Academy boosts staff with two new appointments

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The Ricki Herbert Football Academy is boosting its support for players and its coaching staff with two new appointments.

Academy founder Ricki Herbert and Technical Director Kale Herbert have jointly announced the appointment of highly experienced sports performance therapist Lee Taylor (main photo) and an administrator, Emma Young.

“Both will make a big contribution to the growth and success of our academy,” Ricki Herbert said.

“Emma will oversee some new projects we have lined up this year, including a new registration format to make it easier for the academy to track its activities and players.

“Lee will head all the academy’s strength and conditioning programmes for all RHFA regions, and help in the delivery of high-quality coaching.”

Taylor will start his academy role on March 10 after assisting Ricki Herbert in Tahiti with the preparation of Fijian champions Ba ahead of the upcoming Oceania Football Confederation Champions League series.

He has more than 25 years experience as a sports performance therapist and high-performance coach working for professional UK clubs Scarborough, Barnet, Luton Town, Wimbledon, Peterborough, Mansfield Town, Boston United and Notts County as well as travelling abroad with the Liverpool FC Academy.

Internationally, he worked for three years at the Wellington Phoenix when Ricki Herbert was head coach and the pair re-united at Indian Super League club NorthEast United.

Other international roles have included work with the Antigua Football Federation, the Egyptian Paralympic Track & Field Team and a second Indian Super League club, FC Pune City.