Former Greek League player Andrea Govas has launched a new football academy in Oakleigh to pass on his own knowledge to young aspiring Australian footballers.

La Cantera will launch these school holidays from April 14, where the academy will host their first soccer camp.

They’ve booked big international and A-League names like Pablo Contreras, Gui Finkler, Adama Traore, and James Troisi to help run the sessions.
Govas, who now plays in the Oakleigh Cannon’s NPL senior’s team is already seeing a strong interest, with more than 20 students signing up since the academy’s inception earlier this year.

It’s been a pipe dream for many years Govas says, as his interest in all aspects of the sport, including coaching, had a big influence on his actions.

Coming back home from playing in Greece, he was finding there was a need and demand for more involved, long term training options.

“When I came back I had a lot of kids and family friends asking me ‘can you coach me can you train me?’,” he tells Neos Kosmos.

“Kids here only train once or twice a week, and we said maybe we can give them something extra.”

His business partner and fellow player, Vitaka Rodriguez, decided to create La Cantera to hopefully emulate the successful academies in Europe that have tailored some of the best players in the sport.

Rodriguez’s experience in the Spanish football academies helped them model a program that was different to the ones Australian academies offer.

“We’ll try and be a bit different, not by just supplying training to the kids, but with an experience that they wouldn’t get at another academy,” Govas says.

We want them to meet high profile players, we want them to get coached by high level elite coaches, we want to get someone that has a lot of experience playing at a high level and also coaching.”

The camp is open to ages six to 17 and includes an official training kit, specialised training sessions and talks by big names in football for $240.

As a Cannons player, Govas did have a bit of pull in securing Jack Edwards Reserve, and will be front and centre when the camps begin.

For more information and to sign up, visit www.lacanterafootball.com