Big points asap

training the world's next stars
by colette weil parrinello

think of the greatest soccer players of all time: lionel messi, ryan giggs, david beckham, diego maradona, pele, neymar da silva santos júnior, wayne rooney, ronaldinho, and cristiano ronaldo. what do they all have in common? they were all prodigies of youth football academies.

an academy is a football school with well-maintained fields and professional coaches. many academies also have locker rooms, workout facilities, cafeterias, sports scientists, nutritionists, classrooms and teachers, and residential lodging. the academy provides all the support and services for the player's development.

youth academies consist of highly disciplined programs dedicated to nurturing, training, and coaching young players with elite player potential. academies are the best way to develop new talent. players as young as 5 or 6 years old may be picked by scouts and professional coaches to participate in academy training.

academies use different methods to identify players with the potential to become the best in the game. some send scouts to local, national, and international youth games. some take applications. others hold tryouts, and some organize camps to observe new talent. some academies recruit from within their immediate geographical area or country. others scout the world over. more than 60 percent of the european academies, such as la masia academy and real madrid academy, have players from abroad.

most european academies have three or four age groups. the academies differ in their styles, but all emphasize techniques in skills, tactics, and strategy. young players don't play every day. players start at three times per week. by age 16, they play five times per week. all players receive individual sessions.

winning games does not always translate into skill improvement. academies emphasize the quality of play over the number of wins. some academies are like boarding schools with teachers on staff, while others bring players in each day after school.

for many prestigious academies outside the united states, once a player is accepted, he may pay nothing for his training and is under contract with the academy. the academy manages the player development and the contract offers that are made once the player reaches a competitive performance level.

academies evaluate players every year. if a player is not developing as anticipated, he or she is released, regardless of the number of years in the program. this is difficult for players and families who have devoted so much to the game. it's also hard to say goodbye to friends they have made at the academy.

in 2007, the united states soccer program recognized the need to revamp and intensify their youth program. after studying academies around the world, u. s. soccer created the development academy.

when a 13-year-old player is accepted into a u. s. academy team, the player can no longer play on a high school team or on the olympic development team, but he or she may play on a national team. player funding for the academy is varied. some academies have corporate sponsors, are affiliated with professional teams, offer scholarships, or the players pay to attend.

the primary focus of international youth academies is to develop elite professional players. the united states has made great strides in recent years, but many believe it will be several more years before its academies are turning out the same level of players produced by international academies.

write two predictions based on the story. each prediction should be a complete sentence.