Under-18s take to the dance floor

Our second-year Under-18s players swapped the boot room for the ballroom last week for a unique lesson with world-renowned dancer and former Strictly star Kristina Rihanoff.

Organised as part of our scholars’ wide-ranging education programme, the players were taught about the spatial awareness, co-ordination and fitness required by elite-level performers while learning some Salsa moves under the tutelage of Kristina and her team of professionals at a dance studio in Barnet.

“This was such an amazing opportunity to teach young footballers to dance,” said Kristina, who mentored numerous celebrities including Ben Cohen, Jason Donovan, John Sergeant and Simon Webbe on hit BBC show Strictly Come Dancing between 2008 and 2015.

“Dancing is one of those things you can offer as a side discipline to many sports. It teaches you great body awareness, you understand your footwork, you understand your centre of gravity, you understand how to move from foot to foot and to co-ordinate it all to the music, it’s obviously a skill in its own.

“It’s fun, it’s a bit of a social thing but also, it actually brings to the body a whole different awareness. I think what the boys did with us proved that they are all great on their feet. At the beginning I’m sure they were all a bit worried about how it was going to be, but we ended up having a lot of fun, dancing a variety of combinations. Their co-ordination was wonderful and the dancing just pushed it a bit further. As a dance teacher, I always say that dancing is for everyone and this was a perfect example of young sportsmen enjoying the craft of dancing.”

Last Thursday’s event continued a Spurs lineage dating back some 60 years. Back in 1959, legendary former manager Bill Nicholson took his squad to a Bolshoi Ballet performance during a tour of Russia and, so impressed he was with the levels of stamina possessed by the dancers, he drafted in weight trainer Bill Watson upon returning to London to help the players work on their fitness. Two years later, we won the Double.

One of the players involved back then was former winger Cliff Jones, whose grandson Matt Wells is our current Under-18s Coach.

“It was absolutely brilliant!” smiled young midfielder Elliot Thorpe after the lesson with Kristina. “There’s a lot of emphasis on timing, footwork and movement – so moving your body, moving your feet in time with the music and in time with the professional you’re working with.

“After a while, it gets a bit challenging but it was great to work on all those things and have a bit of fun at the same time. All the boys really enjoyed it.”