The Far Post Report will be posting reports from Andrew Ziemer who is with 20 American coaches as they visit many European Clubs in Italy & Holland.

Arriving in Italy, visit  about the Youth at club -  Padova Calcio 1910

Verona, Italy – Friday, November 30th, 2007

Background information on the European Coaches Education Tour:

In 1994, my family started to  bring Frans Hoek and many other Dutch Coaches to the U.S. to assist with coaches and player development.  In 1995, we started to go to Holland to work in his camps/clinics and visit him at Ajax and the various clubs he worked with including attending the KNVB headquarters in Zeist.

After years of asking Frans to help develop a coaches tour so that other coaches could get and “inside look” into the Dutch clubs, in 2001 he finally gave in.  More than 24 coaches from all over the U.S. visited Holland, Belgium and Germany and it was such a success, it became an annual event.

Since 2001, we have have visited the countries of Holland, Belgium, Germany, England, Spain and Greece to study youth, amateur and professional football. 

Some of the clubs we have studied and visited include:
Dutch clubs –
Ajax Amsterdam
Feyenoord Rotterdam
PSV Eindhoeven
AZ Alkmaar
Willem II
Volendam
HFC Haarlem
Heracles Alemo
Huizen
Hollandia

German clubs –
BVB Dortmund
Schalke 04


Belgian Club –
Club Brugge

English Clubs –
Chelsea FC
Tottenham Hotspur FC

Spanish Clubs –
FC Barcelona
Espanyol
Granollers FC
Real Zaragoza

Greek Club –
AEK Athens

The group of coaches visit clubs and receive lectures from Professional Coaches, Youth Directors and coaches , Scouts, Specialists ie. goalkeeper coaches , physical fitness coaches, skills coaches and observe training sessions, analyze games at all levels and watch matches.

The 2007 Euro Tour is in Italy and Holland.  Some coaches will attend the entire tour, some just the Italy portion and some just the Holland portion. 

The 2007 Participants include:
Staff –
Andrew Ziemer – Z Soccer, Sonoma County Alliance , Sacramento United
Frans Hoek – Frans Hoek Sports, Polish National Team Assistant, FIFA, UEFA, and KNVB Staff Coach
Paolo Bonono – Burlingame SC and Nor Cal Premier Board Member
Jay van Veelen – Dutch Soccer Academy

Full Tour Particpants –
Sue Spencer – British Columbia , Canada
Pat Hart – Mendocino JC
Kai Edwards – UC Santa Barbara Women’s Assistant
Jaime Ramirez – Fresno Pacific University Director of Soccer
Scott Hill – Youth coach in Massachusetts
Tony Perez – San Juan Soccer Club
Michael Heintz – Sahurita Youth Coach, Arizona
Marc Rohrer – Former Pro Player in Germany and U.S.
Dave Wilkinson – Bay Oaks Soccer Club

Italy Tour Participants –
Ian Mork – Sonoma County Alliance
Chuck Barr – Rocklin High School
Kelly Fricks – South Redondo Beach Soccer Club
Marcus Ziemer – Sonoma State University Men’s Soccer
Benjamin Ziemer - Sonoma State University Men’s Soccer, Sonoma County Alliance

Holland Tour Participants –
Teale Matteson – St. Mary’s High School , ACC Mavericks
Chad McCarty – Clovis Odyssey
Daniel Bote – Modesto Junior College

Wednesday, November 28
Italy only coaches arrive in Italy, Full Tour coaches fly to Amsterdam. 

Thursday, November 29
Italian group attend youth games at Chievo.  Holland group arrives and has a lecture with Frans Hoek at the hotel.

Friday, November 30
Coaches fly from Amsterdam to Venice (Treviso Airport)and are met by Paolo and the coaches who have been in Italy.  The group is now 17 strong and being transported in 2 vans driven by Benjamin Ziemer (shot gun Paolo Bonono) and Ian Mork (shot gun Marcus Ziemer).

After several big moves by Benjamin in which Ian had to bring his A game to keep up, we arrived at Padova Calcio Club.  Giorgio Molom -Directore Responsabile Cettore Geovanily (Director of Youth Development) and Gueltiero Grerdimi (youth coach of the 93 group) met us and escorted us into the press room under the stadium for a lecture on the youth system with questions and answers.

We then drove to the youth complex nearby to observe training sessions from the groups of 1994, 1993, 1992 and 1991.

Padova Calcio was founded in 1910 and are currently in Serie C (the 3rd Pro league).  They have been up and down between Serie A, B and C.

Vision and Philosophy of the Youth Development –
Padova wants to play nice soccer and develop players for the first team of Padova.  The Aim is not to win prizes, but to create players who can play professionally.

Structure of the Youth –
Giorgio Molom - Directore Responsabile Cettore Geovanily (Director of Youth Development) and is full time with a staff of:
10 part time Head Coaches for 10 teams U8-19
3 Physical coaches – part time
1 coach for the 2nd team
3 Technical skills coaches – part time
3 goalkeeper coaches – part time
8 assistant coaches – part time

Except for the Director of youth, all the staff have other jobs.

Budget –
The budget is 900,000 Euros for the youth development.

Role of the Director –
The Director of Youth does not coach a team or conduct trainings for the teams.  His job is 60-70% off the field and 30-40% on the field depending on the time of year.

System of play –
For the teams U8-18 they have no set way of playing.  The coach has freedom to play the way they want with the main aim of becoming technically proficient and being comfortable on the ball.
The 2nd team plays the same way as the 1st team which is adopted by the coach (which can change).



Positioning / Physical Training –
Until age 13 (1993 age group) they put players in many positions.  At age 13 they begin to have discipline of positions in both specializing and asking a role of that position.

At this time (age 13), they will also start to have some physical training as well, but mostly with the ball.  Maybe one time per month they will have some physical training without the ball.  This is to focus mainly on the technical aspects of running.

Staff Education –
The foundation for the youth coaches are that they are hungry and passionate.  There is no formal staff education, but they have open communication, share ideas and confront each other as much as possible.  Sometimes they will bring in an outside coach from another club to give their opinion of Youth development.

One time per month, they offer a chance for local coaches to come to Padova and offer a coaches course.  The Padova coaches also assist with sessions and camps in the local area to further the relationship with the local clubs.

How does Padova measure the success of the youth program?
Place players in the National Youth Teams :

Padova currently has 8-10 players in the National Program.

Place players into the Padova First Team:

Padova plays in the Serie C (3rd division Pro), but has played in the Serie A in the past.  Currently Padova has mostly players from their own youth development program.

Place players in Serie A and Serie B:

Padova has 7 homegrown players playing in Serie A and many more in Serie B and Serie C.

Padova has consistently been one of the best in youth development in Northern Italy for the past 25 years.  In the last 15 years is has gotten much more competitive with other clubs becoming better which make it harder to get the most talented players.

The Youth environment is also changing with more foreign and immigrant players.  Currently, Padova has more than 20 non-Italian players.

Structure of Italian Soccer (Calcio)

Professional and Amateur Calcio –
Full time professional leagues
Serie A
Serie B
Serie C1
Serie C2
Serie D

Receive money / most have other jobs
Excellenza
Promozione

Not paid
Categoria 1
Categoria 2
Categoria 3


Youth Calcio –
National leagues
Primavera (U19)
Allievi Nazionali –  age group 91
Allievi Regionali – age group 92
Giovanissimi Nazionali – age group 93

Regional leagues
Giovanissimi Regionali – age group 94
Esrdienti Nazionali – age group 95
Asordienti Regionali  A – age group 96
Asordienti Regionali  B – age group 97

Local leagues
Pulcini A – age group 98
Pulcini B - age group 99
Scuola Calcio – below age 99

General Youth Education - Numbers of players (all with keepers)
99 age group – 5V5
98 age group – 6V6
97 age group – 7V7
96 age group – 9V9
95 age group and older – 11V11

Professional Youth Clubs play one year ahead of the rest of the country
00  age group – 5V5
99 age group – 6V6
98 age group – 7V7
97 age group – 9V9
96 age group  and older– 11V11

Youth teams are allowed 7 substitutions , but players can not renter the field after haven been substituted.

93 and below play 30 minute halves
92 and above play 40 minute halves
Primavera play 45 minute halves

Games only have 1 referee and two club linesman