02.10.11

ISI Partners with West Ham United

Excuse my bias, but a soccer partnership with West Ham United and their International Academy is a very exciting addition to the International School of Indiana.

A story may help paint the canvas. Back in the winter of 1996, my good friend and (now) Assistant Director of the Academy, Paul Heffer, brings a young West Ham youth team to our sports hall for a pre-Germany tour practice and a fun swim. Paul points out a young lad called, Glen Johnson. Paul says, “he’ll play for England’. Johnson did, does. Paul, in my book is a legend and how he coaches is special.

Through this friendship, an 8 hour drive to Atlanta and an $80 Hammers tattoo – I find myself at the brink of working with Mike Kelleher, manager of the US based International Academy, and ISI joins the fun. Then, during Mike’s visit to Indy, we work on a plan that could put Indy on the international youth soccer map. Mike is a smart guy and knows the US field re soccer.  Indy is a city willing and able to bring people in to start something special.

Check out this link: http://blogs.indystar.com/preps/2011/01/28/international-soccer-coach-headed-to-london-training-session/

This entry was written by Matthew Self, filed under Athletics. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Comments are closed, but you can leave a trackback: Trackback URL.