BIFC x EA SPORTS FC x UEFA

On Wednesday Feb 26th Bowen Island FC took part in an incredible event hosted at EA SPORTS FC's studio in Burnaby, as part of an FC Futures initiative in partnership with UEFA. Thirty six players from our U12 and U13 teams and their coaches headed out to the home of EA SPORTS to participate in a series of practices and drills that would eventually go on to be recreated in videogame form.

BIFC Players at the home of EA SPORTS in Burnaby as part of their FC Futures Initiative with UEFA.

FC Futures is an initiative that has created a free-to-access, online library of training practices for coaches, teachers and players to use in their everyday real-world training sessions. Created in collaboration with UEFA grassroots experts, using EA SPORTS FC's in-game Skill Games drills. With tips and guidance from legendary footballing stars such as Ian Wright and Emma Hayes, the online library is designed to help grassroots players improve fundamental football skills: passing, dribbling, 1v1 defending and finishing.

We had an incredible time, learning from high quality coaches, and the Bowen players were incredible representatives of our Club and our Island, showcasing enthusiasm, manners and no shortage of skill! We were immensely proud of how they all handled themselves. During the session the players moved through a series of stations, designed to build on their core soccer strengths, before moving indoors to play EA SPORTS games and eat pizza. Club President Niul Bird thanked UEFA and EA, acknowledging that there "are a lot of other sports out there, and hopefully this helps us promote soccer on the Island". This was a fun event for all involved, and represents the club's willingness to create memorable moments to our players during their time with us.

Coaches Niul and Colin take the BIFC players through the drills that they'll take part in using the EA SPORTS FC videogame as a training guide.

Stay tuned to our social media channels for photos and videos from the event, we have lots of great content to share across the coming days!

Update - Mar 3

Here's a highlights video from the event, showing just how much fun and skill our players brought to the session!

And here is a video showing our coaches Niul and Lee, leading their practices and putting into practice the teaching from the UEFA coaches we worked with as part of the FC Futures Program.