Development Strategy

Development Strategy

First Step: Milan Junior Camp

• Each camp will be hosted by at least two AC Milan certified coaches, coming from Milan, Italy.• Each child will receive an adidas official AC Milan Junior Camp kit (Jersey, Short, Socks), and a certificate of participation by the end of the camp. Each child will have a training ball.• The camp curriculum has been specially designed for each age group by the expert doctors and coaches from A.C. Milan.• Each training session covers a different subject from the Functional Circuit, the trainer’s manual developed by official AC Milan Coaches. Sessions are conducted from Monday Through Friday, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.

The Milan Junior Camp program is the official summer camp program of the italian club, AC Milan, and the first stepping stone in a follow-up program for young talents that feature the characteristics and values the club is seeking for in athletes. It’s a recreational program that serves the dual purpose of entertaining while also identifying those highly qualified talents from an early age, and follow them during their development as athletes and individuals.

Second step: Milan Junior Camp Day

The Milan Junior Camp Day is the most important event for all participants of the Milan Junior Camp. Each year, by the end of the camp season, the best players from each camp are selected by the AC Milan Coaches to participate in an event organized in Milan. During this event, all participants will have the posibility of living an unforgettable experience by playing a friendly tournament in the Vismara Sports Center (Where the AC Milan Youth Team trains) and enjoying a match at the famous San Siro Stadium. The Milan Junior Camp Day is a chance to experience first-hand the AC Milan world, play soccer, visit Milan, and meet new friends from all over the world.  

It’s also the second filter to continue selecting the talents and keep the follow-up process on elite players. In this stage, the interaction of the young players and their teammates is observed in a competitive environment (As opposed to the previous step, mainly a recreational one), and they begin to hone their skills and features.

This opportunity leads to their selection as elite talents.

Third step: Milan Soccer School

The permanent program

This steps leads to a detailed observation, customized to the individual characteristics of the elite player. Supported by the massive experience gathered by the Milan Academies and with the technical and psichological backing of the Milan Lab, the Milan Soccer School program works entirely in the integral development of the young athlete. In an iterative process that is based on the Functional Circuit, the official coaches imprint on the athletes the instinctive reactions associated to talent, while controled by emotional inteligence, so they make the right choices in highly competitive game situations.

By following a constant testing methodology, the results are analized by the Milan Lab to lead, and correct if necessary, the development process of the players.

Constant tournaments and competitions will prepare the players for subsequent steps.

Fourth step: Elite Competitions

The most remarkable talents are part of the Elite Internatinal teams, groups focused in tournaments and competitions that are well known and demanding. They are players familiar with each other from past Milan Junior Camps, Milan Junior Camp Days, and Milan Soccer Schools, being synchronized and with team-abilities to achieve victories.

Among these tournaments is the Cleveland Cup, an annual event organized in Cleveland, Ohio, where youth teams from all around the globe (More than 150 teams participating) will give their best in a 5 days tournament. Is the fastest growing torunament in the USA, and is supported fully by the italian club.

In the same manner, in 2008 AC Milan developed the Friendship Cup, an elite tournament based in Milan that is also combined with a Talent Clinic, which observes and tests the most outstanding talents. Youth teams from all around the world compete in this cultural and sport event.

The Milan Junior American Cup is the most recent addition to this group of elite competitions; it will be hosted in Pereira, Colombia, in a 6-teams tournament with participants form Colombia and America.

Fifth step: College Showcase

The italian club, aware of the world’s needs is striving for integral development of the atheltes; not only in their sports abilities, but also in their intelectual dimension. That is why, in a partnership with prestigious universities (Such as the University of Akron, Ohio), AC Milan has organized special events where the talents have the opportunity of showcasing their capabilities, in fron of expert talent scouts from these institutions.

This platform will help the young talents in applying for sports scholarship in these universities, where, beyond developing their majors, they can also opt for a professional sport career.

These talent showcases, in addtition to being conducted in the USA, will also be organized in Colombia, in May 2011, with the presence of talent scouts from different institutions. The location: Sabaneta, Antioquia, a place where numerous talents have shown up in the past.

Contact

For more information about the AC Milan Junior Development program, please contact:

EDDIE MARLESAC MilanJunior Program CoordinatorNorth and Latin America1 (305) 525 9041

ANDRES FELIPE MARTINEZMilan Junior CampLogistics Coordinator1 (305) 395 6794 – 1 (305) 767 184757 (317) 846 8503