we’ve had the opportunity to partner with the most incredible partner Royal Caribbean, and they’re such a massive international brand that we decided to launch our youth clinics internationally,” Jocelyn-Holt told the Jamaica Observer.

“So be it that we play [in] Jamaica tonight, we thought to bring two of our academy coaches, our incredible staff, to come out, work with Ballaz Academy, and put together an amazing event for 40 or so of their academy kids,” added Jocelyn-Holt.

“I feel so much joy, so much excitement. The vibes are very high. Coming here, from the minute we started, everyone was just so happy, positive and excited. So it matched everything that we wanted to bring to the table as well, a lot of good energy.

“We have so many fans that are not from South Florida. We are a global brand, so whatever we can do to come back and thank those fans that support us, we are more than happy to do and excited to be a part of something like this with them,” she added.

Ballaz Academy director and founder Andre Virtue was pleased with the opportunity to expose Jamaican youngsters to opportunities in the sport.

“We got contacted to a host a clinic and any opportunity to give our youth exposure is something that we are in full support of, obviously, a club like Inter Miami, with what they represent and the players that they have, it would be hard selecting 30 kids out of 200. It’s that challenge for us, but we did that and we also created some spaces for Kids from Total Football Academy, KFA and Norbrook Strikers. It’s really giving the boys and girls an opportunity to, you know, see the next level … and to just encourage them on their journey,” said Virtue.

Joy Roberts, executive director of Jamaica Vacations, the agency in the Ministry of Tourism responsible for airlift and cruises, outlined their involvement with the event.

“Royal Caribbean are sponsors of the Inter Miami team and as a result, as partners here, as a persons responsible for cruises, they asked us to come on board,” said Roberts.

“The team, as you know, is playing in Jamaica and they decided to do a clinic here with our young people. So we have about 50 players that are involved in the clinic. So we’re here to support, we, you know, helped with sponsorship for the event, and we’re always trying to give back. We want to help develop the sport of football in Jamaica, and so we’re here.”

— Andre Lowe

Inter Miami Academy Coach Julian Arellano (right) greets youngsters during the Inter Miami/Royal Caribbean International Youth Clinic at Ballaz Academy on Thursday.

Inter Miami Academy Coach Diego Garcia gives instructions to young footballers during the Inter Miami/Royal Caribbean International Youth Clinic at Ballaz Academy on Thursday.

VIRTUE… it’s really giving the boys and girls an opportunity to, you know, see the next level (Photo: Observer file)