19 Apr 2015
Doha, 19 April 2015. The global summit on ‘Football Performance & Science’, hosted by Aspire Academy in Paris last year was the start of the ‘Aspire in the World Fellows’ program: a network that connects the world’s leading experts in youth football and has built a community of over 50 clubs, federations and leagues with the aim to exchange knowledge and discuss the topics arising from the Summit on a regular basis.
“It’s a very interesting program and all the Fellows have been very involved in all of the discussions, they share knowledge, submit useful material and really feel part of a community. Whilst Aspire Academy started the initiative, it really has become the members own program and we are all working together to help the world of football on a performance and science level,” explains Prof. Valter Di Salvo, Executive Director of the program.
A group of this network was welcomed last week for a two-day-long ‘Fellows Gathering’ at Aspire Academy where they have the chance to discuss relevant topics in workshops, do practical sessions and also get to know Aspire Academy and Doha better. Among the sixteen international participants were representatives of clubs such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, the Italian Football Federation and Major League Soccer (MLS). “The technology and tools like video conferencing have made the world smaller however it’s not just about sharing content, it’s also about sharing emotions and therefore it’s very important to have gatherings like this to strengthen the relationships amongst the participants,” says Di Salvo.
“It’s a worldwide unique project and we have to thank Aspire Academy for the unbelievable effort they are putting into this idea,” says Miguel Cardoso who is currently working at Shaktar Donetsk in the Ukraine. “It unifies the world of football,” is how Alfonso Mondelo, Diector of Player Programs of the North American 'Major League Soccer' (MLS) sums up the aim of the program. He adds: “We take everything we get here in and share and discuss it with our clubs because we all want to get better.”
“Football is similar to music and coaches are in a way like composers. They all produce songs, but the ways they put the notes together are different and so are the songs,” says Les Parry, Athletic Development Coach at Manchester United, who sees a great benefit in sharing experiences. “We tend to think that everything we do is right, But when you get the chance to see how it’s done somewhere else it makes you think that involving other ideas can actually make you even better. The best coaches first looked at many approaches, ideas and philosophies, took them all in and then came up with their own that combined elements of many.”
The expectations of the Fellows until they next meet at the upcoming Global Summit this summer are high as Roberto Niccolai, Head of the Athletic Trainers & Training Methodologies at FC Internazionale Milano, confirms: “The clubs have developed and gathered a lot of useful information so far and shared it over the online platform created by Aspire. We will keep working on it, discuss the topics on a deeper level and I am looking forward to seeing what is being elaborated on when we next meet in person in summer.”