THE woman behind an Iberian-influenced football academy in Altrincham is hoping the facility produces the next Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, writes Richard Craig.

Coaches from La Liga side Villarreal CF are leading training sessions by the Spanish Football Academy at Altrincham Grammar, and the academy has secured another six months at the school.

Resh Grewal, 42, got involved with the Academy after her son took to their exciting approach to coaching his favourite sport.

“I took my son along to a Spanish Football session going at the grammar last year and he really got into it,” she explained.

“He loves football and said it was very interesting, challenging and different from the norm.

“I got speaking to the coaches from Villarreal and they said it was not quite as successful as they wanted it to be, so I took the opportunity to get together with them and set up an academy.”

David Escribano, Javier Soriano, Sergio Adell, have all served as coaches at Villarreal, while Paloma Ortiz-Lopez played for ‘The Yellow Submarine’ for 13 years.

The school may be within a stones’ throw of two of the country’s biggest teams, but Resh hopes kids can learn using methods from further afield.

“We have got City and United nearby and the majority of boys’ dream is to play football,” she said.

“But we look at the Spanish game, we look at teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid, and think, why are those teams so successful. We try to adapt that to English football.”

“The Spanish Football Academy is different from what is normally taught by kids’ coaches. It was more challenging and more technical.

“We keep them constantly active throughout the sessions so they are not getting bored – they are enjoying it.”

She also hopes occasional visits from world-class freestyler Roman Brezovsky will inspire kids to expand their skills and have fun with the sport.

Roman won the Red Bull Street Style Championship in Latvia and then went on to represent his country at the World Football Freestyle Championship.

“He actually attended the camp run by Integral Sport Solutions last year. My son saw him and thought he was really impressive,” said Resh.

“I thought it would be good to have him at the academy as he could show something for the kids to aspire to.”

The Academy just secured another six months at the grammar, where they hold weekly sessions on Sundays, so the future is looking bright for Spanish football in Altrincham.

“We are just going to see how it goes,” said Resh.

“We have already got kids from last year coming back as well, which is great.”

The Spanish Football Academy holds coaching sessions every Sunday.

The session from 2-3pm is for seven to 10-year-olds. The session from 3-4pm is for 11 to 14-year-olds.

The academy is also planning football tours to Villarreal CF youth academy during the school summer holiday next year.

For more information visit thespanishfootballacademy.com/