Lossiemouth Football Club step up efforts to develop young talent by unveiling their own Pixelott Air camera coaching tool as used by La Liga giants Barcelona
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LOSSIEMOUTH'S conveyor belt of young footballing talent has been given an upgrade with the donation of a state-of-the-art camera tracking system donated by the father of one of their players.
Fire safety adviser George Sewell, whose son Ryan came through the Highland League club's youth ranks to star in the first team, bought a Pixelott Air camera for Lossie to use during games and coaching sessions.
The system is already used by Spanish giants Barcelona and some top English Premier League sides, and will help the Coasters continue to nurture young players through their four youth teams towards the Highland League.
The AI-automated camera does not need anyone to operate it, capturing the entire field and tracks the game or training session automatically.
Lossiemouth manager Joe Russell said it will provide him and his coaching staff with a technological edge in assessing their players.
"It’s a really good asset we’ve got and I’m very grateful to George for giving it to us and getting the sponsorship," he said.
"At times in the game on a Saturday you think a certain player is out of position and it turns out when you watch the highlights it was someone else and you get that different perspective.
"You can sit and watch it on a Sunday or before training on a Monday and see what you need to work on."
Read more: PICTURES from Lossiemouth's 4-1 North Cup win over Fort William.
One of Lossie's club coaches is Joe Lasley, whose brother Keith played for and manager Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership and used the system there, telling Russell it was a very useful addition to coaching.
Former fireman Sewell, who runs his own GGS Fire Safety business in Moray, is a Grant Park regular watching Ryan play and decided to help out the club who had developed his son's talents.
"I think it’s a fantastic thing, it’s a coaching tool that lets coaches do all sorts of things to help improve the players at all ages," he said.
"The likes of Barcelona use it, it’s widely used in the English Premier League and I just wanted to help Lossiemouth out.
"The camera will record the games and the training sessions and the company edits it to get the highlights and it can be used for whatever purpose the club needs."
Russell added that the camera donation is an example of the support that his club has received from their local community.
"The whole community has been really good to the club over the last few years," he said.
"They can see what we are trying to do here and the sponsorship has been brilliant. We are really grateful for it.
"For us its about improving the youth set up and the facilities that our players can use."
Russell highlighted some of the work which has taken place behind the scenes to transform their home ground.
"Upgrading the facilities at Grant Park with the changing rooms and the referee’s room, even the doors, it just makes the whole environment a much better place to be in.
"That’s where we are trying to focus our attention on and make it more comfortable.
"It can only help us attract more players in the future."
Fortunes on the park are also on the rise, with Lossiemouth defeating Nairn County and Fort William to reach the semi-finals of the North Cup.
The Coasters have also defeated Wick Academy and held Inverurie Locos to a draw in their Highland League campaign so far.
