“We called it a skills test because that’s what the players thought it was,” says Trevor Bumstead, a former West Ham United youth coach. “But really it was about perseverance, determination.”
Eight stations were set up around the pitch. The club’s under-15 boys were each given a ball and told to work their way around the circuit until every task was completed.
At one station, they had to curl their ball into the goal from the corner flag, with their left foot and then their right. At others, they had to shoot through hoops placed over the corners of the net, or execute precise clipped or driven passes toward a target.
And it was in these sessions that Declan Rice demonstrated the persistence and drive for improvement that have seen him develop into a key midfielder for England going into Euro 2020 and a standout Premier League talent reportedly valued upwards of £80m.
“There was an element of skill to it,” Bumstead says, “but you had to go and get your ball every time you missed.
“He was fantastic at that because he’d miss, and then he’d bring back his ball and have another go. But he used to assess very quickly what he’d done wrong and readjust.
“It was about: Can you keep doing it? Who is going to be the most persistent? That was the competitive element. And Declan would always win those. He was fiercely competitive.”
