The excursion around Amsterdam Arena and observation of trainings of the pupils of the academy of the football club Ajax

One of the main parts of an internship of the JUNIOR coaches at the Ajax academy was held at the club's home stadium - Amsterdam Arena. In the trophy room of a club museum, Russian specialists studied old photos of the club's players with interest, looked at the team kits from different epochs. But the most important they made photos with the main trophy of the European football club - the Champions Cup which Ajax won four times in the history. Later there was a lecture for the coaches in the trophy room where trainers of Ajax continued to share insights of the work of the academy. 

After that the coaches of JUNIOR took part in the Stadium tour and explored all of the ins & outs of the Arena.Also they visited the hall for press conferences and even  tried  themselves as the head coaches of the club giving interview to numerous journalists. Later, the coaches of JUNIOR entered the club’s locker room, and then went to the field to see the 54,000 attendance stands. It is difficult to convey the emotions of coaches who have passed the same way that the players of the main team of Ajax pass  every home match, but many will surely remember this moment for life!

After a short walk through the field and the stands of the stadium, the Junior trainers returned to lecture with the academy coaches, who willingly shared their knowledge about working with children. However, this time the questions were even deeper, more practical and detailed. One of the main revelations from the Ajax coaches was the fact that they pay great attention to home tasks and preparing an individual development plan for each player. Individual approach to every young footballer, which is declared in the academy, is thoroughly implemented in practice. Moreover,  parents play an important role in this process, together with the coach helps and contributes to the progress of their child.

Satisfied with theoretical lessons, coaches of JUNIOR went to watch the trainings of teams of different ages. One of the features of the training was that our coaches were able to watch live warm-up of the players of different groups live. By the way, it is held in Ajax by separate coaches at the arena, and only after it is done children are in the hands of their direct coach. The warm-up for young players of Ajax is diverse and has a fun character. Representatives of JUNIOR noted  lot of new useful information, and then again went to the playing field in order to observe the game part of the sessions.

It is important to note that on this day there was bad weather with snow and cold wind. Nevertheless, training even the youngest representatives of Ajax took place on a street, and they persistently handled the difficult weather and laid out in training. Eventful and varied training session gave a lot of insights to think about. It once again proves that for a sake of their dream of becoming professionals, these young boys are ready for everything, even to train in extremely difficult weather conditions.