Does anyone have any insight, experience or opinion about the soccer training for young boys (U12-14) with the professional European soccer clubs (not soccer camps or tours in Europe)? Since I do not know anything about it, I am looking for any information, such as the Web link if any, cost, time duration, procedure to enroll, experiences, etc. Thanks.
It's been brought up before a while back but after a lot of looking into I found that one of the best opportunities was YPT. Here's the link...it's one of the best ways of getting European professional training IMHO: Youth Professional Training website Look into it and I'm sure you will agree.....and no I don't work for them....I'm just planning on sending my son as soon as I can....
I've heard good things about YPT on these boards. OTOH, a friend of mine sent his son on one of their recent European tours and he was unimpressed. His feeling was that it was a racket for an agent to identify prospects to sell to Euro clubs. So what's the truth? Who knows.
YPT is an excellent training experience. It's about as close to a European training environment as you will get in a one week US based program. That's coming from someone whose child has spent multiple years at YPY, and trainind at a European academy. And no, YPT does not act as an agent, so there is no "racket". There have been several threads over the last several months where I have posted some details on what it is like at a European Academy for boys in the age group you ask about. Have a read through them. The only way you can participate in the professional team's academies is to be scouted and invited. Or recommended to them by a coach that they trust. There is no way to enroll in the way that you would a camp here. And if you make it, the clun picks up the cost. You pay nothing.
Some smaller clubs will let your son train with their youth team for a few days if you ask. But to enroll full-time you must be invited. The standard of training is usually very high - and remember your son might be training with/against boys who view him as a rival looking to take away their spot & future job.
My soccer club always has soccer coaches from England, sometimes they ask a couple players to come over and train with their team for two weeks after the summer training sessions. The main coach is from Blackburn in the premiership. One of my friends went over there and had a good time. He said training there was a lot different from training over here.
Checkout www.thefutbolfactory.com. This site is being advertised in the Backofthenet.com website in Long Island, NY which is where I found out about it. Backofthenet.com is a very reputable website so if they endorse the program it is legit. Thefutbolfactory.com is offering a 2 week program in Uruguay. I'm seriously considering enrolling my son in this program. The program incorporates players directly into the youth system of Danubio, which is the current Uruguayan champion. The kids in effect join Danubio for 2 weeks. Apparently, they have one of the best youth systems in all South America and the list of their alumni playing in top clubs in Europe is really impressive.
I know you said "no camps/tours" etc. The reality is, (as mentioned above) unless you are invited this is your only way. Check out XL Travel www.xltravel.com They offer a program at Middlesboro's Academy, one of the top academy systems in the Premiership. They are well run and have great connections to the club
It's always tempting for young kids (and their parents ?), wanting to travel to a club in the big European countries to improve their skills and become a better player, but dont be fooled. Just because big soccer countries like England, Germany or Italy have some of the biggest clubs in Europe and are among the top 5 leagues, it doesnt mean that they also are among the very best a developing youth players. Quite the opposite actually. The big European countries are mainly good because they have a large population and a big soccer culture, so that some of their many young players are bound to become very good and also discovered by agents at some point... The real huge and well organized youth soccer culture you find in a very small country like Denmark. With a smaller population than ther are registered soccer players in Germany, it's only possible to keep staying high in the NT rankings and qualify for the big World Cup's and European Championships year after year, by being much better at developing youth players than the big countries.. The U21 Euro-06 qualification standings at the moment : http://www.uefa.com/Competitions/Under21/Standings/index.html A link to a Danish youth Soccer Academy (Soccer ofcause being = Football in Europe ): http://www.ihaarhus.dk/Default.asp?ID=262 As for getting to play in the youth ranks of a professional Danish top-flight team at the age of 12 to 14, then I have no clue about how to go about this, except that you probably could try to e-mail a club, or one of their many youth coaches.... A link to the Danish Superliga Club AGF Aarhus (In Danish) : http://www.agf.dk/fodbold/hold/hold.asp?Kategori=hold&PageID=101&holdname=hold It possible to e-mail the different youth coaches at : http://www.agf.dk/fodbold/kontakt/kontakt.asp ITU = Special selected top class youth players between 16 and 21-yo Ynglinge = born in 1987 & 88 Junior = 1989 & 90 Drenge (boys) = 1991 & 92 Lilleput = 1993 & 94 AGF got 18 different youth teams playing youth league games at different levels, so normally they have room for most young players that want to join, I dont know how easy it is for foreigners though ... Btw, a few days ago, UEFA Tecnical Director, Andy Roxburgh, decided that the Danish talent project, ITU (Integrated talent development) is to be presented by Danish U21 NT coach, Flemming Serritslev, to all 52 UEFA nations at the UEFA youth conference in Cyprus in december. ITU is a project, with the purpose of continuing and improving the best Danish 16 to 21-yo's so they reach top-flight level, by making goal-oriented indvidual plans for each player, with the ITU coach improving the skills of each player by individual training.. .
What about specialized training? Looking for Goalkeeper training at a level above the USA. Is their such a "Guru" of goalkeeping, really any recommendations on great keeper training, we are looking to reach the next level for a 16 year old.
Why would you consider "European" goalkeeping training as an American? I would look at what Keller, Friedel, Howard, Hahnemann, et al did.
In Northern Europe the "Guru" of specialized training of goalkeepers is 44-yo Lars Hoegh. Besides having the Danish record of 817 league games, and being Danisk keeper of the year 1986, 1989, 1991, 1993 og 1994, he has won 8 caps for Denmark (and 50 on the bench as 2nd keeper behind Peter Schmeichel)... Lars played at the WC-86 in Mexico and won the Intercontinental Cup in 1995, when Denmark as European Champions beat Argentina in the final... Since he retired as player he has worked for several top-flight clubs, coaching top names in both Denmark and abroad (in England) one of them being Thomas Sørensen in Aston Villa and worked with several Youth national teams and the Faroese National team... Along with the former Danish Star Brian Laudrup, he also work with youth players at their socalled "Pro Camps" in Denmark... He also work as coach at Oure International College of Sports in Denmark : http://www.oure.dk/Page.aspx?pageID=135&intMenuID=165&PID=164&TopMenu=1 You can also e-mail him at his website "Lars Høgh Coaching" : http://www.larshogh.com/kontakt.htm .
You might also try the Notre Dame soccer camp. The head coach of the ND mens soccer program is Bobby Clark. Bobby played professionally as a keeper for 20 years and was capped for Scotland. Heck of a nice guy by the way.
I forgot to add the link to Brian Laudrup & Lars Hoegh's pro camp website, and their e-mail at : http://www.laudrup-hogh-pro-camp.dk/kontakt.htm .
Have considered USA has trained at Star, Vogelsinger and Coastal Carolina. (Freidl's camp looks interesting). Looking for some experience abroad, Europe 2006, considering South America for 2007. Heard of a "Guru" in Uruguay and an academy in Cali, Colombia. Appreciate everyons input, keep them coming. Guess I'll need to learn Danish for a couple of the site! Again Thanks to All.
Most Danes speaks English and so do Lars Hoegh.. He's a very nice and "down-to-earth" kind of guy, so I'm sure he will answer any question you may have if you mail him at his website : http://www.larshogh.com/kontakt.htm .
Tahuichi Academy. The place is absolutely GRUELING. Coaches are top-notch, they really stress the details. You stay with a Bolivian family for a month while training with other foreigners at the academy. If you do it once, and they deem you good enough, you can stay up to a year there and play for their actual youth academy. The foreigners (Americans mostly) are all dedicated players but the players at the youth academy are all odp-state (powerhouse states) caliber to youth national team (USA) caliber. It's been up since 1978 and they have turned out players like Etcheverry and Moreno. Their record against youth national teams is IMPECCABLE for just an academy. Fees are around $3,000 for a month and you can stay two months if you like. www.tahuichi.com
Have considered them seem to be great for conditioning, but for know looking for a strong keeper program, may interchange technical training and conditioning summers.
They do have special training for keepers and it's definitely not just conditioning. And a word on their conditioning program...its extremely grueling and will DEFINITELY test your love of soccer. Its not just physical conditioning, it will make you a stronger person even after the physical effects have worn off.
Not about Europe, but Brazil: This June 16-July 8 we took five of our 13-year-old boys from the Pacific Coast Soccer Club BU14s to train for 21 days at Clube de Regatas do Flamengo at two of their Escolhina Fla sites, Copacabana Beach Posto 4 and Forte de Leme (which has a brand spanking new AstroPlay field). The coaches were Flamengo's regular Brazilian coaches at these two facilities, Filipe Amaral and Rodrigo Lopes, and our 'gringos' were thrown together with the Brazilian players. A third coach, Daniel Simpson, brought the boys over to a futsal court in Laranjeiras (in truth most Brazilian players in Rio and Sao Paulo play futsal on an indoor or outdoor court, not soccer on a grass pitch, at this age group). Wonderful experience. We all stayed at a youth hostel in Copacabana (kinda halfway between a hotel and camping out!). Actual training fees were very affordable (3 of our players went on scholarships). The boys also got to see the following pro games: Flamengo v Atletico-P, Fluminense v Paulista in the Copa do Brasil return-leg final, Botafogo v Figueirense, and Vasco da Gama v Goias, and took tours of the four major clubs. And they ate up a storm (all-you-can-eat churrasquerias and tropical fruit ice cream). If we don't get tickets to the World Cup for 2006, which at this point is almost certain as we did not get a single ticket in the May FIFA World Cup ticket lottery, we'd like to take the entire team back to Brazil, but for a much longer period of time. This summer a sixth 13-year-old boy, for example, is our long-term guinea pig, as he is STILL at Sao Paulo FC, for two months, with an older team from another Los Angeles area club. We felt the Brazilian training was so worthwhile that we are trying to cajole Rodrigo Lopes and Daniel Simpson to visit and play beach soccer at Santa Monica Beach and Dockweiler Beach in Los Angeles for the entire month of August.
I have heard of a Goalkeeper school in Cali, Colombia and Medellin (trained Panamanian Gold Cup keeper). Has anybody heard anything about these?
Keep in mind that the State Department issued a travel warning for Colombia as recently as May (though it did point out that violence is apparently on the downswing in many cities there, including Medellin). Cali, however, is still considered pretty dangerous and the government restricts travel for its people in much of that country.