Alec Bolla, Head of Udinese Academy, has been a guest at Media 24’s show The Factory. He took stock of the latest edition of the Udinese Academy League tournament, which has just been held in Central Italy, and presented the club's Summer Camps, which in June will welcome young players at its training ground.
“The fourth edition of the Udinese Academy League has just come to an end, with 34 out of the 60 partner clubs of Udinese Calcio participating,” Bolla said. “Around 2,000 people participated, including parents, and about 1,650 players aged 8 to 16 played. It was a nice, fun weekend. The first day was about having fun at Mirabilandia, then starting from Saturday the football matches began. The main purpose was for the young players to enjoy themselves and experience being all together at a hotel, a sort of training camp like the professionals. There were over 150 matches on 14 pitches and 25 hotels were involved. Organising this tournament was challenging.”
Over 128 teams participated in the tournament, from all over Italy as well as other countries. “In addition to the Italian teams, there were also two from Croatia, one from Romania, one from Slovenia and one from Austria, making it a fully-fledged international tournament. One thing I’ve noticed is how different the football cultures of these countries are from ours, which is something our players can learn a lot from. For example, the Slovenians and Austrians were more competitive, while always following the rules of course - they focus on this from a very early age. The tournament prioritised having fun and ethical values. This year too the feedback from the facilities that offered accommodation to the players has been very positive. When you get these positive comments on the players’ behaviour, it means that the tournament went well. Everyone came in first. This is the concept underpinning the Academy League.”
The Academy League is about sharing, also from a sports perspective: “Exchanging opinions is a way to grow. This week following the tournament I’ve had many conversations with presidents and coaches of the participating teams and quite a few of them noted that coming into contact with teams from different backgrounds helps you grow. The purpose of this tournament is to have fun; it is about ethics, and competition too plays an important role. I watched the last final of the tournament and it was very intense. Moreover, the tournament is also important for scouting purposes. In particular we saw two players in action who had already been brought to our attention and I have to say that our scouts were right. I hope that after this Academy League experience these players will one day become part of the Udinese youth teams.”
In conclusion, he offered a general overview of the upcoming Udinese Summer Camps, which will take place in June: “For the second year the Summer Camps will be environmentally friendly, meaning that the participants will have fun playing on our training grounds and will also participate in a series of sustainability and environmental activities carried out off the pitch, to gain a better understanding of these issues and create a better future, which will probably be complicated. We’ve adopted this formula this year too because of the positive feedback we’ve received. We are the only club in Italy and probably in the rest of Europe that engages in these activities; I also want to stress that the owners were adamant about this. We are a sustainable club, with a sustainable stadium, and the owners thought that this type of mindset could also be promoted in the summer camps. Last year the results were positive and we want to continue improving.”