When Lindfield Junior coach Paul Hicks was invited to join Aston Villa’s winter season training in Dubai, it offered a unique opportunity to pick up some top professional tips to bring back home to the village team. But, perhaps more importantly, it also provided the chance to grant a special Christmas wish for friend and fellow coach Matt Richardson - one of Villa’s biggest fans. The pair travelled to Dubai in December after Paul, who works for CSM Sport and Entertainment, was asked to lead the project team supporting the club’s Winter Season training programme.

The pair travelled to Dubai in December after Paul, who works for CSM Sport and Entertainment, was asked to lead the project team supporting the club’s Winter Season training programme. CSM organises Fan Experiences around sporting events, such as the Six Nations, Autumn Internationals and The Hundred, along with projects which help football clubs to engage with their international fans. “My role was to support my team in Dubai, helping curate, plan and deliver the engagement programme alongside the Winter Training,” said Paul. “This included giving on the ground support during the activations. “It was a great opportunity to watch and learn some teaching tips, for Lindfield Raiders (under 7s), from an elite premier league manager in action on the training pitch, taking the Aston Villa first team through the training session,” he added. “But it was also an opportunity for Matt to join us in Dubai, to hang out meet the players, watch the exclusive training session and get involved in the Brand Experience element on Le Mer beach.” As well as visiting the team’s hotel, JA Resorts - where all the big football teams stay - the pair enjoyed meeting of the players on the golf course and were given exclusive access to the conference room to view the set up and understand how premier league players are treated when overseas. “We were also invited to watch an exclusive training session of the 25 Villa players and manager, Unai Emery and coaches,” added Paul. “Prior to the session, we had exclusive access to all the Villa back of house team, from groundsmen to marketing, chatting to them on the training pitch, learning about the new manager, past managers and the Villa set up. “We then joined 20 other VIPs in the small stand to watch the 2-hour training session, where we were just a few feet away from the action, before meeting the players, getting pictures, videos and autographs and asking questions.”

For Matt, it was the experience of a lifetime, particularly when Ollie Watkins, Villa’s number one striker, sent a personal video message to his son Leo. “Following on from this, we managed to arrange a meet and greet back at Villa Park for Leo with Ollie Watkins, after the game on 15th December, bringing a dream to life,” said Paul. Leo also presented Ollie with a children’s book for his daughter, written and published by his mum Nikki. “It was amazing to join an elite Premier League club training session and to be part of such a fantastic experience for Matt and Leo, who is best friends with my son Teddy,” said Paul. “Being part of the training session has also enabled us to gain further knowledge and skills for set training pieces, positioning, movement, pitch space that we can apply to our very own Lindfield Raiders U7s to help improve our grassroots game.”