The Royal Air Force Officers Football Team, Icarus FC, hosted Cardiff City Football Club Academy at RAF Brize Norton in August.
Following on from Icarus FC playing at the Cardiff City Stadium in April, this visit was the next step in developing the partnership between Icarus FC and the Cardiff City FC Academy.
The visit gave the young academy players the opportunity to find out about life in the RAF, understand the parallels between professional sport and military life, and learn new skills. The players were put through their paces with some military activities, including ‘Battle PT’, Drill and camping out overnight all with a focus on how these skills can be transferred from a military context to the football pitch.
Darren Purse Under 21s Manager for Cardiff FC said:
“It’s been a really worthwhile experience; the lads enjoyed their time on base. It provided some valuable insights into military life, and we were able to draw many parallels to what we are trying to build in our environment”.
Darren Purse
Under 21s Manager Cardiff FC
During the visit the players also got the chance to visit several sections and aircraft, having a tour of an Atlas A400M whilst speaking with personnel about their roles in the RAF.
Group Captain John Hetherington, CEO RAF Football said:
“It’s a tremendous opportunity for the two organisations to learn from each other. We think there’s a lot of similarities between preparing these young men to perform at the highest level of sport and what we do in the RAF which is preparing people to go on operations and perform to the highest level.”
Group Captain John Hetherington
CEO RAF Football
