Model footballers train youngsters

With the imminent World Cup stoking the dreams of young football players hoping to become the next Theo Walcott, a new training aid that uses radar could help them become a reality.

Many aspiring football professionals are hampered by poor or inappropriate equipment, such as traffic cones, to represent opposing players. Now a Birmingham company has worked with the University of Warwick to devise a child focused "Soccer Buddy" training aid

The specially designed 1.37 metre tall "Soccer Buddies" are the brainchild of semi professional footballer and children’s football coach Julez Broomes. He despaired at how dull and inappropriate many football training aids were for young players. Drills used plastic road cones or adult sized mannequins that only bore a rough resemblance to a player. Julez said, "Young people aged six to 14 are in their golden years when one can do great things to develop their footballing talent. I thought there must be a way of making their training more fun".