Pro Clubs have a constantly evolving model for the type of young player they are looking for, therefore clubs are often driven to focus on known skill shortages in the upper end of the academies. This may mean that you are an extremely capable player but the club has a shortage of defensive midfielders and you are forced to give up your space for them to bring another player in.
Professional club academies often have in house terminology to describe techniques common among many differing academies, this provides them with a degree of USP and competitive advantage. However, we have known many young players who have been technically capable but haven’t quite understood the vocabulary and technical DNA references that have been used at the Pro Club Development Centres or their Academies and the young player has faltered as a result.
Quite simply if you are asked to complete a task described to you in a language you don’t understand you are unlikely to complete the task successfully. Our team of UEFA level pro coaches provide the technical cross overs and a Rosetta stone for understanding what clubs require and how a certain club’s refer to certain techniques.
We often act as a companion to pro club academies giving further assistance to young players that need extra help in specific areas. Our expertise around team play and decision improvement is embraced by a number of Pro Clubs as a technique for forcing young players to work together in a more hive-like style. At the 2TR Elite Development Centre, we take this to another level, with pre-emptive play, what-if analysis and in-game dynamic strategy development.
This can be a time of great disappointment for a young player and their parents. However, it doesn’t have to mean the end of their potential for a career in football. We maintain links independently between clubs and can act as a conduit to place you into another Pro Academy where they have a need for the skill you have a particular talent for.
A shortage of a given skill at any given club seems to have a flu likeability to spread to nearby Pro Clubs, often creating a surplus of a variety of players as the “in-need” skill base takes up squad places. It is our job to know where the vacuum for your skills are and to link you back up with a new club as quickly as possible.
Being released is not the end of your battle. It is the beginning.