FORMER Chippenham Town defender Tyrone Mings has revealed he is bringing his academy to Wiltshire and is due to start at Stanley Park tomorrow evening.

The 24-year-old defender, who plays for Premier League side Bournemouth, has previously run his Tyrone Mings Academy in two separate locations in Bristol.

Now Mings plans on opening a third location at Chippenham’s Stanley Park, where boys and girls aged from six-year-old to 16-years-old are welcome to participate.

“We have been going now since October, we have two sessions a week and then we also do half-term camps, which we will have at Stanley Park in February,” he said.

“The main purpose for it is to have fun. I believe there is too much pressure being put on young kids at either their academies or their clubs.

“Obviously, it’s very result based and a lot of the fun can be sucked out of it, when you can just enjoy it so that is why the academy is mainly aimed at having fun.

“We don’t play games about other academies, there is no pressure to get fed into another team. It’s just additional training, we don’t encourage children to leave their clubs to come to this.

“It is just somewhere where you can get very good, professional coaching by a high standard of coaches and it doesn’t clash with their club commitment.

“It’s going well, we have got kids who are having trials at academies already, so in a roundabout way, that should demonstrate that it is working, and we are improving players without being too pressurised.”

Mings has enlisted the help of Martin Paul has his head coach as well as other coaches from the area to take the sessions, and insists the youngsters will be in a safe pair of hands.

“Martin has been coaching around the South West and Bristol for a long time now,” he added.

“It is mostly based on reputation, qualification and experience really.”

Mings meanwhile, is facing another frustrating spell on the sidelines as he gingerly nurses a back injury back to health.

The former Ipswich Town defender was hoping to feature for Bournemouth during the festive period but suffered a setback and has not featured for them since the early stages of the season.

Mings has made just 14 appearances since joining Cherries in the summer of 2015, also suffering a serious knee injury sustained minutes into his Premier League debut against Leicester City - and could face a further three months on the sidelines with the latest problem.

“I’m alright, I have a fracture in my back, it is just stressed at the moment,” he told the Gazette & Herald.

“I never seem to get little ones (injuries) either. I’m not sure on a timeframe. I think I have another three to four weeks of doing nothing, then I will have to start rehab, which will be about eight weeks.

“I’m in a situation where I’m not allowed to do anything, I’m not allowed to do yoga or go to the gym, hence why I am on holiday.

“I’m just in Dubai. There are worse things that I can be doing. It is frustrating because I just want to be fit.

“But hey, there are worse things to be doing and the academy is taking up a fair chunk of my time at the moment, which is enjoyable.

The Chippenham academy sessions will run from 6.30-8.30pm and for more information, contact head of academy Paul on 07976 551516, or via email on martin@tyronemingsacademy.com.