07 Oct 2014
?Paris, 7 October 2014. Football clubs from around the world have praised Aspire Academy and pledged to continue to work together to build upon the Aspire Academy Global Summit on Football Performance and Science that concluded in Paris today. Speaking at the conclusion Aspire Academy Director General Ivan Bravo said: “The summit is just the first step that Aspire Academy has taken to create a community of clubs and academies that will regularly share knowledge.”
“What has been demonstrated during the summit is that the world’s top clubs and academies are eager to learn about our techniques and methodologies at Aspire Academy and that we are being recognized globally as a leader in the development of football performance and science.”
Over 50 clubs were represented at the summit with many commenting that they will be able to apply some of the content at their clubs.
Les Parry from Manchester United said: “Sports science is a great tool for coaching that has become very important and generated a whole industry within football. From this conference I can take an input from discussion on psychology to Manchester and we will think how we can incorporate it. “
Daniele Bernazzani, Academy Technical Director at FC Internazionale said:” The summit has been a great idea. It’s different from usual conferences because it’s not just one person in the spotlight. Everyone shares experiences and I am looking forward to the next step of this summit when we can go deeper in the future.”
Louis Coolen, Chief of Development Coach at Zenit St Petersburg said: “I have been to quite a number of seminars but I have never seen anything like this. It’s not just one directional talk. You get inside into all sorts of research and the different ways of tactical development. What is interesting is that this process is ongoing after the conference.”
Speaking at a special stars chat session during the conference former Argentina internationals Juan Sebastian Veron and Gabriel Heinze stressed the important role football academies play in the life development of individuals.
Juan Sebastian Veron said:“ It is important to organize summits like this in order to come together and share information. We train people not just athletes. We have young people in our hands and we have to convey values to them and education is the foundation so they can make progress in their lives. Many youngsters will be successful and many will not. It’s important we leave something for them to build on.”
Speaking about players becoming coaches Gabriel Heinze said: ”Just because you were a player doesn’t make you a coach. You have to learn from experienced coaches, spend hours talking to people like Roberto Mancini and go to events like this.”