CITY'S INTERNATIONALS SIGN WITH CAVC

Cardiff & Vale College sign up new City stars

Gary Medel, Kévin Théophile-Catherine and Maxi Amondarain visited Cardiff & Vale College's Parade Campus on Wednesday, to sign up for English tuition.

The three players - who sat for a Q&A session with fellow CAVC students - follow in the footsteps of Kim Bo-Kyung, who already attends a course to improve his English skills at CAVC.

Speaking with the help of a translator, Gary in particular spoke of his hopes for the season and showed off a number of his eye-catching tattooes - totalling at an impressive 15 to date!

Special tuition for players is just one initiative of many between CAVC and Cardiff City, further strenghtening our sport and education ties. The College has sponsored the Club for the last six years and works with us and other organisations to develop the Futsal and Education Scholarship and programmes at the House of Sport, where some of the College’s sport students train and learn.

In the 2013-14 season, CAVC will continue to partner the Cardiff City FC team via a ‘stadium takeover’ where the stadium LED system, middle ribbon and jumbotron, designed by ADI TV, will feature the College for two minutes per match in 30 second sections.

This deal will enhance the College’s profile and raise awareness of CAVC’s initiatives, such as English courses for international students and services to employers, among the Barclays Premier League’s estimated 4.6bn worldwide audience. Cardiff and Vale College already recruits students from across Europe, South America, the Far East and beyond onto courses such as IELTS and Cambridge English.

From this month, the College offers a new Foundation Degree in Sport Coaching and Performance at the House of Sport in partnership with the University of South Wales. In addition, CAVC works in partnership with the club to support its successful work based learning for players and will now help develop an expanding portfolio of education programmes. 

Following discussions with Cardiff City’s Education Manager, Media Department and Malaysian owners, South Korean International Kim Bo-Kyung enrolled at the College earlier in 2013. This latest enrolment of Gary, Kevin and Maxi is part of a wider programme where CAVC will offer English language teaching to Cardiff City’s international players.

Cardiff City’s Education Manager Stephen Ellis spoke regarding this latest news, saying: “Cardiff and Vale College is a key and trusted partner of Cardiff City Football Club. Having worked together on a number of initiatives, we were very pleased to be able to enrol our new Barclays Premier League squad members with them for English lessons this September. Kim Bo-Kyung has studied English at Cardiff and Vale College this past year with notable and excellent progression. I’ve no doubt his new team-mates will flourish in the same exceptional environment, improving their general confidence and linguistic ability on and off the field.”

Cardiff and Vale College Vice Principal for Curriculum Kay Martin added: “The College welcomes the three new recruits from our partners Cardiff City FC especially the colourfully named El Pitbull, who will add some bite to our English programmes. Seriously though, this partnership raises the profile of the College internationally and CCFC benefits through the players having intensive English language tuition to improve their communication both on and off the pitch. Cardiff City FC are a Premier League club and we deliver premier league education and training.”

The College is still enrolling on English courses for international students and has spaces on Pathways to Apprenticeships in Sport as well as other full-time and part-time courses. For further information on these courses or to see a full prospectus of education opportunities available, visit www.cavc.ac.uk