The St. Maarten Tourism Bureau is pleased to announce the successful kick-off on Monday, July 26, where the organization FUNDACION REAL MADRID CLINICS DUTCH ANTILLES, together with the REAL MADRID FOUNDATION and our Local Partner Flames United FC, started the Real Madrid Foundation football clinic for boys and girls (6 until 13 years) which will run until Friday 30 of July 2021 on the friendly island of Sint Maarten.
The goal of the organization in conjunction with the Sponsors is to motivate the practice of football on the island as well as to encourage the values inherent in the sport, to give them the opportunity to train as their idols do and contribute to their personal development. In addition, a great opportunity to grow the sport tourism sector of Sint Maarten.
The collaboration of the St. Maarten Tourism Bureau, Adidas, and the main sponsor Coca Cola (CC1 Sint Maarten) provided opportunities to some 65 kids to participate in the Clinic.
St. Maarten Tourism decided to support the clinic as this brings the tourism sector some benefits to the destinations that host the event. Economic boosts, both direct and indirect, are among these advantages. Destination exposure and awareness, direct spending by sports tourists at host facilities, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment venues stimulate the local economy. “Real Madrid is one of the top-ranking football clubs in the world in performance and has the most social media followers 252.1 million, therefore we saw this as a really great opportunity to collaborate with the organization to expose the Destination in the sector that spends on their favorite football team and support their events,” says May-Ling Chun Director of Tourism.
“I’m extremely pleased to welcome the Real Madrid Foundation to Sint Maarten. This is a wonderful initiative and one that the island should wholeheartedly support. Part of our socio-economic recovery plan includes fostering events like this which not only benefit our local economy, but, perhaps even more importantly, help develop our young people to become better in all aspects of their lives by instilling in them life-long positive values, such as teamwork, discipline, and fair play,” Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Traffic, and Telecommunication (TEATT) Ludmila de Weever said. “And the fact that they get to learn these things by meeting world-famous football icons from Real Madrid only makes it more special.”
“I congratulate local football club Flames United FC for this great initiative and for making it open to all of our local children. We hope to see more of these. Once again, I welcome the Real Madrid Foundation to Sint Maarten and I wish everyone a happy and fun time while learning footballing skills from some of the world’s best,” Minister of TEATT De Weever concluded.
The clinics will be held from 16:30 – 20:20, these will be dictated by coaches from the Real Madrid academy with the collaboration of local coaches. The training plan is made under the methodology and philosophy of Real Madrid Academy, adapted to the level and needs of the participants.
The clinics will take place at Raoul Illidge Sports Complex in Phillipsburg.
One player and one Coach will be selected to travel to Madrid and be part of the Team who will represent Sint Maarten in the First Edition of the World Challenge Tournament to be held in the Real Madrid Sports City of Valdebebas, visit the club museum, visit the Santiago Bernabeu and witness a league match.
