Kairo Sage - Advanced Centre

6-year-old Kairo is the latest young person from a Charlton Athletic Community Trust (CACT) programme to progress into Charlton Athletic’s Pre-Academy.

During the 2020 summer holidays, Kairo came along to one of CACT’s holiday football courses at Charlton’s Training Ground in New Eltham and his footballing ability stood out immediately amongst his peers. 

Mark Sage, Kairo’s father said:

“Kairo has attended a number of the holiday courses run by Charlton at both the Bearsted and New Eltham sites along with his older brother. They have both thoroughly enjoyed these courses with the mix of training and games that are played.”

Kairo was then offered the chance to come along to CACT’s U7 Advanced Centre from September to continue developing his skillset. After attending a number of training sessions and playing in matches with the Advanced Centre, Kairo was invited to join the Charlton Pre-Academy’s Elite group for a 4-week trial.

Following a successful few weeks in training, Kairo was selected to play in a game against Southampton. He impressed the coaching team by scoring a goal and assisting another from defence as Charlton came out on top with a 5-3 win.

It was after the 6-year-old’s performance in this game that he received the exciting news that he passed his trial and became a member of the Pre-Academy squad.

Kairo’s father explains:

“He always looks forward to his training sessions and upcoming matches, especially the forthcoming ones with Everton and Manchester United. His confidence and all-round ability has improved so much in the time since he began training with Charlton and as a parent, I feel the support and interaction with the coaching team in the Pre-Academy has been first-class.”

Bradley Marshall, CACT Senior Football & Sports Development Officer, said: 

‘’This is exactly why we do the Advanced Centre programme – to highlight individuals like Kairo through CACT programmes as well as working with the Charlton Athletic scouting team to give high quality coaching in a professional environment. This enables us to see the qualities needed to push certain individuals into academy football.’’

Josh Covill, CACT Football & Sports Development Coach, said:

“Kairo was first spotted at one of our holiday courses at the Training Ground and immediately stood out physically and technically. He was then brought into our Advanced Centre programme, he’s improved technically even further and has now added more to his game during his time here. His progression has been excellent and has been great to see.”